Over a long period the Japanese were forced to lead a harsh life under the despotism of the military, living always apprehensively aware of the eyes of the secret police on them; many of the people, at the very latest in the closing stages of the war, became clearly aware of the fact that their real enemy was not Britain and America, but the Japanese military itself. A short while after the surrender, when the Japanese people realised that the Allied Occupation was nowhere near as hard as they had imagined it would be, they ceased to fear the allied forces. What is more they even felt grateful towards them, regarding them as the army of liberation for which they had themselves, been waiting. It is a fact that among those soldiers of the occupation army sent to Japan at first morale was high and military discipline strict. There was virtually no trouble between these soldiers and the Japanese and it was, in effect, a model occupation.

In the initial stages the object of occupation policy was to reform Japan, which hitherto had been full of vitality but militaristic and aggressive, into a country which might be somewhat more restrained but peaceful and democratic and based on the free enterprise system. In November 1945, General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, issued a directive to Prime Minister Shidehara, laying down five major reforms; these were female suffrage, the right of labour to organise, liberal education, abolition of autocratic government and democratisation of the economy. On the basis of these the election laws were amended, labour unions were formed and the education system reformed.