Showa (1926-1976)
Military Aggression
In 1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, a Chinese province, and set up a puppet state called Manchukuo. The League of Nations opposed this action and consequently, Japan dropped out of the League. The military quickly got out of control, killing many Japanese government leaders. In 1941, Japan was formally under military rule as General Tojo Hideki appointed himself prime minister and supreme military commander.
World War II
Japan was reveling in their conquests, having already captured the Phillippines, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies among others. However, Japan's first mistake was bombing the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the "day that would live in infamy." Japan's first loss and the turning point of the war in the Pacific was the Battle of Midway in June 1942. In 1943, the Japanese had to withdraw from some of their Northern Pacific island conquests. By 1944, U.S. bombers were coming threateningly close to Tokyo. The Japanese knew at this point that the game was up and were in a state of desperation. They didn't know how to end the war, how to tell the proud Japanese people. However, the end of the war was quickling coming upon them. The U.S., on August 6, 1945, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Then on August 8th, the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. On August 9th, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, this time on Nagasaki. The surrender sheets were signed aboard the USS Missouri. Control of the country was passed to the Supreme Commander of Allied powers, General Douglas MacArthur.
Surrender
The first time that a Japanese emperor had ever spoken directly to his people was August 15, 1945, while informing the Japanese of their defeat.The emperor spoke with much pride (the word 'surrender' never even came up') but even so, after the broadcast, about 500 Japanese army and navy officers committed suicide and the Japanese were shocked and scared of their first loss and first occupation.
Losses for Japan were great with almost two million dead and almost 700,000 wounded or lost. The Japanese empire was reduced to half its previous size and thus, the Japanese people from overseas would have to come back, with almost no food for them as those in Japan was already starving. Most of the shipping and war fleets had been sunk and most of the major cities had been devastated.
Reform
Americans came to Japan to reform it, not ravage it; it was already in a sad enough state. General MacArthur was in charge of the whole operation.He had a rather romantic idea of how to reform Japan but was hindered in the lack of Japanese speaking soldiers working for him. However, the Japanese did cooperate.
By November 1945, effective demobilization had been achieved. Twenty-five high-ranking Japanese officers were tried for war crimes against humanity. Seven of those, including ex-Prime Minister Tojo, were hanged; the other eight were imprisoned. The emperor was not tried though since, as Western experts told MacArthur, it would to resistance from the people. Also, if the emperor endorsed the reform, it would go much more smoothly with the people. The emperor, however, was forced to tell the Japanese people that he was not a divinity and that the Japanese people were not a divine race "fated to rule the world." The emperor, however, was still allowed to claim desccent from the sun goddess and allowed to perform Shinto rites.
In 1946, a group of American lawyers drew up a new constituion for Japan in English. The Showa Constitution gave power and full rights to the people, destroyed Japan's aggressive militarism, gave the emperor the role as 'symbol of the state of the unity of the people,' and had a provision that states that 'land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.' It abolished the inequality between husbands and wives and separated Shinto from state, getting rid of state-funded religion. This constitution is still in effect today and has never been amended. The whole constitution was in stark contrast with Japanese tradition but Japan was in no position to argue. The early reform years were marked by near-starvation, high crime, a booming black market and soaring inflation. The positive side of the Occupation was that it introduced millions of the general people to the radio, telephone, civilian cameras and motorcycles. In this way, the US was preparing Japan to be the hi-tech country that it is now. Japan could also rebuild their cities in a wholely new, modern and technologically advanced way.
MacArthur saw fit to introduce land reform to get Japan out of the feudalistic method it still used with tenant sharecroppers. Limits were put on the amount of land that one could own without tending it himself- one hectare, whereas if they tended it themself, they could own three. Now, the farmers had incentive to grow more since they wouldn't have to pay anything back to the chief owner of the land, but since the new land redistribution gave them so little and so scattered plots of land, they had no way of producing the crops they wanted.
Education was reformed with many nationalist teachers dismissed from their jobs. English was brought back into the curriculum and 'moral education' taken out. Textbooks were rewritten so as not to include 'nationalist propaganda.'
After the peace treaty had been signed and occupation had ended, the ruling conservatives officials saw fit to pass the Subversive Activities Prevention Law that caused tens of thousands of people suspected of communism sympathy to lose their government office, or industry position.
After the Korean War and because of it, Japan's economy grew and flourished as can only happen when a country is at war.
The economic growth led to a rise in living standards and to the stabilization of the supremacy n of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in government.
Japan's relations to the Soviet Union were back to normal again in 1956 and back to normal with China in 1972, the year Okinawa was returned to Japan.
Oil Embargo
In 1973, Japan faced a huge crisis with the Middle East oil embargo. In the early 1970s, Japan used oil for three-fourths of its total energy needs, most of that oil coming from the Middle East. Though Japan had traditionally not participated in world affairs, this was an event that Japan was very much involved with. Internally, Japan tried its best to keep inflation down and energy use low. The year 1974 was much like the United States after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Though they had been in a period of great growth, in 1974, it all came plummeting downward-profits that is, while unemployment skyrocketed. To keep the country running during the embargo, there were limits on public buildings and offices' use of heating and air conditioning. It was considered a crime to hoard fuel. Imports were increased from other countries and other sources of energy such as liquid natural gas and nuclear power were looked into. By expanding those industries that used less energy- like electronics- and minimizing the industries that relied on lots of energy, Japan was able to gradually raise productivity until in 1979 when Japan was almost again at its international competitiveness level.
Then a second oil crisis came about due to the Iranian revolution but Japan was much better prepared for this because of the previous crisis. Inflation dropped and oil imports actually fell but the productivity would never be what it used to be. However, it was a learning experience for Japan and Japan showed that it was much stronger and smarter.