ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the US intervention following the Japanese surrender of 1945 led to an outburst of labour militancy that serves to challenge widespread notions that the roots of the country's harmonious labour relations can be explained with reference to Japan's traditional Confucian culture. US policy henceforth became one of seeking to prevent Soviet participation in the victory over Japan or any substantive role in Japan's post-war administration. Whilst the post-war Japanese labour regime drew on many pre-war legacies, such continuity should be understood within the context of the passive revolution facilitated by the United States in the aftermath of Japan's surrender. The dualism of the Japanese employment system is also apparent with regards to the famed 'lifetime employment' system. The passive revolution of the late 1940s can thus be understood as ensuring, through the intervention of US and Japanese elites, the continuity of the more repressive elements of Japan's pre-war labour regime.
