Control Of Japan

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 62, 11 September 1945, Page 7

Control Of Japan

MD OF IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

jjSes^M a.m. TOKIO, September 10. ■SF^ General Mac Arthur has abolished the Japanese Imperial headquarters, and henceforth will give orders directly to the lower echelons.

The correspondent of the ''New York Times" in Tokio says General Mac Arthur may visit the United States soon to confer with leading officials about the governing of Japan. The State Department is at present defining a broad policy, and General Mac Arthur is executing it in broad detail.

General Mac Arthur issued a directive imposing censorship on the Japanese Press and radio, but observing that there should be a minimum of restrictions upon freedom of speech.

humility of personal surrender and must present himself at Singapore later.

The directive banned false or deceptive criticism of the Allied Powers and also reports of Allied troop movements, and added that any publication or radio station publishing untrue information or creating unrest would be suspended. However, discussion of Japan's future as a peace-loving nation would be encouraged.

The Associated Press of America says that the first story to be killed was an editorial ii\ the "Nippon Times," expressing polite surprise that there had been "so few" cases of rape by American soldiers.

' General Mac Arthur, in a statement to his troops, said: "The occupation of Japan must take place without unnecessary vengeance or undue oppression. The property and personal rights of the Japanese people must be respected. Looting, pillage, and other deliberate violations of the universal standards of human behaviour would but stain, your own high.honour. You have won respect on the battlefield at the point of the bayonet, and it is an individual responsibility for each of you by your conduct and performance of your duty to maintain equal respect as visitors who believe in pratising the principle on which we fought."

Tokio newspapers have reported that the Japanese are organismg v a new semi-military group "to protect the Emperor." Former officers and men from a disbanded division of the Imperial army—the Emperor's Own troops —and civilians, including policemen and firemen, will comprise the group. The "Nippon Times" estimates that Japan will require 280,000 tons of shipping to complete demobilisation of the overseas »troops, that approximately 868,000 of the 2,744,000 regular soldiers have so far been demobilised in the homeland, and that the bulk of the 2.000,000 men of the home defence forces will be demobilised early in October. In addition, 856,000 Japanese civilians must be returned from Korea and about 1,300,000 from Manchuria. Altogether, it says, it will be necessary to return moite than 2,000,000 Japanese workers who have been sent overseas.

RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME.

According to the Domei news agency, the president of the Japan Commerce and. Industry Association, Aiichiro Fujiyama, outlined at a Press confer-

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ence a four-point reconstruction programme, including the retention of such heavy industries as formed the basis of light industries producing civilian goods. He said that the metal mining industries especially must be retained, even if they were reduced, because they were the basis of the national economy.

The president of the Mitsui Company, Kyoshi Miyazaki, said in an interview that the militarists took over the economic structure of Japan without the necessary knowledge to do the job, and were responsible for .the inefficient production methods and shortsighted planning which hastened the Empires-collapse. The militarists' control of armaments production became more detailed, and they made demands and handed down rulings without consulting the civilian production men on ihe availability of materials, transportation, or machinery. The industrialists' only role was to take orders.

Miyazaki said there was friction between the militarists and business men, who knew Japan's weaknesses and the Allies' industrial potential, but the business men loyally supported the war and played no active part in the bid for peace..

.The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture 'has .announced that the Neighbourhood Associations, which were responsible for the maintenance of "thought control" will continue to be responsible for seeing that the Japanese are fed. This means that food can be withheld from those who do not follow the Government's (policy;, <a Tokio correspondent comments.