American Education and the New Japan

Abstract

T HE conclusion of the Japanese peace treaty marks the end of the first phase of one of history's most fabulous social undertakings. Two major powers, engaged in savage warfare less than a decade ago, are terminating the victor's period of occupation and preparing to re-establish normal friendly relationships as sovereign nations. For more than six years, the Allied powers, with the United States assuming the decisive share of the responsibility and the burden, have attempted to rehabilitate Japan and to redirect Japanese culture toward more humane, reasonable, essentially Western patterns of life. The outcome of this vast experiment is of far more than academic importance, for Japan is one of the few major gateways for contact with the peoples of Asia who are demanding their legitimate place in the spectrum of decent conditions of life, of freedom, and of independence. The West must have the active co-operation of Japan, with her enormous productive potential in manufactures and commerce, in helping the peoples of the East to raise their standards of living and deepen their understanding of the meaning of freedom. It is a good omen that the mass introduction of two cultures, represented in the act of the occupation, proceeded as smoothly as it did. The reforms initiated by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in the first three years-land reform, support for the labor movement, expansion of educational opportunity, the extension of the suffrage, the public-health program, to mention only a few, and especially General MacArthur's dignified treatment of the Japanese-have given the Japanese people a constructive start in