ABSTRACT
At the end of the war in 1945, Japan’s employers were in an unusually difficult situation. Various factors combined to put them on the defensive and to undermine their morale. Foremost among these was that their state had been militarily defeated and lay prostrate at the feet of the USA. The American Occupation authorities were deeply hostile to the existing Japanese establishment and were determined that Japan would never again pose a threat to the USA’s interests. To this end, the Occupation authorities embarked on a wide-ranging programme of reforms which are sometimes summarized under the headings demilitarization, democratization and deindustrialization.
