July 19,2010
“Japan should be a Switzerland of the Orient,” stated Douglas MacArthur, commander of the General Headquaters (GHQ) of the allied forces occupying postwar Japan.
Anti-communist bulwark
To wipe out militarism from Japan and absolutely deny Japan the right to rearm, the United States had thought of making Japan a permanently neutral country like Switzerland. In fact, the GHQ rejected a new constitutional draft submitted by Japan, which left room for Japan’s rearmament, and proposed a draft stipulating that Japan renounces “war as a sovereign right of the nation” and never maintaining “war potential.” Public opinion supported this draft, and accordingly, the present Constitution of Japan was enacted.
However, inside the United States, the strategy of “containing communism” emerged, triggered by President Truman’s speech in March 1947. Opinions turned strongly towards the need to make Japan an anti-communist bulwark, not a Switzerland in the Orient.
This is clear from the secret memorandum of Secretary of U.S. Army Kenneth C. Royal, titled “Limited Military Armament for Japan,” dated May 18, 1948.
It states that “the establishment of Japanese armed forces is desirable as such forces would effect economies in utilization of our own limited manpower. But the establishment of armed forces would require amendment of the Constitution of Japan, as well as U.S. withdrawal from the Potsdam Declaration.”
The memorandum stated that it is desirable for Japan to possess armaments with a view to make up for the U.S. shortfall of military personnel so that Japan, located at a strategic key point, be not taken by the Soviet Union.
From the very beginning, the United States was aware that Japan’s rearmament violates the Constitution. However, it was unthinkable for the Japanese people to vote for changing the Constitution to rearm Japan, and the ruling party at that time had control of less than two thirds of the House of Representatives, the qualification required to propose constitutional revision.
Preposterous lie of the era
Pressed by the urgent need to dispatch U.S. ground forces stationed in Japan to respond to the outbreak of the Korean War in May 1950, the United States had to immediately rearm Japan to fill the U.S. military void.
MacArthur had no choice but to obscure the relationship between the Constitution and Japan’s rearmament. On July 8, 1950, he sent a letter ordering Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru to establish the National Police Reserve of 75,000 as a police force and that the Coast Guard staff be increased by 8,000.
In October of that year, a secret program was set up to heavily rearm the National Police Reserve with 75,000 M1 carbines, trench mortars, rocket launchers, light tanks, and 105 mm howitzers. The National Police Reserve was shifted to the National Safety Forces in 1952. In July 1954, it evolved into the Self-Defense Forces.
Frank Kowalski Jr. who took part in the establishment of the National Police Reserve as the chief of staff of the U.S. military advisory panel said that “a gigantic lie of the era, in which the United States and I myself as part of it is to start. ... A nation’s constitution, which is likely to be the greatest achievement in the political history of mankind, is going to be tampered with and trampled on by Japan and the United States.” Thus, he disclosed the criminality of Japan’s rearmament which was carried out under the Constitution stipulating non-possession of war potential (Chuko Bunko on The Rearmament of Japan).
Japan’s rearmament thus started from the preposterous lie of the postwar era. This is how the SDF started and why it has increased in strength in subordination to United States interests.
- Akahata, July 19, 2010
Anti-communist bulwark
To wipe out militarism from Japan and absolutely deny Japan the right to rearm, the United States had thought of making Japan a permanently neutral country like Switzerland. In fact, the GHQ rejected a new constitutional draft submitted by Japan, which left room for Japan’s rearmament, and proposed a draft stipulating that Japan renounces “war as a sovereign right of the nation” and never maintaining “war potential.” Public opinion supported this draft, and accordingly, the present Constitution of Japan was enacted.
However, inside the United States, the strategy of “containing communism” emerged, triggered by President Truman’s speech in March 1947. Opinions turned strongly towards the need to make Japan an anti-communist bulwark, not a Switzerland in the Orient.
This is clear from the secret memorandum of Secretary of U.S. Army Kenneth C. Royal, titled “Limited Military Armament for Japan,” dated May 18, 1948.
It states that “the establishment of Japanese armed forces is desirable as such forces would effect economies in utilization of our own limited manpower. But the establishment of armed forces would require amendment of the Constitution of Japan, as well as U.S. withdrawal from the Potsdam Declaration.”
The memorandum stated that it is desirable for Japan to possess armaments with a view to make up for the U.S. shortfall of military personnel so that Japan, located at a strategic key point, be not taken by the Soviet Union.
From the very beginning, the United States was aware that Japan’s rearmament violates the Constitution. However, it was unthinkable for the Japanese people to vote for changing the Constitution to rearm Japan, and the ruling party at that time had control of less than two thirds of the House of Representatives, the qualification required to propose constitutional revision.
Preposterous lie of the era
Pressed by the urgent need to dispatch U.S. ground forces stationed in Japan to respond to the outbreak of the Korean War in May 1950, the United States had to immediately rearm Japan to fill the U.S. military void.
MacArthur had no choice but to obscure the relationship between the Constitution and Japan’s rearmament. On July 8, 1950, he sent a letter ordering Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru to establish the National Police Reserve of 75,000 as a police force and that the Coast Guard staff be increased by 8,000.
In October of that year, a secret program was set up to heavily rearm the National Police Reserve with 75,000 M1 carbines, trench mortars, rocket launchers, light tanks, and 105 mm howitzers. The National Police Reserve was shifted to the National Safety Forces in 1952. In July 1954, it evolved into the Self-Defense Forces.
Frank Kowalski Jr. who took part in the establishment of the National Police Reserve as the chief of staff of the U.S. military advisory panel said that “a gigantic lie of the era, in which the United States and I myself as part of it is to start. ... A nation’s constitution, which is likely to be the greatest achievement in the political history of mankind, is going to be tampered with and trampled on by Japan and the United States.” Thus, he disclosed the criminality of Japan’s rearmament which was carried out under the Constitution stipulating non-possession of war potential (Chuko Bunko on The Rearmament of Japan).
Japan’s rearmament thus started from the preposterous lie of the postwar era. This is how the SDF started and why it has increased in strength in subordination to United States interests.
- Akahata, July 19, 2010
