Documents with Commentaries Part 1 Military Defeat and Efforts to Reform the Constitution
These are records of the conference held on October 11, 1945 at GHQ when the Prime Minister, Shidehara, visited MacArthur to introduce himself formally as the new Prime Minister, and they include MacArthur's opinions as expressed during the meeting. These opinions became known as the "Five Major Reform Directives." Basically MacArthur, maintaining the position that the Japanese would move forward to constitutional revisions of their own will, recommended "Liberalization of the Constitution" and called for reformation of Japan's social structure. On the 13th, Prime Minister Shidehara convened an extraordinary cabinet meeting and initiated the examination of the Constitution, establishing the Constitutional Problems Investigation Committee chaired by Minister of State Joji Matsumoto. Consequently, work on constitutional revision moved forward on two fronts, led by Konoye, for the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, and by Matsumoto as head of the government's Constitutional Problems Investigation Committee.
| Actual Title of Source | Sori "Makuasa" Kaidan Yoshi, Sho Niju, Ju, Ju-san, Showa Nijunen Jugatsu Ju-ichinichi Shidehara Shusho Ni Soroshi Hyomeiseru "Makuasa" Iken |
|---|---|
| Date | October 11, 13, 1945 |
| Document Number | Diplomatic Records A' 1.0.0.2-3-4 "Conference Abstracts and Memoranda between the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers and his Staff and the Prime Minister and other ministers of Japan"<GAI-1, Reel No. A'-0055> |
| Repository (reproduction) | National Diet Library |
| Repository | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Note | Microfilm |
