Japanese Pacifist Constitution

The Warrior class were part of the social class in Japan that included Shoguns, Daimyos and Samurais. The Shoguns would rule the Daimyos, who had control over the Samurais. Japan’s warrior class led to a lasting effect, enhanced weapons and effect on the social class which led to the alteration of the warrior class’ roles.

When Japan was at the turning point of its economy and in the process of forming a new government, Nakae Chomin wrote A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government, a political theory book that primarily deals with question of Japan’s future with an interesting debate between Champion and the Gentleman. Character Champion thought that Japan should step out of their isolated island and become more forceful in its handling of foreign disputes. He believed that Japan will stay weak if Japan did not have the strength and forces to conquer other nations. The Western learning Gentleman on the other side is a proponent of the modern Western notion of liberty and equality. He criticized Western nations for maintaining large armies that drained their economy. He suggested that Japan should abandon all attempts to compete with the West militarily and commit itself fully to the values that the West did not have. Approximately sixty years has passed since then, and Champion, Gentleman, and Master Nankai have gathered around once again to discuss the postwar Japan, the rise of the militarism, imperialist aggression, and the subsequent adoption

The samurai were the feudal warriors of ancient Japan. For thousands of years they upheld the code of bushido, the way of the warrior. Samurai were around for thousands of years, but when did they disappear? Does the code of bushido still exist to this day? Exploring the history of the samurai will give an explanation to what has happened to these formidable warriors.

Finally, while many Americans of Japanese descent were being gathered into detention centers, others were fighting overseas. Over 30,000 Japanese Americans fought in World War II and these soldiers earned many medals and awards, even the Congressional Medal of Honor, while in service for the United States.

With recent tensions rising between North Korea and the world, it is no surprise that the Japanese citizens are aligning themselves with a nationalist government. Japanese Prime Minister Abe has started to consider revoking the disarmament treaty. Revoking it would let Japan increase spending on the military, which would ultimately result in a much larger and advanced military. Although rearming the Japanese military would improve security in the country, it would only increase the tension, doing damage to not only myself, but future generations of Japanese citizens.

On May 1945, a long-awaited V-E Day finally came and brought an end to the war in Europe. But, the war in the Pacific was still continuing against Japan since they are being reluctant to surrender despite the continuous indiscriminate bombardments The United States began to consider about using the atomic bombs as the only way to end the war immediately. On the other hand, many argued that Japan’s staggering losses were enough to force Japan’s surrender. In the end, President Harry S. Truman didn’t hesitate to use this nuclear weapon and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with only three days interval between the two bombing. As a result, Japan has surrendered, but if I were to make a decision, I haven’t used atomic bombs because it was unnecessary since Japan has virtually lost already.

The research question of this essay is “To what extent was the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War Justified? In 1945, the United States authorized the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first bomb, dropped on August 6th 1945, had a total casualty rate of 135,000, including non-combatant civilians, and as this, the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War has indeed been a hugely discussed topic within academic and social circles until today. There have been historians, academics, and other influential individuals throughout the world who have argued on both sides of the spectrum regarding the effects of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and whether they were necessary and justified towards the ending of the conflict. According to the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by 1944, it had become clear to both the United States and the Empire of Japan that Japan was indeed losing the war, and as this, there are many arguments and counterarguments regarding the effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Japan, as well as suggestions regarding alternatives due to the enormous human toll the bomb caused.

Article 9. The Diet shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Every person shall have freedom of religious belief, and the special privileges that every shrine has ever had shall be abolished.

The goal that America had was for Japan to become a Democratic nation. This goal was difficult to accomplish because there were concerns of communism rising in Japan. The Americans believed communism was a major threat and wanted no part of it in the US or Japan. It was important to steer the Japanese people away from communism and towards Democracy. Macarthur used news systems in Japan to spread democratic ideas and to allow the Japanese people to better understand democracy. The lives of the Japanese people were changed by a few different things. For children, the education system was modified, democratic ideas were encouraged. Laws regulating families were also changed according to the new way of life. Macarthur arranged occupation policies to address the weakened economy, and tax reforms were created and sent out to the people. There were also attempts to control inflation. Besides the introduction of the Constitution, there was another major political introduction. The supreme political institution had been changed to be the Parliament of Japan, the Diet, which was to be made up of freely elected representatives of the people. Japan was not use to having a parliament, but it was a good decision by Macarthur and has made Japan very successful. Macarthur oversaw the most fundamental transformation of Japanese society in the country’s history. In many ways, this was more fundamental that

