占领时期美国对日文化改革与民主输出

In the aftermath of World War Ⅱ, Japan was essentially occupied
and controlled by the United States.In order to insure that Japan would never again
threaten the peace and security of the world and that a peaceful and
responsible government would be established in Japan in due course, the
American occupation authorities not only destroyed Japan’s war
capabilities and eradicated militarists and ultra-nationalists’ influences, but embarked on a full-scale reform of
Japan’s
political system, economy, society, and culture. During the occupation period,
the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers
(GHQ/SCAP) formulated and implemented the American policies toward Japan, and
those in the area of culture were prepared and carried out by GHQ’s Civil
Information and Education Section (CIE). Primarily drawing on the GHQ/SCAP
Records, this book examines the formulation, implementation, and influence of
the U.S. cultural
policies toward Japan during the occupation period.



In contrast to political and economic reforms
which tend to emphasize building institutions, cultural reforms directly affect
people’s
life styles, behavioral norms, thoughts and values and, therefore, play an
unparalleled role in the process of democratic nation-building. Since the Japanese had long viewed
themselves as imperial subjects, it was imperative to reform the old Japanese
culture and replace it with the soil of civic culture if the new democratic
institutions, introduced as a result of the political and economic reforms,
were to take roots in Japan. During the occupation period, the Civil
Information and Education Section not only implemented democratic reforms in
the areas of press, radio, motion pictures, education and religion according to
the U.S. historical
experience. It also sought to introduce a liberal and democratic culture into
Japan’s
society to re-orientate and re-educate Japanese people. This book explores CIE’s cultural
reforms as a whole. It does not examine the establishment and development of
various specific cultural institutions in postwar Japan under the guidance of
CIE. Instead, it focuses on the ways in which CIE employed those cultural means
in order to exert influence on the mentalities, sentiments, and opinions of the
Japanese.



Drawing on concepts and theories of political
culture and civic culture in the field of political sciences, the author
examines CIE’s activities from the angle of the transition of
Japan’s
political culture after World War II. This book views CIE’s activities as
a process of exporting America’s democratic political culture, i.e. civic culture;
it analyzes the relationship between CIE’s activities and the nurturing of civic culture in
postwar Japan. Such an analysis helps to elucidate the role of the U.S. cultural
policies toward Japan during the occupation period in the process of postwar
Japan’s
democratization.



This book draws the following conclusions: CIE’s activities
helped nurture the Japanese people’s independent and sound personalities, fostered
their concept of human rights, and raised the level of their understanding and
abilities of political participation. Through the cultural reforms during the
occupation period, the Japanese people underwent a significant transformation,
psychologically, from imperial subjects to citizens. In other words, by way of
the American exportation and the Japanese nurture, the democratic culture took
roots in Japan and became Japan’s own civic culture in the modern sense,
buttressing Japanese democratic institutions from within.



Key Words: the American Occupation of Japan, the Civil
Information and Education Section, Cultural Reform, Civic Culture,
Democratization