Documents with Commentaries Part 3 Formulation of the GHQ Draft and Response of the Japanese Government

3-4 Establishing Far Eastern Commission and its Meetings with GHQ

 Following the end of the war, Japan was placed under an occupation that was effectively administered solely by the United States. However, the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers held in December 1945 resulted in the establishment of the FEC, which administered the occupation of Japan from Washington DC and established the Allied Council for Japan in Tokyo. The FEC was the Allied Powers highest policy making agency in regard to carrying out the occupation of Japan, and GHQ was obliged to follow its policy decisions. Specifically this prevented the U.S. government from issuing orders to GHQ regarding the revision of the Constitution without agreement from the FEC. The following year on January 17, the FEC delegation (acting as the Far Eastern Advisory Commission, the predecessor of the FEC, during its trip to Japan) questioned GHQ Government Section about its revisions to the Constitution, to which Government Section replied that it was not working on revising the Constitution. On January 29, MacArthur told the FEC members that suggestions had been made to the Japanese government about reform of the Constitution, but that the matter had been taken out of his hands by the Moscow Communiqué.

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• Outline
  1. Outline Part 1 Military Defeat and Efforts to Reform the Constitution
  2. Outline Part 2 Creation of Various Proposals to Reform the Constitution
  3. Outline Part 3 Formulation of the GHQ Draft and Response of the Japanese Government
  4. Outline Part 4 Deliberations in the Imperial Diet
  5. Outline Part 5 Enactment of the Constitution of Japan
• Documents with Commentaries
  1. Documents with Commentaries Part 1 Military Defeat and Efforts to Reform the Constitution
  2. Documents with Commentaries Part 2 Creation of Various Proposals to Reform the Constitution
  3. Documents with Commentaries Part 3 Formulation of the GHQ Draft and Response of the Japanese Government
  4. Documents with Commentaries Part 4 Deliberations in the Imperial Diet
  5. Documents with Commentaries Part 5 Enactment of the Constitution of Japan
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  1. Popular Sovereignty and the Emperor System
  2. Renunciation of War
  3. Guarantees for Fundamental Human Rights
  4. A New Bicameral System
  5. Judicial Review of Constitutionality
  6. Local Self-Government
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