I'm currently reading Inventing the Way of the Samurai and I can't wrap my head around what the author is saying about post war Japan. He describes it as both militarized and "essentially synonymous with blind obedience". Yet he also writes about how these military leaders had a warped understanding of bushido. Was the idea seen as a positive thing like it was around the Meiji restoration, or was it no longer valued?
Oleg Benesch is the expert on this topic, so you're at the right source. I don't know how far you have got reading the book but perhaps Ch. 7's pithy summary in the Oxford Scholarship Online database will help you contextualize Benesch's arguments.
This chapter examines the trajectory of bushidō in the post-war period, when the concept went through further cycles of popularity and decline. Most people strongly rejected imperial bushidō along with other wartime ideologies after 1945, but the diversity of bushidō meant that other non-militaristic interpretations were soon revived. Academic historians were among the most engaged in post-war bushidō, seeking ‘real’ bushidō in sources relating to the pre-modern samurai, often with little consideration for modern influences. From the 1980s, bushidō experienced another, more lasting popular revival, focused on the relatively pacifistic and internationalist theories of Nitobe Inazō, while more nationalistic bushidō interpretations again found favour among conservatives and figures close to the military. Contemporary bushidō is heavily indebted to previously neglected pre-war writings, as commentators on all sides of the political spectrum have turned to early texts and ideas to promote their post-war agendas.
Does that help any?