2-WWII+Japan+OT

Horacio Gaitan:
 * What were the circumstances in Japan that compelled the policies implemented by the United States? How was policy shaped to address these circumstances?
 * There was no "military government" in Japan in the literal sense of the word. It was simply a SCAP superstructure over already existing government machinery, designed to observe and assist the Japanese along the new democratic channels of administration
 * Policies were not strict, it’s was mainly a supervision of Japan.
 * Policies lowered the power of the native leaders of Japan, and the Prime Minister of Japan acted on the best interest of the occupant countries.
 * The supervision of the issue throughout Japan of the large quantities of foodstuffs and medical stores being poured into the country from American sources.
 * The teams also contained experts on health, education, sanitation, agriculture and the like, to help the Japanese in adopting more up to date methods sponsored by SCAP’s headquarters.
 * What were the effects of the occupation of Japan on the United States’ war effort? This should include basic data such as numbers of troops diverted to the occupation and so forth, but should also take into account less logistical factors such as the psychological effect of occupation on the occupying power, issues of morale, attitudes of occupation forces toward the local population (and vice versa) and the degree to which that sharpened or dulled the occupiers' resolve, etc.
 * The United States and other Allied countries that occupied Japan happened after the war was over. Japan was occupied from 1945 to 1952, so there were not great number of troops being deployed into Japan. (About 300,000)
 * The Allied countries placed trading policies in Japan, which gave them a disadvantage in trading hurting the economy of the working class in Japan.
 * The Japanese did not appreciate what the Allied countries were doing, but were unable to rebel and fight back due to the fact that their army was disarmed.
 * Allied countries benefited greatly from those unfair trading policies enforced on the Japanese.
 * What were the motivations/methods/outcomes of resistance and collaboration? How did this affect the Occupied Territory after the war? Use case studies to illustrate.
 * Post-war Japan was chaotic.
 * The air raids on urban centers in many Japanese cities left millions displaced and food shortages, created by bad harvests and the demands of the war, worsened when the importation of food from Korea, Taiwan, and China ceased.
 * Repatriation of Japanese living in other parts of Asia only aggravated the problems in Japan as these displaced people put more strain on already scarce resources. Over 5.1 million Japanese returned to Japan in the fifteen months following October 1, 1945.
 * Deep exhaustion, declining morale and despair was so widespread that it was termed the "kyodatsu condition" .Inflation was rampant and many people turned to the black market for even the most basic goods. These black markets in turn were often places of turf wars between rival gangs, like the Shibuya incident in 1946. Prostitution also increased considerably.
 *  Case stu dy: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2053910
 * What were the effects of occupation on women & youth in the Occupied Territory? Use case studies to illustrate.
 * The granting of rights to women played an important role in the radical shift Japan underwent from a war nation to a democratized and demilitarized country. In the first postwar general elections of 1946, an unexpected high female voter turnout led to the election of 39 female candidates, and the increasing presence of women in politics was viewed by Americans as evidence of an improvement of Japanese women's condition.
 * The Japanese public was thus astounded by the sight of some 45,000 so-called "pan pan girls" (prostitutes) fraternizing with American soldiers during the occupation.
 * Prostitution become very prominent, due to the fact that families were having financial problems. So the women sold their bodies for money to help their family.
 * Case study: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41157793

Works Cited:

Scalapino, R. A.. "The American Occupation Of Japan-- Perspectives After Three Decades." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 428.1 (1976): 104-113. Print.

Koshiro, Yukiko. "Race as International Identity? 'Miscegenation' in the U.S. Occupation of Japan and Beyond." Universitätsverlag WINTER Gmbh 48.1 (2003): 61-77. Print.