Scap Reforms and Their Legacy

783 Words4 Pages
Jennifer Chou Professor Akemi Reeves Asia 31611 10 February 2012 SCAP Reforms and Their Legacy After Japan’s unconditional surrender to the US, the Japanese system was quickly moderated under SCAP. SCAP, which stands for Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, headed by General Douglas MacArthur, governed the Japanese people during the US Occupation from 1945 to 1952 with three goals in mind: demilitarization, democratization, and decentralization. The foremost aspect of SCAP was to ensure demilitarization to take place, bagging the risk of another Japanese military expansion. This was achieved via Article 9 of the new Constitution which prohibited the Japanese from building up a military (11). Besides stripping Japan of its military arms, soldiers who were posted at various locations in the large Asian empire during World War II were repatriated (8). The SDF became controversial because Article 9 banned the maintenance of a military yet Japan has one of the largest defense budgets (11). The new Constitution not only demilitarized the nation, it also aimed to democratize Japanese society. A new Constitution was written in 1946 and it brought about changes from the Meiji constitution that shifted Japan away from its prewar policies. An important pillar of the Constitution was the introduction of the idea that sovereignty comes from the people because it eliminated the higher privileges of the aristocracy (11). Another new feature of the new Constitution is the rights of women; giving Japanese women voting power, a power which women from many other countries had fought for decades before it was granted. Popular sovereignty and the rights of women are only two among thirty-one civil and human rights granted by the constitution that was denied by the preceding Meiji Constitution. Land reform enacted in 1946 and unions also sought to democratize Japan (12).

More about Scap Reforms and Their Legacy

Open Document