Guide to Japan

An early, restricted CINCPAC guidebook for the American occupation of Japan.

American occupational troops first began arriving in Japan just weeks after Emperor Hirohito announced the country’s unconditional surrender – even before the official capitulation document was signed. Allied forces there would eventually grow to nearly 1 million, overseen by General Douglas MacArthur.

‘This booklet, marked RESTRICTED, was published by his CINPAC command just months after V-J Day. The contents of the volume provide a fascinating perspective on the history, culture, and geography of Japan.

The attitude of the text is emblematic of the postwar perspective of the United States, with a notable excerpt reading “Only when she has drained to the dregs the bitter cup of complete defeat and decided to “beat her swords into plowshares and her spears into pruning hooks” will she be re-admitted to the society of civilized nations.”

The booklet also contains a number of pictorial maps outlining the primary islands of Japan. The vignettes used to illustrate each are also indicative of this racially tinged feeling of victorious superiority.