Christina T's Library tagged postwar → View Popular

05 Dec 08

After World War II had ended, Japan was devastated. All the large cities (with the exception of Kyoto), the industries and the transportation networks were severely damaged. A severe shortage of food continued for several years.
The whole operation was mainly carried out by the United States.
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- Over 500 military officers committed suicide right after Japan surrendered, and many hundreds more were executed for committing war crimes.
- A new constitution went into effect in 1947: The emperor lost all political and military power, and was solely made the symbol of the state.
- Critics started to grow when the United States acted increasingly according to her self interests in the Cold War, reintroduced the persecution of communists, stationed more troops in Japan, and wanted Japan to establish an own self defence force despite the anti-war article in the constitution.
- With the peace treaty that went into effect in 1952, the occupation ended. Japan's Self Defence Force was established in 1954, accompanied by large public demonstrations. Great public unrest was also caused by the renewal of the US-Japan Security Treaty of 1960.
- After the Korean War, and accelerated by it, the recovery of Japan's economy flourished.
- Japan's relations to the Soviet Union were normalized in 1956, the ones to China in 1972.