ABSTRACT
The United States started to plan for the Occupation of Japan at a time when most Americans and Europeans only dared hope that the war would end with an Allied victory. The planning was done within different departments and interested both the military and civilians. It was also subject to civilian and military contacts between the Allies, but when the Japanese surrender finally came, only the United States had concrete plans. Detailed planning, including discussions on censorship, got underway in the summer of 1943. By December 1944 the planning for what was called Military Government for Japan was being done by three departments: State, War, and Navy. All through the military planning for postsurrender Japan, the basic premise during the discussions on different levels was that Japan had to become democratic or, from another viewpoint, demilitarized. The plans for invasion were aborted; instead, attention turned to the immediate implementation of occupation plans.