The following day on December eighth,1941, the United States declared war on Japan.2 Throughout the war, advances in technology and warfare strategy would lead to a considerably larger casualty count. Some of these notable advancements include the airlift, anti-aircraft weaponry, the jet aircraft, and the strategies of naval warfare. Tanks had now evolved into main weapons for land warfare. Some notable advancements in the weapons department are the portable machine gun and the assault rifle. However, the most important advancement is the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb would be used in 1945 to force the Japanese into surrendering.3 Long before the bomb was dropped, Japan was given a list of terms for surrender known as the Potsdam Declaration. Some of these terms were as follows: war against Japan will not end until Japan surrenders. The United States cannot and will not deviate from the terms given to Japan for complete surrender. The Japanese military shall be disarmed and allowed to return home safely with no consequences. The Japanese people will not be enslaved or annihilated. Japan can

Ladies and gentlemen of the American senate and President Truman. We are gathered in this room to weigh the options that have been brought to the table on how to manage our war with Japan. With the recent completion of the atomic bomb and its readiness for the battlefield apparent, we are here to show that dropping the bomb in a mainly unpopulated part of Japan not only wins this war the second it hits earth, but also ensures the safety of this country far into the future.

The first steps taken to help to change the Japanese government was changing the constitution. When, General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the American occupation, chose to revise the Meiji Constitution, he wanted to leave Japan with a lasting alteration (LaFeber 266). The Japanese officials such as the Matsumoto-Yoshida group, who were part of the Shidehara Cabinet, tried to thwart MacArthur’s plan for the constitution (LaFeber 267). The group tried to keep the constitution unchanged, which left the document superficial and conservative (McClain 538). For example, human rights in the revised constitution, were not made absolute (McClain 538). Therefore, the rights could be barred by legislation (McClain 538). The Shidehara Cabinet also restated the principle of imperial sovereignty (McClain 538). Fortunately, the public outcry gave MacArthur more motivation to select General Courtney Whitney, chief of the Government Section of GHQ, to prepare a model constitution that could guide the Shidehara Cabinet (McClain 539). The GHQ daft created a more democratic and egalitarian Japan, that also disestablished Shinto and separated church from state (McClain 540). The GHQ daft affirmed the principle of parliamentary power by proclaiming the Diet to be, “the highest organ of state power”, which made the Diet responsible for appointing a prime minister and his cabinet (McClain

“Japan Surrenders, End of War!” The significance of the primary source informs the audience what was occurring during the unconditional surrender of Japan. It was written by Arthur Krock an American Journalist and political analysts. Mr. Krock was famously known for his serene analysis within the political matters of the United States and foreign affairs. In creating an interesting news article he created a tone of pride and victory. The New York Times classify him as a conservative with a victorious approach in the midst of the United States and the Allied Victory against Japan. On the other hand the process of hope and believing the Japanese truly surrendering was still uncertain. However it became known as auspicious victory for the Americans and the Allied Force. During the front half of twentieth century it was a period of modernization and reformation throughout the world. On the contrary Japan modernization and conquest of expanding its empire became known to have a significant impact internationally. It opens its doors to the world by agreement in trade, foreign influence, and territorial expansion. However, Japan long superiority has forced to take a new path of reforming its society because of the disastrous conquest to gain power. Now Japan has to position its nation to inferiority due to the devastating atomic bomb,

Between 1968 and 1912, Japan was going through a reformation called Meiji Restoration in order make the country strong as western countries. It had caused changes in many parts of Japan such as society, government, military, etc. Some of these changes still can be seen in the Japanese society today such as emperors are honored by Japanese citizens and seen as a special figure. Since this reformation had a great impact on development of Japan, it can be consider as a very important part of Japanese history.This study will seek to answer the question: To what extent did the Meiji Restoration succeeded to reform and strengthen Japan? In order to answer the question, the investigation will analyze military reform and economic reform caused by

     Over the past fifty years Japan has seen significant changes in all aspects of its society and the way it interacts with the outside world. For example, despite suffering a defeat in World War II, Japan soon became one of Asia’s greatest economic powers. In Japan in Transformation, 1952 - 2000, Jeffrey Kingston focuses on various aspects of change in Japanese society and politics in the period after World War II. These include the effect of the US occupation, analysis of postwar politics, the economic boom, changes in demographics, the treatment of women, and foreign policy and security issues.