Reconstruction and growth of Japan after WWII

After the Second World war, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers. In theory, the Allied Powers should send joint forces to Japan. However, China was preoccupied with civil war; Britain was exhuasted after the war; and the relationship between the US and USSR worsened. Therefore, only the US sent its troops to Japan.

Under the rule of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces( SCAP during 1949-1952, Japan still had elections for the Diet and the Prime Minister. However, the supreme ruler of Japan was the US General Douglas MacArthur. All major policies made by the Japanese government had to seek approval from him before they were carried out.

One of the US occupation's aims was to demilitarise Japan. There, the US, together with other Allied Powers. convened war crime tribunals and tried 6000 Japanese soldiers shortly after the War. At the International Military Ttribunal for the Far East( also known as the Tokyo Trails), some high-ranking Japanese military officers, including the wartime Prime Miniter Tojo Hideki, were found guilty and sentenced to death. Besides, more than 200000 political, business and intellectuals leasers, who supported Japan's expansionist policy, were also purged.

Another aim of the US occupation was to democratise Japan. There, the SCAP government made amendments to Japan's constitution. According to the new constitution:
1. Real political powers, inclduing executive, legislative and judicial powers, were taken away from the Emperor. He became a symbolic leader of Japan only. His position was derived from the will of the people, who owned the sovereign power.
2. The Diet was responsible to people, not the Emperor. Therefore, the Emperor could not dissolce the Diet. While the House of Peers (Upper House)was renamed as the Senate, the name of the House of Representatives(Lower House) remained unchanged. All members of the two houses were elected. Besides, the Lower house would have greater power than the Upper House. For example, the Upper house could not reject the budject proposal apporoved by the Lower House.
3. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet were responsible to the people, not the Emperor.
4. The judciary became independent.
5. The army and navy were disbanned, and they no longer controlled the Cabinet. Japan should never adopt war as its national policy.
6. Voting right was extened to all adult men and women.
7. The Privy Council and the Genro were dissolved. The government would never be controlled by these special bodies.

In 1952, the US officially ended its occupation, and Japan regained autonomy. HOwever, the US contined to have great influence on Japan. For example, Japan follwed the US anti-communist policy after 1952. Japan could only regain its diplomatic autonomy in 1972.
Besides, the US signed the Mutual Security Pact with Japan before it ended its occupation. Therefore, the US troops contined to station in Japan for its defence. They also built up hundreds of military bases in Japan and enjoyed independent judicial rights in these bases. SInce then, traffic accidents, rapes and murders frequently took place in or near the US bases. This aroused widespread of discontent in Japan. The renewal of the Mutal Security Pact remained a major political issue between the US and Japan at the end of the 20th century.

Due to the US democractization policy in Japan, many political parties were founded. Among the political parties, the Liberal Party, the Democractic Party,and the Socialist part were the three biggest parties in Japan. However, none of the three parties could gain majority votes in the elctions of both houses. Therefore, in 1955, the Liberal Party and the Democractic Party decided to merge together and formed a new political party called the iberal Democractic Party (LDP). The LDP was the top political party that dominated Japan's politics before 1993.
At the same time, the LSP was affected by series of corruption scandals, sucha as the corruption scandal that ended with the resignation of Prime Minster Tanka Kakuei in 1974, the 1989 Recuit Scandal and the 1995 Sagawa Kyubn Scandal. Due to these political scandals, the LDP failed to secure a majority in the 1993 election and could not longer dominate Japan's politics.