Japan Occupation Collection
For seven years after the end of World War II, the United States led an occupation force in Japan that oversaw comprehensive reforms of the country’s military, economy, politics, and social order. Under the direction of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Command of Allied Powers (SCAP) dismantled and disarmed the military, conducted a series of war crimes trials, and undertook significant reforms in land tenure, industry, and the economy, culminating in the imposition of new pacifist constitution that shifted power from the Emperor to parliament. In the face of the rise of the Cold War and change in international priorities, the U.S. brokered a final peace settlement with Japan that formally ended the occupation in 1952, leaving American bases and bilateral security pact intact.
Focused on the period 1945-1952, this collection includes a sampling of printed materials aimed at average American servicemen and their dependents involved in the occupation and reconstruction of Japan. The collection includes histories and guidebooks, picture books aimed at tourists, and a few examples of instructional materials and propaganda.
At a conference held in Moscow in Dec., 1945, the victorious allied powers of the Second World War agreed to an international effort to reconstruct the Japanese state along democratic lines. U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of U.S. forces in Japan, was granted authority to “issue all orders for the implementation of the Terms of Surrender, the occupation and control of Japan, and all directives supplementary thereto,” and for seven years, the United States maintained an occupation force in the country that oversaw comprehensive reforms of the country’s military, economy, politics, and society.
To uproot the militarism that had pervaded Japanese government, the Supreme Command of Allied Powers (SCAP) began by dismantling and disarming the Japanese armed forces and between May 1946 and Nov. 1948, they held an International Military Tribunal that tried nine senior political leaders and eighteen military leaders for war crimes. Subsequent efforts to reconstruct the state included land reforms intended to blunt the power of traditional elite, a thoroughgoing restructuring of industry and the economy to align it with western market capitalism, and the imposition of new pacifist constitution that shifted power from the Emperor to parliament. With the rise of the Cold War and change in international priorities, the U.S. brokered a final peace settlement with Japan that formally ended the occupation in 1952, leaving most American military bases and a bilateral security pact intact.
Focused on the period 1945-1952, this collection includes a sampling of printed materials aimed at average American servicemen and their dependents involved in the occupation and reconstruction of Japan. The collection includes histories and guidebooks, touristic picture books, and a few examples of instructional materials and propaganda. Also included are several later items, generally prepared for tourists, revealing the complex evolution of American ideas about Japan and Japanese culture in the post-occupation years.
The collection was assembled by James and Sibylle Fraser, reflecting their long-standing and eclectic interest in the history and culture of contemporary Japan.
Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser, 2014.
Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, Sept. 2015.
)Cite as: Japan Occupation Collection (RB 027). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.