Not only Japan's politics today but also its culture is defined to a large extent by the American occupation.

Beginning in 1868 Japan established a national identity which was largely invented, introducing for example a national flag and military which were unfamiliar concepts before. From 1868 to 1945 this web of national symbols assumed a predominant place in the culture of the Japanese archipelago. The American occupation, called GHQ (General Headquarters) in Japan, was determined to totally change this self-conception. GHQ managers felt that it was this militarist, nationalist culture that had led Japan into war.

The most obvious change was to make Japan renounce war at the constitutional level. Japan could no longer be a military power in the Pacific or in East Asia. This constitutional change was legally affirmed in 1947 and is no small thing. Pride in the military was reinforced in every aspect of prewar and wartime Japanese culture, from board games to clothing designs to film. Japanese children admired soldiers and sailors with a fervency matching nothing after the war. The Americans banned much of this culture until they left in 1951, and feelings about the military were irreversibly changed even after 1951. When you see military or military-style depictions in Japanese anime you have to remember to look at them through this historical lens. These shows depict a firm hierarchical order, perhaps desired by the animators, but unattainable since 1945. (Japan does have a large "defense" force, but they are not permitted to initiate aggression even if threatened.)

Further changes came to the symbolism of the emperor and civil ceremony. The imperial household had existed for over a thousand years, but only after 1868 did reverence for the emperor become a matter of collective concern and national identity. Beginning in the 1890s, the emperor became an object of reverence; his image was considered sacred, had pride of place in any room, was bowed to regularly, and was rescued from fires even at risk to life. In the 1930s this reverence began to be used as a political tool. Militant nationalists portrayed Japanese monarchism as a light unto the world (hakkō ichiu) or even a divine mission, and liberals were fired from their jobs or even assassinated for daring to question the role of the emperor in government. During the war, this became a genuine cult, as the government encouraged people to visit imperial graves in their areas (even though some of them were hoaxes), and twice a year Japanese people would face the Imperial palace and pray to the Emperor. (For details on this last stage see K. Ruoff, Imperial Japan at Its Zenith) Under new GHQ rules, this entire cult was eliminated and the role of the emperor changed dramatically. He was allowed to retain "symbolic" role but it had to be disconnected from politics. Among some members of the general public, the emperor was seen as having responsibility for the deaths of millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians.

Another major change was that America made Japan renounce Shinto shrines as the basis of national ceremony. Starting in the 1910s and especially from 1937-1945, grammar school students would go to Shinto shrines regularly as a regular civil ritual. The Japanese government insisted to everyone that as Shinto shrines were non-sectarian and open to everyone, they formed a shared civil tradition of Japanese culture. (For details, see the essays in Bernhard Scheid (ed.), Kami Ways in Nationalist Territory.) The GHQ decided that the way to fix this would be to call Shinto a "religion" that had been "perverted" by the nationalists. The GHQ's assessment was somewhat subjective, but it did change Japanese culture forever. Shinto is now "privatized."

I've tried to highlight cultural change here, but the impact over the following 80 years is most easily characterized through the reaction to GHQ political policies. As a general rule, the Americans liberalized speech policies and encouraged critique of the government in schools, NGOs and religious groups. The radical politics of Japan from 1945 through the 1980s, which are often visible in cultural portrayals, came directly out of GHQ policy. Conversely, the conservative turn in Japan since the 1980s is a backlash against this policy, which some conservatives denigrate as anti-nationalist brainwashing.