Japan: Post-Occupation Era 1952-80

Political

Inseparable不可分割的 U.S.-Japanese relations: Article 9 of the 1947 Constitution denies Japan the right of making and joining war. It was an American-dictated constitution. Yet, the American attitude changed in the early 1950s, owing to the growing leftist influence in Japan, the Communist takeover取得 of mainland China and the outbreak of the Korean War. The U.S. was no longer worried about a revival復活 of Japanese militarism, but considered Japan to be a partner of her containment strategy圍堵策略 in the Far East against Communist China and the Soviet Union. In late 1951 the Treaty of San Francisco《舊金山條約》and the US-Japan Mutual Security Pact《日美安保條約》 were signed. These treaties were ratified確認 on 28th April 1952. The US-Japan Security Pact was to be renewed at 10-year intervals十年一次. It becomes the cornerstone基石 of Japan’s foreign and defence policies. The Treaty of San Francisco restored full sovereignty主權 and national independence to Japan. However, Japan’s foreign and defence policies were heavily subjected受制於 to the U.S. direction. American troops can use military bases of Japan virtually without restriction. With American approval, a National Police Reserve Force國民警備隊 consisting of 75,000 men was formed in Japan in 1950. In 1954 the Defence Agency防衛廳 was formed. The National Police Reserve changed to the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) 自衛隊. There were ground, maritime and air self-defence forces. The SDF organization, supplies and technological developments were dictated by Americans. The role up to the 1960s was to deal mainly with internal leftist subversion顛覆 of Japan because American troops did not want to get involved. On the other hand, there was little public enthusiasm for expanding military capability. In 1976 there was even an official policy that the military expenses支出 could not exceed 1% of Japan’s GNP. The U.S. never ceased停止 pressuring the Japanese to increase her military spending, but this was widely resented討厭 in Japan. The LDP government tried best to reject the U.S. demands.
One-party rule: In 1952-54 Yoshida Shigeru吉田茂, head of the conservative Liberal Party, was Japan’s Prime Minister. He was forced to resign owing to a scandal醜聞 involving the shipping industry. At that moment, the socialists increased their influence. Hence, to keep itself in power, in November 1955 the Liberal Party merged合併itself with another conservative party, the Democratic Party. They formed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 自民黨 which remained the ruling party of Japan until 1993. The LDP has formed close ties with bureaucrats, bankers and businessmen. The LDP leaders were competent能幹 men who could make the system run. In fact, most experienced bureaucrats who wanted to go further in their careers would join the LDP. The LDP emphases were strengthening the economy, improving people’s livelihood and re-establishing Japan in the eyes of the world, etc. The LDP believed in free enterprises and vowed誓要 to keep the economy running in high gear高速. However, the LDP rejected “local autonomy自治” and lacked grass-root organizations at the village level. Party loyalty is rare at the local level, because candidates often have to compete with members of the same party in the three-to-five man election district. Once elected as a Diet member, a LDP member found that the only way to advance攀升 in the party, to obtain advantages for his district and to gain further campaign funds競選經費was to attach依附 himself to an influential leader within the party. This leads to the formation of personal cliques派系. Thus factionalism派系主義 appears. In 1955-93 political power shifted not among the different parties, but among different factions within the LDP. Because the LDP had been in power so long and it developed close ties with businessmen, scandals usually happened. Externally, the LDP was pro-Western and anti-Communist. Nonetheless, the LDP government carried out a “value-free diplomacy沒有價值觀的外交” to win the goodwill of as many foreign countries as possible.
Weak opposition parties:

甲․The Socialist Party of Japan日本社會黨 (JSP) was formed in 1945. The socialists of Japan were the heirs繼承者of the prewar socialist tradition, Marxist, and to a lesser extent, Christian. They were a permanent opposition after 1948. The socialist leaders were usually drawn from the labour union movement. Some socialists favoured頃向revolutionary Maoism毛澤東思想 and thus sympathetic同情 towards Communist China. They used to argue about whether Japan’s greatest enemy was American imperialism or Japanese monopoly capitalism. Others were in favour of moderate reformism溫和改革主義 and thus hardly distinguishable毫無分別 from the liberal wing of the LDP. Owing to the split分歧 over the US-Japan Mutual Security Pact, ...

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乙․The Japanese Communist Party日本共產黨 (JCP) was formed in 1922 with Soviet encouragement and financial support. In 1952 the JCP won no seat in the Diet because, in the public eyes, it looked too radical and too close to the Communist bloc集團. After 1953 it grew independent of Moscow and Beijing, and developed a strong nationalist emphasis. The JCP moved closer to the model of Euro-communism. It tried to win seats in the Diet constitutionally, instead of attaining獲得 political power with violence. The JCP supporters were mostly blue-collar藍領 workers. In 1979 it won 41 seats in the Lower House. Yet only in serious economic dislocation混亂 could the JCP score獲得 great success in Japanese politics.

