With the U.S. occupation, the nationalism that the Allies identified as a key to Japan’s aggression was quelled. The occupational force’s goal was to demilitarize, decentralize and democratize the Japanese state and by doing so, weaken Japan in order to prevent any possibility of future conflict. These goals were achieved through the policies set forth by SCAP in the years directly after the Allied victory. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Japan worked hard to separate itself from the ultra-nationalistic military state that it had become by 1945, as well as focused on forging new alliances, especially with the U.S. in the wake of the Cold War. This dramatic change in Japan’s ‘war mentality’ ultimately set Japan on the path for economic growth as well to becoming one of the most peaceful countries of the 21st
With the U.S. occupation, the nationalism that the Allies identified as a key to Japan’s aggression was quelled. The occupational force’s goal was to demilitarize, decentralize and democratize the Japanese state and by doing so, weaken Japan in order to prevent any possibility of future conflict. These goals were achieved through the policies set forth by SCAP in the years directly after the Allied victory. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Japan worked hard to separate itself from the ultra-nationalistic military state that it had become by 1945, as well as focused on forging new alliances, especially with the U.S. in the wake of the Cold War. This dramatic change in Japan’s ‘war mentality’ ultimately set Japan on the path for economic growth as well to becoming one of the most peaceful countries of the 21st