"The war had cost Japan 1,855,000 dead and 678,000 wounded or missing... A third of all industrial machinery had been destroyed by bombing and a quarter of all buildings. Of the major cities only Kyoto, Nara and Kamakura had been spared devastation. When they landed at the end of August 1945 even the conquerors were stunned at the scale of the destruction. " -page 167 Tames, Richard A TravelerÕs History of Japan Interlink Books, Brooklyn, NY, 1993.
EDUCATIONAL REFORM
The Occupation instituted a range of reforms in education, creating an American-style system in Japan. First, schools were made coeducational, and the compulsory education system, which previously ended with grammar school, now included junior high school, making attendance nearly universal for nine years of schooling: this is called a 6-3-3-4 structure, meaning six years of grammar school, three each of junior and senior high school and four of university.
With postwar reconstruction and growing affluence also came a demand for more higher education. Getting a good job was closely associated with a high status educational credential, but any higher education was valued. There simply weren't enough places in existing colleges and universities for all that wanted to pass through "the narrow gate" to a degree, and in response, some former high schools were converted to colleges and there were many small colleges opened. The quality of some of these was low, leading to the expression, "ekiben daigaku", or station lunchbox university, referring to the ready-made cheap lunches sold at railroad stations.
POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION AND THE ROLE OF THE ALLIED OCCUPATION
Even before the end of the war, in August of 1945, a grand blueprint for a new society was already in place for Japan, designed by American planners. But the Allied Occupation, which lasted from 1945 to 1952, was not only an exercise in American cultural hegemony, but also a period of adaptation, of self-reconstruction on the part of the Japanese, and of the creation of a new notion of Japan itself.
The immediate aftermath of the war was chaotic, and the first necessity was the creation of stability and the distribution of resources -- food and housing. The next priority was purging war criminals, and the punishment of those most responsible in the war effort. Even teachers and principals whose propaganda activity had been marked were purged. But the most lasting reforms were economic and social.
The first period of the Occupation, fromk 1945 to 1947, was the time of greatest social development and implementation. Political reforms, economic and land reforms, and social reforms were part of the grand and optimist experiment, designed to create a new democracy in Asia. Chief among the first reforms were the redistribution of land -- allowing farmers to own that amount of land they could cultivate themselves, and providing for tenants' rights and rent controls.
Labor policies were also introduced: labor unions had existed in Japan since the Taisho period, (1912-1926) but were now organized again on American principles, allowing the workers to organize and bargain collectively. There were two kinds of unions emergent at this time -- the company or enterprise union, based in a single organization and including management and workers, and the trade union, organizing by trade across companies. By 1946, one-third of the labor force was unionized, a remarkable achievement.
After 1947, however, less liberal forces controlled the direction of the Occupation as the "reverse course" appeared, fueled by fears of the spread of communism in Asia. This led American Occupation leaders to clamp down on union activity, and in general to see Japan as a bulwark against communism, rather than the social democracy which had been shaping since 1945. Strikes were broken up, and the trust-busting which had broken up the large war-time combines was slowed to a near-halt.
The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 further focussed the Americans on Japan as a security buffer -- but also contributed enormously to postwar growth, as Japan was a staging point for war activity. Of course, the precursors to growth were already in place: stable birth rate, close relationship between government and business, highly trained and disciplined workers, and the steady import of high technology and export of quality goods. (Source: Kodansha, The Encyclopedia of Japan, "Occupation")
