On August 30, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to oversee the Allied occupation after that country’s surrender in World War II. He set up headquarters in Tokyo and began implementing policies to demilitarize and democratize Japan. The occupation involved drafting a new constitution, reforming land ownership, and restructuring political institutions. MacArthur’s decisions shaped the direction of postwar Japanese society and its relationship with the United States. The arrival symbolized the shift from wartime conflict to reconstruction. The occupation later became a model for some aspects of post-conflict governance.
