Japan After World War Ii

The occupation of Japan was, from the beginning to the end, an American operation.


General Douglas MacArthur, sole supreme commander of the Allied Power was


in charge of it.   The Americans had insufficient men to make a military


government of Japan possible; so they decided to act through the existing


Japanese government.   General Mac Arthur became, except in name, dictator


of Japan.   He imposed his will on Japan.   Demilitarisation was speedily


carried out, demobilisation of the former imperial forces was completed by


early 1946.





  Japan was extensively fire bombed during the second world war.   The


stench of sewer gas, rotting garbage, and the acrid smell of ashes and


scorched debris pervaded the air.   The Japanese people had to live in the


damp, and cold of the concrete buildings, because they were the only ones


left.   Little remained of the vulnerable wooden frame, tile roof dwelling


lived in by most Japanese. When the first signs of winter set in, the


occupation forces immediately took over all the steam-heated buildings. The


Japanese were out in the cold in the first post war winter fuel was very


hard to find, a family was considered lucky if they had a small barely


glowing charcoal brazier to huddle around.   That next summer in random


spots new ho uses were built, each house was standardised at 216 square


feet, and required 2400 board feet of material in order to be built.   A


master plan for a modernistic city had been drafted, but it was cast aside


because of the lack of time before the next winter.   The thousands of


people who lived in railroad stations and public parks needed housing. Some even lived in forests.





  All the Japanese heard was democracy from the Americans.   All they cared


about was food.   General MacAruther...