ABSTRACT
Reforms were undertaken by the Occupation authorities and the Japanese government to break up family-owned financial and industrial conglomerates (zaibatsu) and their monopolistic control of the pre-war and wartime economy. Within the context ofpost-war democratisation and demilitarisation, zaibatsu were viewed as a culprit for Japan's militarisation and aggression, and concentration of capital was deemed anti-democratic. When Genera! Douglas MacArthur's intent to dissolve the zaibatsu became public, he was pre-empted by an industry-based plan to sell zaibatsu securities to the public and to prohibit zaibatsu executives from influential offices; a compromise aimed at securing the future of the zaibatsu. MacArthur accepted the plan in November 1945. In January 1947, MacArthur ordered a purge of zaibatsu executives and 1,535 were removed or resigned. Some antitrust legislations were more extreme than comparable measures in the USA. For example, an April 1947 statute prohibited holding companies, monopolistic contracts and cartels.
