OCCUPATION OF JAPAN

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25580, 23 August 1948, Page 8

OCCUPATION OF JAPAN

COST TO AMERICA ■Hie occupation of Japan, it is estimated, is costing United States taxpayers about 400,000,000 dollars a year. In the last six months, three major reports on the economic future of Japan have been published. Each of these, the "Economist* points out, emphasises the need for increased industrial production, more exports, and a stabilised currency to help to make Japan self-supporting. The reports, it says, stress the need for Japan's self-help, but at the same time recognise the need for some assistance from America. Rehabilitation of Japan on the lines of the Marshall Plan would be impossible, because of chaotic conditions in the Far East. If the approaching Congressional debate revives the popular argument that oversea loans are forcing up the cost of living at home, the chances of obtaining a billion dollars—or even half a billion—for General MacArthur’s “protegees” appear difficult. Meanwhile, the occupation authorities in Tokyo, it is added, have attempted to make the Japanese economy a more attractive proposition to private investors in the United States.