Allied Council for Japan

Allied Council for Japan 

the Allied council created pursuant to a decision made in December 1945 at the Moscow Foreign Ministers’ Conference, which brought together representatives of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain.

The Allied Council for Japan was designed to be an advisory body attached to the American supreme commander of the Allied occupation forces in Japan “for the purpose of consulting with and advising the Supreme Commander in regard to the implementation of the terms of surrender, occupation, and control of Japan.” The membership of the council consisted of the supreme commander, who was chairman and the member from the USA, and members from the USSR, China, and Great Britain; the British member also represented Australia, New Zealand, and India. The council’s seat was in Tokyo. If a member of the council disagreed with the implementation of policy decisions of the Far Eastern Commission on questions of a fundamental nature, the supreme commander was to withhold the issuance of orders pending agreement thereon in the Far Eastern Commission.

Initially, the Allied Council for Japan, primarily because of vigorous actions by the representative of the USSR, played no little role in the demilitarization of Japan, the breaking up of the zaibatsu (large business concerns), and the implementation of land reform. The council member from the USSR advocated strict adherence to the principles of the Potsdam Declaration of 1945 and to the decisions of the Moscow Foreign Ministers’ Conference and Far Eastern Commission; he also opposed the supreme commander’s infringements of the democratic rights of the Japanese people.

The Allied Council for Japan met in more than 160 sessions. In April 1952, as the Peace Treaty of San Francisco of 1951 came into force, the USA unilaterally terminated the council’s activities.

N. PECHENEG