740.00119 Control (Japan)/2–1649
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Northeast Asian Affairs (Bishop) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)
I am attaching a letter and a memorandum from Dr. Edwin Reischauer1 following his recent visit to Japan as a member of the [Page 663] Cultural and Social Science Mission. So penetrating and pertinent are Mr. Reischauer’s observations on the current Japanese scene that they are summarized below with the thought that you may wish to bring them to the Secretary’s attention.
Summary
Whereas several years ago the Japanese looked upon the occupation as a unified, all-powerful force, centering around an infallible leader, they have come to see it today as a conglomeration of persons having conflicting views and widely varying abilities. In fact, they have become overly cynical about intra-headquarters differences and overly prone to attempt to pit one American official against another. Even General MacArthur has lost his aura of sanctity.
The Japanese have not forgotten who won the war and they continue to be grateful for America’s generosity during the Occupation. This reservoir of goodwill is, however, being increasingly undermined by countless petty irritations inevitable in any occupation, notably, the contrast between lush Occupation and poverty-stricken Japanese living standards, as well as the usual number of atrocity stories involving occupation troops, This irritation with the occupation was significantly demonstrated by the returns of the recent election which resulted in a resounding defeat of those parties which were tainted with “collaboration” with General Headquarters.
The reasons for rapidly growing Communist sympathy in Japan are: (a) Communism’s clear-cut opposition to the Occupation, (b) the fact that any simple positive creed has special appeal for a people intellectually at sea, (c) our own mistaken information policy which has managed to preserve the “forbidden fruits” charm of Communism. These attitudes are warnings that we have failed to carry out a program of positive education on the fundamentals of modern democracy or to keep the Japanese in touch with intellectual and political currents of the outside world. They have been given no basic understanding of democratic philosophy, but merely a series of half-understood techniques associated with the democratic system in the U.S. The Japanese are “crying for information, but we have so reduced the flow that they have been forced to drink from the stream of Communist propaganda to attempt to quench their thirst”. Many Japanese intellectuals have swung over to Communism in the last few months.
To some extent the growing Japanese dissatisfaction with the occupation is a sign of the success of our first lesson in democracy, for an attitude of criticism is an inherent feature of any democracy, but it is essential that this developing critical attitude not be converted into outright hostility toward the occupation and its objectives.
Taking all these various factors into consideration, there seems to be indicated a cautious, gradual transformation of Japan to independent statehood, with the U.S. retaining certain military safeguards and perhaps advisory functions in the many fields where reforms are incomplete and with some sort of international control over Japan of a negative nature. The transition of Japan to an independent, democratic state will probably be easier and safer to make today than five or ten years later.
- Dr. Edwin O. Reischauer, Associate Professor of Far Eastern Languages, Harvard University; letter and memorandum of February 4, not printed.↩