The political purge in occupied Japan : implementation and effects

The Allied forces in occupied Japan had two main tasks: to punish and eliminate from public life those found responsible for war crimes, and to democratise the country. One of the tools used to achieve these objectives was a large-scale political purge targeted against the pre-war military and political elite, members of nationalist organisations, employees of the state administration and media, educators and business leaders. The paper examines the rationale behind the purge organized between 1945 and 1952, the assumptions upon which it was based, procedures used and the effects that it had. The main focus is on the fate of political activists. It also presents the efforts to prepare the ground in parliament for a vote on a new, pacifist constitution and the way in which Cold War tensions changed the priorities of the US occupation and lead to the so-called red purge. Selected individual cases are analysed, including that of Hatoyama Ichirōwhose removal from politics and subsequent conflict with Yoshida Shigeru had far reaching implications for the post-war political scene in Japan.