丙․The Komeito公明黨 (Clean Government Party) was formed in 1964; it is the only party in Japan associated with a religious (Buddhist) organization, i.e. Soka Gakkai. Until 1967 the Komeito won no seat in the Lower House. It appeals especially to younger people, women, unskilled workers and those with less education. So far the Komeito is not a powerful party in Japan.

Social

The growth rate of the population remained one of the lowest in the world (about 1%). It was due to both public and private efforts. Post office posters contrasted small families of well-fed溫飽, happy children with large families of ill-fed吃不飽, poorly-clothed穿不暖, cheerless children. The government set up family planning clinics. Some factories cooperated in establishing family planning groups. The two-child ideal was propagated宣傳. Moreover, more years of higher education, the postponement推遲 of marriages and the desire to prolong延長 the independence and pleasure of single life made people avoid getting married in the early twenties.
There was redistribution of population within Japan. It became basically urban. In 1945 farm households shared 50% of the population. By 1970 it dropped to less than 20%. In 1972 one of every nine Japanese lived in Tokyo, and one of every four in the Tokyo-Osaka belt東京․大阪地帶. Peasants of this belt are loyal supporters of the LDP; so proposals of re-distributing the election districts are frequently turned down拒絕.
Given the trend趨勢 of urbanization, problems like housing, education, social welfare, sewage disposal污水處理, traffic jams擠塞 and pollution grew serious. In 1967 the Pollution Prevention Law was enacted立法. In 1971 the Environment Agency環境廳was created.
The status of women rose. Yet they still played a minor role in politics. The idea of the conjugal核心 family advanced, too.
There was still no widespread questioning of social, religious and political authority權威. Traditional virtues美德 like loyalty and obedience still exists in many sectors of society.
Life-long employment終身僱用 still prevailed流行 in most enterprises.
Pacifism和平主義 prevails. Military men received low social esteem重視. Their self-image was extremely low. Despite high salaries, the SDF usually found it hard to get enough recruits新兵. There were also usual legal disputes over whether or not the SDF is constitutional合乎憲法, because Article 9 of the 1947 Constitution states clearly that “the Japanese people forever renounce放棄 war as a sovereign right of the nation …… land, sea and air forces as well as other war potential will never be maintained. The right of belligerency交戰權 of the state will not be recognized”.

Cultural

The emperor-state orthodoxy天皇為中心的正統國家思想 was destroyed. The SCAP (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers盟軍最高司令) had denied the divinity神格 of the Emperor. The 1947 Constitution further reduces the Emperor to nothing more than a figurehead象皮圖章. The myth神話of the Emperor continued to decline. Though most Japanese still respect the Emperor and deem認為 him one of the national essence精華, yet the Emperor has no appeal at all to the younger generation.
Fine art was marked by great creativity創造力. Moreover, Japanese cartoons, films and pop singers are very popular both at home and abroad. American influence is strong in influencing Japan’s postwar cultural developments.
Individualism個人主義continued to be a conscious goal among students and younger Japanese.

Economic

The Japanese economy scored tremendous很大的 gains during the Korean War of 1950-53, largely through producing goods and services needed to support the U.N. war efforts there. Japan sold war supplies of about US$4 billion. In return, the US promised to buy 25% of Japanese products. American servicemen軍人also brought about immense鉅大 consumption to Japan. In 1953 the GNP reached 153% of that of 1937.
After 1954 the economic surge遞增 continued, transforming recovery into growth. The GNP increased by 8.6% annually in 1951-55, 9.1% in 1955-60, 9.7% in 1969-65 and 13.1% in 1965-70.

By 1969 Japan manufactured over 5 million cars and trucks貨車 a year. She had numerous很多 non-military atomic reactors原子爐. Her trains and monorails單軌 (子彈) 火車 were world-famous. Her shipyards船塢 were producing tankers油輪 of thousands of tons.
In 1971 Japan shared 11.8% of the world’s gold reserve黃金儲備. In 1976 she shared 12.9% of all the exports of the capitalist world. By 1980 Japanese products defeated American and European counterparts同行對手 in many markets all over the world.
There was a substantial decline in the GNP after the Arab Oil Boycott石油危機 in 1973; in 1974-76 Japan even suffered from a severe recession衰退.

