Far Eastern Commission

Allied Policy from Washington

The Far Eastern Commission brought Allied governments into the direction of Japan’s occupation after the Second World War. Established by the Moscow Conference agreement of December 1945, it replaced an advisory commission with a body authorized to formulate policies for carrying out Japan’s surrender obligations. Its headquarters were in Washington, while General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, administered the occupation in Japan. [1] [2]

The original membership comprised eleven governments, including the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and Republic of China. Decisions required a majority that included all four of those powers. Washington transmitted agreed policies through the American chain of command to MacArthur. The commission could review directives and actions involving occupation policy; operational military decisions and territorial adjustments lay outside its remit. A separate Allied Council in Tokyo advised the supreme commander. [1]

The Constitution Dispute

The commission first met in Washington on February 26, 1946, as the Japanese government and MacArthur’s headquarters were already working toward a new constitution. The announcement of a draft in March provoked objections that the commission had been denied its opportunity to review a fundamental change in Japan’s political order. Its members demanded consultation, and the American chairman, Major General Frank McCoy, pressed MacArthur to allow consideration before the constitution was completed. [3]

MacArthur resisted sending a member of his headquarters to Washington for the requested consultations. The commission nevertheless adopted criteria requiring time for public discussion, legal continuity with the existing constitution, and expression of the Japanese people’s will. Its constitutional work also addressed civilian control of government and later review. These disputes placed the pace and procedure of reform alongside the content of the new institutions: Allied governments sought a role in decisions that American occupation officials and Japanese leaders were advancing in Tokyo. [3] [2]

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