The Occupation of Japan 1945-52

[Apollo]

Hello Hiroshi!!!
To answer your question briefly:

I have a question - were there Korean troops who occupied Japan during the Japanese occupation?

No, The Japanese occupation was an Allied occupation, however, it was an-all American occupation in practice, with SCAP Commander MacArthur in charge through the directives from JCS (a military organ) in Washington.

However, there were:
*the Allied Council of Japan, based in Tokyo (BIG FOUR POWERS) to consult with SCAP on several matters.
*Far Eastern Commission, based at Washington, which gave advice, and was composed of eleven member nations:United States,the Soviet Union,United Kingdom,China,France,Canada,Australia,New Zealand,India,Netherlands, and the Phillippines.

These two organs proved ineffective in the long term, due to lack of agreement among the member nations due to Cold War and indifference generally.

BCOF (Australia, British, NZ and British Indian representatives) was in Japan during the occupation years too, but it was a minor force compared to the AMerican force, and the British force was beginning to pull out and decreased in number from about 1947/48.

 

[Hiroshi66]

I see. The reason I ask is because of the fact that I am studying Japanese and Korean relationships following the end of the liberation of Korea from Japanese control in 1945, and comparing that relationship with Japanese and Taiwanese relations.

So, that leads to my second and final question.. was the Japanese occupation of Taiwan less brutal than Korea? Why? Do Taiwanese have a better attitude with Japanese than Koreans?

 

[bossel]

So, that leads to my second and final question.. was the Japanese occupation of Taiwan less brutal than Korea? Why? Do Taiwanese have a better attitude with Japanese than Koreans?

The occupation was probably pretty similar, though perhaps slightly more aggressive in Korea. Here is the Taiwanese view.

Quote:
"The Taiwanese population was reduced to a life of great hardship and suffered all manner of deprivations. After the Marco Polo Bridge incident of July 7, 1937, and the full scale Japanese invasion of China which followed, the Japanese authorities in Taiwan embarked on a drive to eliminate Chinese customs and the Chinese way of life in Taiwan and bring the people of Taiwan entirely in line with the Japanese wry of life. This movement took many forms, including making the Taiwanese adopt Japanese names and surnames, promoting Japanese as the official language and encourageing the people to speak it at home, wearing Japanese dress, learning Japanese customs and habits, and even worshipping Japanese gods. All this was aimed at eliminating the awareness of the Chinese in Taiwan of their own ethnicity. The Taiwanese were even compelled to enlist as volunteers in the Japanese armed services."

 

[Apollo]

More or less, the same thing happened to Koreans during the Japanese occupation of Korea (ie forced assimilation etc..), and the occupation was very aggressive (as Bossel has commented).

A link to a good overview of the Japanese occupation of Korea, click HERE

 

[Hiroshi66]

Thanks both of you! =)

You really helped! =)

So the Taiwanese assimiliation started in the 1930s? In Korea, it started in the 1920's. I wonder why the Japanese were "nicer" to the Taiwanese than the Koreans. I heard somewhere that the Koreans betrayed hte Japanese in the 1200's when the Mongols invaded Japan and aided them.

 

[Apollo]

I see. The reason I ask is because of the fact that I am studying Japanese and Korean relationships following the end of the liberation of Korea from Japanese control in 1945, and comparing that relationship with Japanese and Taiwanese relations.

So, that leads to my second and final question.. was the Japanese occupation of Taiwan less brutal than Korea? Why? Do Taiwanese have a better attitude with Japanese than Koreans?

Are you doing a paper at school? What level?

 

[kin'niku]

I'm still mad we gave back okinawa in 1972

 

[Hiroshi66]

MissApollo-san - Actually and surprisingly, no. I am doing this for my own knowledge.

Kin'niku-san - Indeed. Then again, some are mad that Okinawa is part of Japan.

 

[bossel]

So the Taiwanese assimiliation started in the 1930s? In Korea, it started in the 1920's. I wonder why the Japanese were "nicer" to the Taiwanese than the Koreans. I heard somewhere that the Koreans betrayed hte Japanese in the 1200's when the Mongols invaded Japan and aided them.

I don't think the problem can be dated that far back. The Koreans were not really in favour of the Mongols, who forced them to provide supplies & troops. Maybe this played a minor role in indoctrination of Japanese soldiers, but I doubt that this would have affected their treatment of Koreans very much.

I also doubt that they were much nicer to Taiwanese. The Taiwanese had 10 years more experience with Japanese colonialism, major resistance had ended by 1920, I think. Perhaps from then on the Taiwanese were more willing than Koreans to accept Japanese as rulers. For what I know the Japanese also developed Taiwanese infrastructure heavily, which might have added to a more positive attitude by Taiwanese.

What's more, Taiwanese were for a long time not really in favour of their Chinese rulers either. If I remember correctly, there were 15 revolts against Chinese rule up to 1850. Hence it was not too long ago that they accepted (or at least put up with) Chinese domination. That may have added to a certain lack of interest in those at the top ("none of us, anyway").

I have stumbled across another website which might be of interest to you:
Japanese Imperialism in Korea and Taiwan (comparison)

 

[Hiroshi66]

Thank you much, bossel. It was really nice of you, nice website. I think Taiwanese, as you pointed out, were not independent anyways, and they would rather be Japanese than Chinese, and that seems to be apparent today as well. Korea was independent, so they had a harder time surrendering.

 

[bossel]

Thank you much, bossel. It was really nice of you, nice website. I think Taiwanese, as you pointed out, were not independent anyways, and they would rather be Japanese than Chinese, and that seems to be apparent today as well. Korea was independent, so they had a harder time surrendering.

No problem!

But "they would rather be Japanese than Chinese" goes a bit far, I think. They just didn't care very much for which country this foreign regime originated from (& would prefer self-government over anything). There was a slight (well, slight) mistake in my above post, BTW. I should have written Manchu rule instead of Chinese. Sorry! It was the Manchu empire that incorporated Taiwan. Maybe the governors of Taiwan were mainly Chinese, but the Manchu reigned China.

 

[Hiroshi66]

That's true. I didn't mean that they would put everything down to be Japanese, obviously self-government was the first on their agenda - the Republic of Taiwan of 1895 is proof. But if they had to choose between Chinese/Manchu rule, and Japanese rule, they would probably choose Japan.