International

In 1952 the Treaty of San Francisco restored full independence and sovereignty to Japan. The SCAP was abolished. On one hand Japan was still under heavy American influence; yet on the other she tried to have an autonomous自主 foreign policy as far as possible.
In 1954 Japan started to pay reparation賠款 to the Asian countries that had suffered from her invasion入侵 during the Pacific War. Thanks to由於 the American intercession代為求情, however, Japan repaid償還 only one-fifth of the reparation.
In 1956 Japan became a member of the U.N. She joined the U.N. agencies like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade關稅及貿易總協定 (GATT), the International Monetary Fund 國際貨幣基金會 (IMF) and the World Bank.
In the same year Japan normalized正常化her relations with the Soviet Union. Yet the Soviet-Japanese relations were very unstable. First, under American influence Japan adopted an anti-communist stance姿態 in her foreign policy. Improvement of the Soviet-Japanese relations had to seek American approval. Second, there were unsolved border disputes邊界糾紛. At the end of the Second World War the Soviet Union had seized奪取 four islands north of Hokkaido「北方四島」. The Soviet leaders considered the islands to be war spoils戰利品 and thus refused to return them to Japan. Hence, so far the Soviet Union and Japan have not yet signed a peace treaty. Actually, Japan depended on the “U.S. nuclear umbrella核保護傘” against the Soviet military threat.
In 1960 when the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Pact was to be renewed, the political left of Japan opposed strongly. The Pact allowed the U.S. to use military bases of Japan, help the Japanese government put down “internal riots” but did not prevent the U.S. from bringing nuclear weapons to Japan. (Since 1964 U.S. nuclear warships visited Japan.) Massive disturbance大規模的騷動 happened in May-June.
Because of the outbreak of the Vietnamese War, anti-U.S. sentiments情緒 appeared in Japan throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. On the other hand, the air and naval bases of Japan were helpful to the U.S. in extending influence to the Arabian Sea阿拉伯海 and Persian Gulf波斯灣, as William E. Griffith points out.
In 1964 Japan became a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 經濟合作發展組織 (OECD). She is the only non-western member of economically advanced nations. In the same year the Olympics was held in Tokyo. It proved that Japan had not only recovered from postwar economic devastation破壞 but emerged崛起 as an affluent富裕country.
In 1965 Japan established diplomatic relations with South Korea. The relations were not good in 1945-60. First, Koreans could not forget the brutal殘暴的 Japanese colonial rule in 1910-45. Second, Koreans feared Japan’s economic domination. Third, both countries had fishing disputes. Fourth, the Japanese government allowed her 600,000 Korean residents to recognize either South or North Korea, which irritated激怒 the South Korean government. Finally, the political left of Japan feared that diplomatic ties with South Korea would jeopardize危害Japan’s relations with North Korea and indirectly harden Japan’s anti-communist stance. Nevertheless, by 1967 Japan became the largest trade partner of South Korea.
In 1967 Prime Minister Sato Eisaku佐藤榮作 enunciated發表 the “three non-nuclear principles” to calm安撫 the pacifist和平主義者的 fear aroused by China’s nuclear experiments and the escalation加劇 of the Vietnamese War. Sooner there were “three principles of arms exports”.
In 1970 the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Pact was renewed. In the same year there held the Osaka International Expo大阪博覽會.
It was estimated that up to 1980 Japanese goods constituted over half of the American trade deficits赤字. The deficit with Japan rose from an annual average of US$500 million in 1966-72 to US$8 billion in 1978. The U.S. was especially angry about the highly protectionist Japanese grain markets. In 1971 the U.S. blamed Japan for the unfavourable balance of trade and so forced the Japanese government to revalue升值the yen, dismantle拆除 protectionist barriers障礙 and speed up the opening of her markets to American products. It resulted in a stiff苯拙的16.8% revaluation of yen.
In 1972 Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei田中角榮 established Japan’s diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. At American insistence堅持, Japan recognized the KMT國民黨 government of Taiwan in 1952. However, the LDP government tried hard to maintain friendly relations with both regimes政權 of China. The KMT and CCP中共 governments relinquished放棄the claim to the reparations respectively. Though Taiwan was of great strategic (Taiwan is located on the oil supply route between Japan and Southeast Asian countries) and economic importance to Japan, yet the political influence of the huge, populous人口眾多 and nuclear-armed mainland China was never negligible忽視. Since the Sino-Soviet border clash衝突 at Zhenbaodao珍寶島 of 1969 the U.S. started to consider Communist China to be an important partner against the Soviet Union. In 1971 the People’s Republic of China was admitted加入 to the U.N. President Nixon尼克遜 even announced his official visit to Beijing. With American implicit approval默許, Japan approached to Communist China.
In 1973 the US returned Okinawa沖繩 to Japan. Henceforth自此, the issue of Diaoyutai釣魚台causes quarrels between Japan and the two regimes of China.
Since 1964 Japan had became the dominant支配性 trade partner of all East Asia, and provided almost one-third of total foreign capital for the region, compared to 23% by the U.S. By 1973 Japanese economic aid援助 to other countries came just next to the U.S. Japan played the leading role in the Asian Development Bank亞洲發展銀行.
However, by 1972 only 10% of all her aid consisted of genuine真正的 aid like grants資助, technical assistance and contributions贈送. Most aid was tied to the procurement採購 of Japanese goods and services.
The ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations東南亞國家協會) was set up in 1967, but Japan did not value重視 its importance until 1977. The ASEAN used to criticize Japan’s insufficient and dishonest economic aid.