Japanese Initiative for the Promotion of Occupation Policies regarding External Affairs,with Particular Reference to GHQ/SCAP Documents

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project purports to clarify the effects of the Japanese initiative in promoting some of the policies which the Allied Occupation Forces adopted in the Post-World War II Japan. The past studies of this topic had to rely mainly on second-hand materials due to the fact that most of the original materials relating to the Allied occupation of Japan had long been stored as classified documents at the U.S. National Archives and Records Center.However, Since the Japanese Diet Library recently acquired those orfinal documents,in particular GHQ/SCAP documents, in microfilms, this project secured access to them,on the basis of which such specific problems as the handling of foreign relations during the occupation,the dissolution of Zaibatsu and the Anti-trust legislation and the purge and the revision of electoral laws were chosen to be re-examined in order to ascertain the effects of Japanese initiative in each of these cases. First of all, at the beginning of the occupation,the handling of foreign relations was monopolized by the occupant,but as the occupation prolonged and Japanese requests were repeated, the monopoly was gradually loosened to allow Japan to handle overseas mailing service, participate in international conferences and organizations, and to establish Japanese overseas missions. Secondly,in disregard of the Japanese demand that various differences berween Japan and Germany be taken into account,the dissolution of Zaibatsu and the Anti-trust legislation were forced by the occupant modeled after the Allied policy in Germany. Thirdly,on the other hand,the occupant allowed Japanese initiative in the case of electoral reform. Thus, in general, it can be concluded that the Allied occupation policies were successfully implemented where they took sufficient account of particular circumstances in Japan and where they acuired solid support of the majority of the Japanese concerned.