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    "localId": "486500942",
    "label": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Japan, Situation Report 38",
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    "id": "486500942",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Japan, Situation Report 38",
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            "day": 14,
            "logicalDate": "1948-09-14",
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{
    "seq": 33,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875514/875514-01-033.tif",
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    "ocrText": "SECRET\nto party manipulation or outside the party fold. As possible centers of nationalism\nthey could also be a threat to the US. Outstanding among these organizations are\nthe Japan Anti-Communist League, and the Revolutionary Chrysanthemum Flag\nComrades Society.\n5. CURRENT ISSUES.\nAny solution of present Japanese political issues is dependent upon a solution\nof economic problems. The reverse is to a lesser extent also true. No large groups of\nthe populace appear to object to the government's basic desire to recover from chaos\nand improve the standard of living. When specific solutions conflict with the interests\nof special groups, however, objections are overridden only if there is the necessity of\nimplementing SCAP directives.\nThose political matters which may be presumed to have SCAP's approval and\nwill therefore become law include such matters as continued civil service reform and\nthe reconstruction of the administrative system. Proposed legislation to improve\nthe educational system is temporarily opposed by conservative interests for budgetary\nreasons. Although there is a gradual awareness of the poor prospects for a peace\ntreaty in the near future, each political group continues to harbor ambitions to repre-\nsent the nation at the Peace Treaty in the belief that the Cabinet which signs the\ntreaty may claim implied Allied support for its policies. Debate has proved\nacri-\nmonious relative to the various proposals for regulations of political parties which\nlegislation represents efforts to eliminate the irresponsible fluidity of Japanese political\nparties.\nProblems regarding the \"people's livelihood\" are of the utmost importance. SCAP,\nfor example, could break any Cabinet by failure to import food. Failure of any Cabinet\nto succeed in taxing the new fortunes of blackmarketeers is a favorite opposition party\nissue. The collection quotas for rice and other staples raises rural opposition with\noccasional encouragement from the extreme right as well as the extreme left. Urban\ncommunities resent the inefficiency in the ration system and the failure to eliminate\nthe blackmarket. The Land Reform program which has gradually attempted to place\nuntilled estates and the property of absentee landlords in the hands of owner-operating\nfarmers has naturally met opposition from the conservative landlords. The govern-\nment's program to stabilize wages and prices has been subjected to a constant barrage\nof criticism, especially from organized labor.\nJapanese labor has entered a new era since the surrender. The Occupation has\nencouraged labor unions. The program for employment rationalization has called for\nunemployment insurance, a public works program and the redistribution of labor to\nlocalities where there is a greater need for labor. In an effort to provide security of\nnational living standards the government has endeavored to secure social, medical and\npublic health legislation. Conservative forces have given modest support at best for\nthese measures while the Communists have proclaimed them insufficient. For budge-\ntary reasons it will be necessary to reduce the government's personnel considerably.\nAttempts of this nature have met strong opposition from organized labor. Probable\nI-23\nSECRET"
}