In September 1945, Japan's Emperor Hirohito, who was uneasy, took the initiative to visit MacArthur, commander of the US forces in the Far East, hoping to glimpse MacArthur's true attitude towards the emperor system.
However, MacArthur did not intend to abolish the emperor, and he received Emperor Hirohito in a cordial manner and took a photo with the emperor in the presence of many journalists. And this photo of MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito's height difference has also become a symbol of US-Japan relations since then.
MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito
After its defeat in World War II, Japan became a vassal state of the United States, and although it developed rapidly economically, it was never able to obtain independent political and military power. So, assuming another world war, which country will Japan fight first? To this, foreign experts gave the answer.
Who is Japan's primary target?
Americans themselves actually have a fairly clear understanding of this problem. George Friedman, an American strategist for international affairs, believes that if World War III breaks out, Japan is likely to once again regard the United States as an adversary.
Japan Self-Defense Forces
This view may be somewhat puzzling: Japan today cannot rise without the support of the United States, and Japan has long maintained an image of loyalty to the United States, becoming an East Asian bridgehead against China and Russia.
At present, the weapons and equipment used by Japan's Self-Defense Forces are basically imitations of the same equipment of the US military, or directly imported from the United States. Against this background, will Japan really turn against the United States in the next world war?
In this regard, George Friedman said that Japan's national character contains a strong opportunistic color, that is, it is good at "gambling on national fortune". Looking back at Japan's recent history, almost every time it rose was an opportunity in the gamble of "small and big".
Japan Self-Defense Forces
In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Japan challenged China, which was much larger than itself, and successfully obtained the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Islands;
In the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Japan challenged Russia, a European power, and successfully gained control of the Far East and Northeast China;
In 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army invaded northeast China by force and established the puppet Manchu regime;
In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China in an attempt to quickly defeat the vast China; In 1941, the Japanese Combined Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor in an attempt to defeat the United States and gain control of the Pacific Ocean.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
It can be seen that Japan has repeatedly challenged opponents that are much larger than itself in modern history, and has obtained rich rewards from "small and broad" again and again. It was not until Japan lost to the United States in World War II that Japan's crazy foreign expansion came to a complete end.
The development of post-war Japan
After Japan's defeat, the United States became the de facto controller of Japan, and the U.S. military stationed in Japan had a very high legal status in Japan and was basically not bound by Japanese law.
In the classic photo of MacArthur and the emperor, the diminutive emperor looks restrained, while the tall MacArthur looks relaxed, and the strong contrast between the two is actually a manifestation of the unequal relationship between the United States and Japan.
MacArthur and the Emperor
After the war, Japan achieved Western-style democracy under MacArthur's supervision and formulated a "Peace Constitution" to restrict Japan's military capabilities, which is also the historical reason why Japan still has no legal army.
Since the outbreak of the Korean War made the United States realize the strategic significance of the Japanese archipelago, the United States began to deliberately support Japan's development and try to build Japan into an anti-communist bridgehead in East Asia.
Against this background, the Japanese economy has ushered in a golden period of development. In the 60s and 80s of the 20th century, Japan's average annual economic growth rate exceeded 7%, and it soon became an economic power second only to the United States.
In 1991, land prices in Tokyo, Japan, were even enough to buy land assets in the entire United States. The competitiveness of Japanese companies in high-precision fields such as precision industry, automobile industry, and semiconductor industry has vaguely surpassed that of the United States.
The streets of Ginza, Japan
However, the US government intervened at this time. At the end of the 80s, under pressure from the United States, Japan was forced to sign the Plaza Accord, which sharply appreciated the yen.
In just three years, the yen has appreciated against the dollar by more than 200%, and the export competitiveness of Japanese companies has been severely hit. At the same time, the overappreciated yen punctured Japan's real estate bubble, causing the Japanese economy to collapse for decades.
After this incident, Japan realized that in the absence of its own independence, its achievements in the economic field would only be ruthlessly harvested by the United States. As a result, the Japanese right-wing accelerated the progress of restoring Japan's "normal state" status after entering the new century, that is, vigorously revising the constitution and diluting the binding force brought to Japan by the "Peace Constitution."
Japan amends its constitution
With the promotion of Japanese right-wing politicians, Japan now has the "collective defense right" to actively intervene in the war, and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are no longer a military armed force solely responsible for home defense. And as the overall situation in the world develops towards intensifying conflicts, the pace of lifting Japan's military power will only increase.
Japan Self-Defense Forces
Japan is "betting on national fortune" again?
From the history of Japan's development after the war, we can see that Japan has been determined to embark on the road of military independence after its economy suffered a serious harvest from the United States. Moreover, in order to use Japan to suppress China, the United States also deliberately relaxed its restrictions on Japan, turning a blind eye to Japan's "small moves" to lift the ban on military power.
Perhaps in the eyes of the United States, Japan is an East Asian country closer to China after all, so the probability of conflict between China and Japan is much greater than the probability of conflict between the United States and Japan.
Japanese Self-Defense Forces assembled
However, this mentality of the United States may instead "set itself on fire". In fact, the ambition of the Japanese nation has never disappeared, and even after the defeat in World War II, the Japanese right-wing forces have retained their tenacious vitality to this day, and the shadow of militarism has never been far from Japan.
Japanese militarist
Once the United States shows its inability to compete with China in the Western Pacific, Japan is likely to show its fangs to its "master" at this time. For Japan, victory over the United States is not only a revenge goal, but also an integral part of the plan to restore Japan to a normal state.
Resources
【1】Japan country profile. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of
[2] "The Emperor System and Modern Japanese Politics", World Book Press
[3] "Economic History of Postwar Japan" Yukio Noguchi