LogFAQs > #942902672

during the occupation a lot of the old leadership was rooted out and charged with war crimes, whether being imprisoned or executed as a result, similar to nuremberg

a new constitution was introduced that introduced the modern system in place, as well as stripping the emperor of all power, who was forced to acknowledge his lack of divinity

japan was forbidden from having armed forces beyond what was necessary for self-defense

weapons - particularly katanas - were, for a while, confiscated and destroyed

america invested a great deal in japan's reconstruction, and that presumably came with wholesale import of american popular culture - this may have been the most potent factor

basically between the destruction of prewar institutional structures and partial supplanting of traditional japanese culture with american liberalism, it in time created a radically new culture

that is not to say there aren't still traditionalists and ultranationalist hardliners (see: mishima, also the black vans), but they don't have much to work with with respect to the masses, most of which have since been raised - and educated - in the new zeitgeist

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https://imgur.com/A0TAfek