Allied Occupation of Japan: The War Crimes Tribunal

MacArthur and Hirohito: unlikely post-war allies

The Allied occupation of Japan at the close of WWII is incredibly fertile ground for historiographical interpretation and debate. This period of 1945 to 1951 is a time that calls into question issues relating to the status of Emperor Hirohito (orchestrator, puppet or something else entirely?) and America's emerging need for a strong ally in Asia at the dawn of the Cold War. It's also a case study that forms the fourth and final set of dot points in the Conflict in the Pacific syllabus for HSC Modern History, and relates to the following past HSC questions:

• Evaluate the view that the aims of the Allied powers were achieved successfully in the occupation of Japan in the period up to 1951.
• Discuss the impact of the Allied occupation on Japan in the period 1945-1951.
• Evaluate the view that maintaining the status of the Emperor was responsible for the success of the Allied occupation of Japan to 1951.
• How successful was the Allied occupation of Japan in achieving its aims to 1951?

The part that I want to focus on today is the War Crimes Tribunal. At the end of the war, General MacArthur (nicknamed the 'Gaijin Shogun' by the Japanese, quite literally the 'foreign general'), announced the formation of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. This tribunal was intended to formally bring to justice the Japanese leaders who had implemented and enforced the Greater East-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere during WWII, and it was a tribunal that was - unsurprisingly - controversial and not without its complications.

Lesson: Part 1 - Understanding What Happened

There are two sheets here that I've attached at the bottom of this blog post. The first sheet is a 1-page reading that gives an overview of the tribunal, who was put on trial, some associated statistics, the outcome, and the impact and controversies that have been noted by historians. Students read through this sheet and use the second sheet, a graphic organiser, to gather and re-structure information in a way that shows their understanding.

I like graphic organisers because they're helpful in getting students to focus on specific parts of a text, and they allow for the relationship between ideas to become visible through the use of flowcharts, arrows, separation of facts, and so on. They also aren't particularly demanding in terms of thinking, which means that every student should be able to engage with it. Just be ready to direct your students on how to fill in the first couple of boxes and most will be able to do the rest. 

Lesson: Part 2 - Evaluating What Happened

The important thing is to then have the students compose a paragraph response that puts into action what they've just learned. Ask them; To what extent was the War Crimes Tribunal a fair process? or alternatively, Whose interests did the War Crimes Tribunal primarily serve? The resulting paragraph doesn't have to include all the information that's been gathered in the graphic organiser. Tell your students to pick two or three pieces of evidence to support their idea and to reconstitute this into a response.

What they end up with should be adaptable as a body paragraph for any of the past HSC questions listed at the top of this post.

Resources

War Crimes Tribunal - reading 

War Crimes Tribunal - graphic organiser