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The Occupation Forces and Reforms in Japan

The Occupation forces set about reforming Japan in terms of land holding, the constitution, education, and the economy. Land reform included a program for the dispossession of absentee landlords and the sale of land to tenants on easy terms. Land holding reform was also part of the constitutional reform. Under pressure from SCAP, the government sought to amend the 1889 Meiji Constitution, and on May 3, 1947 the new Japanese Constitution came into force, often called the "MacArthur Constitution." This document embodied constitutional reforms as well as economic reforms, including agricultural land redistribution, the reestablishment of trade unions, and severe proscriptions on zaibatsu. Educational reform meant rooting out the nationalist orientation seen in the system to replace it with a philosophy of democracy and individualism.

In the economy, SCAP operated on the assumption that Japan would be subjected to a series of "economic democratization" policies, and the initial intent was to see to it that Japan did not enjoy a higher economic level than any of the neighboring Asiatic countries that had been threatened by Japanese aggression. Economic recovery was not the primary intent of the occupying forces. Policy was implemented on four major fronts--restriction of zaibatsu-connected firms, dissolution of holding companies, elimination of excessive economic power, and the introduction of an anti-monopoly act. The reform was to be thorough, and the Japanese economy was to be given a competitive economic structure as quickly as possible.

2. Until about 1969, Japan after World War II had chronic trade deficits as the Japanese imported more than they exported. During that period, the Japanese concentrated on building an industrial base by means of the control and intervention of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). MITI was formed in 1949 and played a major role in the fifties and sixties in formul...

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The Occupation Forces and Reforms in Japan. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 03:27, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682039.html