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John Lindsey
23rd December 2003, 22:49
The events in Iraq reminded me of the very small resistance movement in Germany after the war. Then I started thinking about the Japanese and if there were any reports of resistance or terrorism directed against the occupying forces? Did the Japanese basically agree to follow what the Emperor said, and those who didn’t killed themselves?

elder999
23rd December 2003, 23:19
Originally posted by John Lindsey
The events in Iraq reminded me of the very small resistance movement in Germany after the war. Then I started thinking about the Japanese and if there were any reports of resistance or terrorism directed against the occupying forces? Did the Japanese basically agree to follow what the Emperor said, and those who didn’t killed themselves?

That's pretty much what happened.Japan was ruined by the war,but even in the aftermath of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, many Japanese were prepared to fight on for the emperor if he had chosen to continue the fight. It was only because he acquiesced in the U.S. occupation that it became the standard against which every other occupation is measured. To ensure his cooperation, American authorities ignored the participation of prominent members of the royal family in such war crimes as the "Rape of Nanking."

WHile I don't know of any specific instances of terrorism, I don't have much doubt that they did occur in the early days of the occupation, but that's only the nature of nationalism, after all, and it's all too likely-gioven the conditions that existed in Japan-that such instances were probably more in the line of crime, i.e., hijacking supplies. There were, of course, those sporadic instances of troops and individuals holdoing out in the aftermath of the surrender, for days, months, and, in a few notable ones, decades, but these are also a slightly different matter-there was no Japanese word for "surrender," after all.....

Jock Armstrong
25th December 2003, 01:42
There was no "resistance" apart from a discreet mumbling. The japanese were so demoralised by the surrender edict that they simply did what they were told [ probably with more relief than is generally believed]. The notorious kempei tai or Japanese equivalent of the gestapo, a most fanatical unit just disintegrated and ironically its former members went on to form the "Yamaguchi gumi", one of the biggest and nastiest Yakuza groups in Southern Japan. They might have deluded themselves that they were a de-facto resistance but well.....l The German resistance to the occupation was a myth too. most Germans ,apart from a few hard core nazis were just relieved it was over and concentrated on fleeing westward from the Soviets. The allies believed there was an "Alpine redoubt" in Bavaria filled with fanatical SS units and surviving Nazi hierarchy but this turned out to be one of Hitler's fantasies. Though orders had been given to construct such a bastion, the materiel and manpower didn't exist.

leoboiko
8th January 2004, 12:40
Slight OT, but after the war there was a Brazilian criminal group of Japanese immigrants who claimed that the Japanese actually won the war. The Shindo Renmei falsified pictures, news and the like, and murdered immigrants or nikkei who refused to believe in Japan's victory (the "dirty hearts").

Fernando Morais' book "Coracoes Sujos (http://www.brazilianbooks.com/cgi-bin/brazilian.storefront/EN/Product/5756)" ("Dirty Hearts") is a good documentary about the group. I don't know about English translations though.

Earl Hartman
9th January 2004, 21:22
There was "no Japanese word for 'surrender'"?

What did the Emperor agree to do, then?

Of course, there is such a word: koufuku, which is precisely what Japan did.

Of course, you may be joking (along the lines of "my dictionary doesn't contain the word 'surrender'"), but since there was no emoticon, I decided to pick a nit just to be safe.

Joseph Svinth
10th January 2004, 22:29
The Japanese socialists and fascists were busy shooting at each other, though. For some details, see:

Kaplan, David E. and Alec Dubro. Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan’s Criminal Underworld (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1986); see also http://vikingphoenix.com

Morris, Ivan I. Nationalism and the Right Wing in Japan: A Study of Post-War Trends (London: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Vapour
10th January 2004, 22:59
When the entire structure of the government except military was going to be intergrated into the post war political structure, it is hard to imagine why someone would try to form the resistance arm.

John Lindsey
10th January 2004, 23:22
We might also want to consider how well the Allies acting upon entering Japan too. If we would have gone in like the Russians going into Germany, I bet we would have seen more people heading to the hills to form resistance groups.

Joseph Svinth
12th January 2004, 03:54
Although both Americans and Japanese constantly stress the atomic bombs, my guess is that the Japanese high command was equally (and perhaps more) shaken by the Red Army's subsequent roll through Manchuria. Remember, three Soviet armies crossed into Manchuria just 11 hours before the Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki, and over the next 8 days, the Soviets covered more distance faster, against stiffer resistance, across a larger front, than the Coalition forces did during either Gulf campaign. See, for instance, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1986/RMF.htm
.

So, put another way, think of Hiroshima as September 11, and Nagasaki as a second September 11. During the following week, NATO (e.g., the Kwantung Army) collapses.

At times like this, it becomes really hard to tell the wife that you're still winning this war.

Joseph Svinth
12th January 2004, 04:01
BTW, an interesting article about the flight of Bock's Car appears at http://archive.tri-cityherald.com/BOMB/bomb2.html . It's part of a newspaper series at http://archive.tri-cityherald.com/BOMB/ .