At the close of World War Two after the surrender of Japan the Allied forces lead

by the United States occupied Japanese territory and forced both custom and law to
change as per the new leadership. To occupy a land means to seize and control an
area by force and remain in the territory to ensure the new changes take effect. To
control is “to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command”. Given this
definition of what it means to occupy there can be no doubt that Japan was
occupied territory at the end of the Second World War as United States military
forces remained in foreign territory, the United States government and military
took over government functions, mandated laws, and fundamentally changed the
Japanese culture.

Military soldiers were stationed all around the Japanese home islands. The 7th
Infantry Division, 24th Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division, and the 1st Cavalry
Division of the United States Army occupied Japan until the occupation ended
with the Treaty of San Francisco. The United States Marine Corps also deployed
soldiers in the occupation of Japan with the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 27th, 28th, and
32nd Infantry Divisions taking part of the occupation of Japan with units replacing
others as the requirements for leave were met. The British deployed the 5th Infantry
Brigade, 30th Field Battery, and 80th Hospital to Japan. India deployed the 5th
Battalion 1st Punjab Rifles, 7th Light Cavalry, 16th Field Battery, and the 92nd
General Hospital. Australia took a leading role deploying the 65th, 66th, and 67th
Infantry Battalions in addition to New Zealand’s 9th Infantry Brigade Group.

Not only were there soldiers on the ground, but many airmen and seamen also took
part of the occupation of Japan. The 77th, 78th, and 82nd squadrons of the Royal
Australian Air Force, 11th and 17th squadrons of the Royal Air Force, 4th Squadron
of the Royal Indian Air Force and 14th Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air
Force. In the ocean surrounding Japan the United States committed the 3rd Fleet
while the British Commonwealth provided another 15 ships. The forces of the
Allied military demobilized the population for war, enforced curfews, destroyed
Japan’s capability to wage war through the remaining war materials, rebuilt
bridges and sewers, and rebuilt the critical functions that would allow the Japanese
people to survive.
 One of the key elements to an occupation is to change how the government
of the occupied nation runs. In 1947 the Japanese Diet approved of the new
Constitution of Japan as written by the government staff led by General
MacArthur. The Japanese government was lead prior to the changeover by the
Meiji Constitution that stated in chapter 1 that the Emperor was the monarch and
had the power to decree laws, declare war, call or dissolve the Diet, and was
infallible. In contrast after the surrender of Japan to the Allies the Emperor was
restricted to the role of a constitutional monarch. In Article 4 of the Japanese
Constitution as drafted by MacArthur’s staff states, “The Emperor shall perform
only such acts in matters of state as are provided in this constitution and he shall
not have any powers related to the government.” The role of the people changed
drastically as well. The Meiji Constitution gave the Japanese people rights to an
extent as were carried by law, however as the Emperor had the sole right to declare
law the rights were nothing more than imaginary. However, in the Constitution as
drafted in 1946 the rights guaranteed were guaranteed with the strict law and not
bound by the whims of the Emperor.

The staff of the Japanese government was also changed as a result of the end of the
Second World War While the Emperor, Hirohito, was allowed to remain as the
Emperor of Japan as an attempt to keep social order and peace within the Japanese
society many of the military heads were ‘purged’ so as to prevent Japan from
rallying and attacking the occupying forces while technically at peace. One of the
deposed leaders, for example, was Prime Minister Tojo who was replaced by
Koiso Kuniaki. Of all of the men and women put on trial during the tribunals after
the Second World War a total of nine hundred were executed for war crimes and
another twenty thousand were removed from the government and replaced.

1. Many of the limits placed on the Japanese after the resolution of the
second World War was the stifling of martial ability and other restrictions
enacted by the Allied military commanders in addition to the usual
propaganda and demilitarization. The Japanese media was censored by the
Allies so that no anti-American or anti-British sentiments were broadcasted
as well as the inability of any resistance forces being able to use them to
communicate with each other. The centralization of the education and police
system was broken up which destroyed the ability of the Japanese to
indoctrinate a new generation of Japanese children to try to continue to fight
the Allies and prolong the war as well as prevent the military, which was
being re-trained by Allied forces, from staging a revolt against the Allied
rule and the changes to the Japanese constitution. Concentrations of power
in every sector were broken up to prevent any revolts. On October 22, 1945,
General MacArthur declared that “dissemination of militaristic and ultra
nationalistic ideology will be prohibited and all military education and drill
will be discontinued.” This basically banned the rich martial tradition that
many today identify with Japan. Many of the martial arts enthusiasts were
incidentally purged along with war criminals and nationalist forces as being
partially responsible for pushing the Japanese Empire to war and thus
responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor and the atrocities committed
during events such as the Rape of Nanjing. The trials and executions of these
martial artists caused a lot of confusion in Japan that left the people
wondering if Budo was outright illegal or just traditional forms of martial
combat such as Judo or Aikido. A result of this ban and the declaration by
MacArthur the Japanese education system was completely revised with
textbooks being edited and censored for content to the extent of “All warlike
subjects as well as those which are not appropriate under the existing peace
conditions will be eliminated from all the text books of primary, secondary,
and youths’ schools, according to a decision reached by authorities of the
Education Ministry. Furthermore teachers were urged to take caution in
discussing these events as can be “considered unconducive to pacific
thought.” The Vice Minister of Education sent this list to the Shihan Gakko,
Semmon Gakko, and the Koto Gakko: The post-war changes in the
substance, policy, and measures in the instruction of Physical Education are
to be based upon the object of various orders issued by the Ministry after the
termination of the war to conform to the new situation. "Budo" (Kendo,
Judo, Naginata, and Kyudo) included in the curriculum to be abolished.
Furthermore, the above subjects are not to be included in the students’ extra-
curricular activities.” The importance of the martial abilities throughout
Japan’s history, from its feudal class of Samurai to its current emphasis
through shows and movies and martial schools across the globe, shows that
this is not something that the Japanese would have surrendered had they not
been fully dominated and controlled by a foreign power as the Allies were.

Having seen the changes going through Japan after their defeat in the
Second World War via the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it is
 difficult to say that Japan was not indeed occupied by the United States and
her allies. To occupy a land means to seize and control an area by force and
remain in the territory to ensure the new changes take effect. To control is
“to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command”. The nation-
state of Japan was seized territorially as the island of Okinawa, among other
territories, were seized by the United States and Russia as well as the
plethora of soldiers remaining in residence on the mainland from the primary
pacific allied fighters, the United States, Australia, Britain, New Zealand,
and India. The government was entirely overthrown and the constitution
forcibly changed and thousands of years of tradition of faith in the emperor
were destroyed and the control of the people was given to liberal institutions
while replacing and killing those who were in charge prior to the occupation.
The control was further instigated as the military forced changes on the lives
of average Japanese citizens. It is without a doubt that the Allies of the
Second World War not only defeated Japan but occupied a nation that never
before had been successfully invaded.

Davidson “Task Force Smith” http://www.usarj.army.mil/history/tfsmith.aspx

January 17th, 1995. Web. June 29th, 2010

Smith, Charles “Securing the Surrender: Marines in the Occupation of Japan”

http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003143-
00/sec4.htm Web. June 29th, 2010

Hirobumi Ito, “The Constitution of the Empire of Japan”

http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1889con.html Web. Written 1889, July 24rd, 2010

MFA Productions, “Japanese War Crime Trials”

http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/warcrimes.htm Web. Written 2000.
August 7th, 2010
“Japanese History Postwar” http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2124.html August 7th,
2009

Journal of Combative Sport “Documentation Regarding the Judo Ban in Japan”

http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_1202.htm, December 2002. August 7th, 2009