PACIFIC CENTURY, THE: REINVENTING JAPAN (TV)
Summary
The fifth episode in this ten-week documentary series on the history of the Asia-Pacific region. This episode covers the period after World War II, when the U.S. occupied Japan and imposed a plan of reforms to rebuild the broken nation. Included are archival footage, newsreels, and interviews, accompanied by narration. With its cities in ruin and its population unemployed and starving, Japan was occupied by the U.S. Supreme Allied Commanding Powers (SCAP), led by General Douglas MacArthur, which planned to create a New Deal-style democracy for Japan, according to Milton Esman of the Government Section, SCAP. Emperor Hirohito resigned himself to the changes and formed an alliance of sorts with MacArthur. Faubion Bowers, aide to General MacArthur, says the general respected the power Hirohito had wielded, and refused to have him tried as a war criminal. Topics covered include: the SCAP plan to promote democracy by ending Japanese censorship and flooding the country with American culture; removing high-ranking military and business figures and placing war criminals such as Hideki Tojo on trial; and MacArthur's release of imprisoned communists in an effort to decentralize power and break up business conglomerates. Esman and Col. Charles Kades, deputy chief of the Goverment Section, state that writing a new Japanese constitution was an honor, but also a huge responsibility for a group without expert constitutional knowledge. The Japanese government was shocked by the role that Richard Poole conceived for the emperor, by the women's rights that Beate Sirota Gordon included, and by MacArthur's insistence that Japan dismantle its military. Because its principles had strong public support, and due to imminent elections, the government was pressed to accept the constitution. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone argues that while the principles were in line with Japanese popular demand, the constitution and reforms should have been under Japanese control. Major changes discussed include: new cultural freedom, as expressed by filmmaker Akira Kurosawa; land reform, as the government redistributed land to small farmers; and labor reform that led to the establishment of large, powerful unions. As the economy failed to improve, unions planned a strike that would immobilize the country, and U.S. and Japanese conservatives, alarmed by the rise of communism in the world, became concerned. Joseph Dodge and the U.S. military helped Japan initiate a movement called the "the reverse course," which rebuilt big businesses, removed labor leaders, and balanced the budget, causing political and economic instability that was alleviated only by the Korean War. Former Time magazine correspondent Frank Gibney says that with the Cold War, the U.S. wanted Japan to re-militarize and act as an ally in Asia. Prime Minister Hiichi Miyazawa reflects on the U.S. policy shift from helping Japan achieve an ideal democracy to using the country as a Pacific base. Clyde Prestowitz of the Economic Strategy Institute discusses the economic agenda that Japan developed in spite of U.S. efforts to mold the nation. The program concludes with a discussion of the steel, automobile, and electronic industries that Japan nurtured, and the economy that remains traditionally Japanese after the transitions of the post-war period.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1999.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 14, 1992 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:37021
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Japan
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1992
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Alex Gibney … Executive Producer, Writer
- Alan Poul … Co-Producer
- Andrea Malin … Associate Producer
- Robert Boress … Music by
- Peter Coyote … Narrator
- David Sage … Voice
- James Shigeta … Voice
- Faubion Bowers
- Joseph Dodge
- Milton Esman
- Frank Gibney
- Beate Sirota Gordon
- Emperor Hirohito
- Charles Kades
- Akira Kurosawa
- Douglas MacArthur
- Hiichi Miyazawa
- Yasuhiro Nakasone
- Richard Poole
- Clyde Prestowitz
- Hideki Tojo