Postwar Development of Hokkaido

Abstract

The near revolutionary reforms that U.S. occupiers enforced in Japan between 1945 and 1952 altered the characteristics of the Hokkaido development system, but did not make it correspond to the administrative system in the rest of Japan. Although the establishment of the postwar Hokkaido development system was a subplot of the nationwide local government reform from the perspective of the U.S. occupation authorities, this process can be explained only when one understands the changes to the general occupation policy and the actions of the occupiers. While the Hokkaido electorate chose a socialist governor, by the end of U.S. occupation, the decision-making power drifted toward Japan’s conservative central government. While the occupation authorities originally prohibited creation of the Hokkaido Development Agency in 1947, they lifted that ban three years later and even reluctantly approved the establishment of the Hokkaido Development Bureau in 1951, although General Headquarters/Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (ghq/scap) discouraged such a move throughout the occupation. This article argues that the outcome was a compromise that failed to match anyone’s concept of an ideal situation.