Elites in post-war Japan
score:2
To add to Tyler's answer: you'll find that the majority of bureaucrats and public servants are graduates of Todai (University of Tokyo), and gaining admittance to that university is considered the prerequisite to high bureaucratic office in Japan. This actually did not change before and after the War at all.
With any upheaval like the surrender, there will be changes, but the changes are not as extreme as you think.
To give a few more easy examples.
Kishi Nobusuke was the Economic Manager of Manchuko and later Deputy Minister of Munitions in the Tojo cabinet (Tojo was also the Minister, so Kishi effectively was Minister) - he became Prime Minister in the 50's.
Sato Eisaku is Kishi Nobusuke's brother (Kishi was originally surnamed Sato), he became Prime Minister in the 60's.
Hosokawa Morihiro was the grandson of Konoe Fumimaro, who was three-times Prime Minister before the war. Hosokawa himself became Prime Minister in the 90's. The Hosokawa clan was a Daimyo during Medieval Japan, and Konoe was one of the five Fujiwara clans eligible to become regent before the modern Era.
Aso Taro is Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru's Grandson. Prime Minister Yoshida was a diplomat before the War. He became Prime Minister in the 2000's
Abe Shinzo is Kishi Nobusuke's Grandson, He is the current Prime Minister.
Notorious War criminal (though never tried because they never caught him) Colonel Tsuji Masanobu was elected to the House of Councilors after the war (he showed up in Japan one day after they called off the search).
General Staff Chief of Operations Colonel Hattori Takushiro, Tsuji Masanobu's "partner" during the war, was not only tasked to write the Japanese military history of the war, but was briefly considered to be the organizer of the precursor to the JSDF (recommended by Charles Willoughby no less - but Yoshida Shigeru blocked it.)
Koizumi Matajiro was a Diet member and Minister during the Taisho Period - his son, grandson, and great-grandson all "inherited" his Diet seat. His Grandson is the Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro.
Upvote:0
Before World War II, power in Japan was concentrated in the hands of a small group of men, answerable only to the emperor, who ruled the country essentially as an oligarchy. After the war several changes were made that ended this situation. One is that about 200,000 men who had wielded power previously were specifically banned from public office. Another is that Japan was converted into a representative government in which the people, including women voted for members of the diet (parliament). Finally, many large land holdings were broken up and their ownership distributed to many different people, instead of allowing them to be concentrated in the hands of a key, privileged individual.
Japan still has an internal status system in which members of prominent clans and families are given preference both in government and the private sector, but political power is much more diversified than in the pre-War period.
More post
- 📝 When was the change from kalends, ides and nones to numbers
- 📝 Why you must wait before claiming "historical knowledge"
- 📝 Why were Royal Navy ships forbidden to attack the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo in Argentinian waters?
- 📝 What are some examples of rulers immediately incorporating conquered population's army into their own?
- 📝 In multimember constituencies of the House of Commons, how many votes did each voter have?
- 📝 Did Kuwait use to ban women from driving?
- 📝 How did the Romans discover dry cleaning?
- 📝 What does Carlyle mean by 'essence' in 'History is the essence of innumerable Biographies'?
- 📝 How big was the kapa trade out of Hawaii?
- 📝 When did Emperor Hirohito gave an address about suicides and non-productive jobs?
- 📝 What alloy was used in early steam turbines? (1900 - 1930)
- 📝 Was Yahweh one of the Moloch Gods?
- 📝 Fanons 'Concerning Violence' makes the point that Nazism was the culminating point of the project of European Colonialism, how true is that?
- 📝 What are the historical reasons for the conventional map orientation?
- 📝 How did cities operate in medieval times?
- 📝 Were there ever Taoist missionaries?
- 📝 Is there a quote that expresses Mill's opposition to Indian democracy?
- 📝 Who were Alexander's historians that wrote about Indian social conditions?
- 📝 US Citizenship Prior to the 14th Amendment
- 📝 UK involvement in Yugoslavia during WW2
- 📝 Were there any abolitionists imprisoned for being critical of the Congress or the President during the American Civil War?
- 📝 What is the average travel speed for railways between European capitals in the late 19th century?
- 📝 After the Mongol Empire fell, did China really turn away from math and physics?
- 📝 Does any library hold the archives of the Russian-American Company?
- 📝 Were some Yugoslav "nationalities" more pro-Axis/Allied than others during World War II
- 📝 Is there any record of the premature obituary of Alfred Nobel?
- 📝 What are the historical equivalents of cooperative storytelling like modern role-playing games?
- 📝 What is the methodogy used to determine the exact genetic flow from one area to another and the times in which it flowed?
- 📝 How were provincial Roman accounting and taxes handled under Hadrian?
- 📝 What percentage of people in 14th century England owned any armour?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why didn't Imperial Japan attack the Soviet Union during World War 2?
- 📝 Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
- 📝 What were the post World War 2 effects on Germany?
- 📝 By mid-1945, was Japan capable of maintaining the war even in the absence of further direct American attacks?
- 📝 Were there reasons for Japan to go to war with the US aside from the US owning Philippines?
- 📝 Did Japan ever pay Russia war reparations after WW2? Why or why not?
- 📝 Did Japan make a contribution to World War II way out of proportion to its nominal relative GDP?
- 📝 Why did General Billy Mitchell regard war with Japan as inevitable as early as 1912?
- 📝 During the Second World War, did the Germans expect that Japan would declare war on Russia?
- 📝 To what extent was the Cold War caused by post World War 2 economics?
- 📝 Does any evidence exist that suggests Hitler’s primary reason for declaring war on America was an attempt to draw Japan into his war with Russia?
- 📝 What was the death rate of Germans outside Germany's post war border after World War 2?
- 📝 How was Pre-Samurai Japan structured ? What part did solders and warriors play in the yayoi culture and how did the Yamato state wage war ?
- 📝 What did the post world war two civilian food ration consist of in the UK?
- 📝 Elites in post-war Japan
- 📝 Post world war one mandates model
- 📝 Can you tell me the name and location of post war camp in the Netherlands
- 📝 Russian war reparations from Germany post WW2
- 📝 What ship is this in Sasebo, Japan Harbor, Korean War Era?
- 📝 How Likely Was a French Alliance with Italy or Japan in World War I?
- 📝 Why did Japan never "apologize" enough for World War 2?
- 📝 Had anyone envisioned a "wipeout" scenario for Japan in the Pacific for World War II?
- 📝 What were the technological differences between Japan and the USA in World War 2?
- 📝 Why was France granted an equal status among victors of World War II?
- 📝 On 1941 Dec 7, could Japan have targeted the Panama Canal instead of Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack?
- 📝 Did World War II-era bombs actually whistle?
- 📝 Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
- 📝 Did Imperial Japan choose to ally with Nazi Germany because of ideological similarity?
- 📝 Why does Japan use the same type of AC power outlet as the US?
- 📝 Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
