American Strategic Deception Bureau

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　Anyway, after leaving the Imperial Palace, Ferry and Marita followed Miss Monroe to the temporary concert stage at the foot of the Tokyo Tower.

　The idol singers here, as well as the accompanying band and the special effects team, began intensive practice and rehearsal.

　For the Japanese arts community, which was just beginning to recover and eager for recognition in Europe and the United States, the arrival of Marilyn Monroe, the international superstar known as the "ambassador of the American nation," on a tour in Japan was a major event.

　Therefore, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), which was responsible for organizing this event, was very excited. So they used the same energy as the New Year's Red and White Song Festival, bringing in Japan's top singers and actors to make this "US-Japan Friendship" concert as grand and grand as possible.

　Well, there were also some minor celebrities and new singers who hadn't made it in the United States, who flew to Japan hoping to gain some experience and fame by performing on the same stage with Marilyn Monroe. Even if it was just to take a photo with them, it would at least increase their status.

　In this way, a large number of artists from the United States and Japan began a lively joint rehearsal at the foot of the Tokyo Tower.

　Originally, Fieri was worried about whether Japanese artists could overcome language barriers and cultural barriers when working with Hollywood stars and singers.

　After settling into a hotel room in Tokyo and turning on the TV, he was shocked to discover that, aside from government news and commercials, over 90% of the programs on major Japanese TV channels were directly copied from the United States!

　From talk shows to musicals to soap operas, the content covers everything. As for the Japanese TV stations, they just provide subtitles.

　Well, the revitalization of the entertainment industry usually lags behind economic growth, doesn't it?

　——It was not until the 1970s that Japan's cultural industries, including film and animation, really developed and even went abroad.

　In this way, just like when Hong Kong dramas and movies became popular in mainland China and people in Beijing began to learn Cantonese and sing Cantonese songs, the entire Japanese society in the early 1960s was flooded with various American cultural products, and almost all young people in Japan could sing a few American pop songs.

　Japanese artists even try to mix a few English words into their Japanese pop songs to show their high-end style and class.

　Relying on the post-war Japanese society's admiration for the strong and its consistent worship of European and American white culture, it should not be difficult for Monroe to be popular in Japan.

　On the other hand, Dr. Kissinger, who was not very interested in entertainment performances, took leave from the team, paid for an interpreter himself, and then wandered around the streets and alleys of Tokyo. He also went to the library and bookstore and sat for a long time, apparently conducting a social survey.

　That evening, after returning to the hotel with a pile of newspapers, magazines, and books, Dr. Kissinger and Fieri resumed their conversation about politics. They lamented Japan's postwar economic boom and wondered if something had gone wrong. Could this put Japan at risk of spiraling out of control?

　Because, according to the plan made by the United States at the end of World War II, the main target of support in Asia should be the Philippines, which had been ruled by the United States for half a century, making the Philippines the United States' proxy in Asia. As for the newly conquered and hated Japan, the main thing to be cautious about is.

　——The "Philippine Consortium" that appeared in some old Hong Kong movies was supported by the United States with a lot of money during this period.

　As a result, the Philippines, which received generous financial support and massive investment from the United States, has developed mediocrely and half-dead in the years since the war.

　Japan, which was originally guarded against and targeted, seized the opportunity and soared to the sky. Now it can even engage in a trade war with the United States!

　Considering the widespread admiration and respect for MacArthur among the Japanese people, Dr. Kissinger couldn't help but quip to Fieri: "Did MacArthur over-support Japan after the war, resulting in this incredible economic monster?"

　"Well, from what I understand, this issue seems very complicated. Regarding Japan's postwar economic recovery, uh... how should I put it?"

　Fili thought for a moment and replied, "General MacArthur's original intention was bad, but it was carried out well by his subordinates..."

　Dr. Kissinger:?!

　Cool boots!

　As for Japan's social economy? I don't give a damn! All I know is war (for show)!

　In fact, during his five years in Japan, except for a few tours for publicity and photo opportunities, MacArthur was basically a homebody, doing nothing at work every day, just slacking off and watching Hollywood movies on the projector in the office.

　Including Emperor Hirohito and the Marshal's Japanese mistress, there were only sixteen Japanese people who were received by him more than twice.

　Until the outbreak of the Korean War, General MacArthur had been living a leisurely life in Japan, enjoying himself.

　——With such a negative attitude, there is basically no hope of expecting Marshal MacArthur to lead Japan's post-war economic recovery.

　Of course, General MacArthur could be lazy and slack, but the American civil and military officials under him still worked very hard after arriving in Japan.

　However, the direction of their efforts seems to be a full 180 degrees different from revitalizing Japan and creating an economic miracle.

　Or, on the contrary, they are trying to destroy the market competitiveness of Japan's capitalist economy, causing it to stagnate and weaken!

　——You know, as the avenger and conqueror, why did the United States want to lead Japan, its enemy, to rise up and become bigger and stronger?

　Following the precedent of the rise of Nazi Germany, many Americans at the time believed that the day of Japan's revival would be the day for revenge against the United States!

　Therefore, the Japanese dwarf must be firmly tied with the thickest iron chain, and this old enemy must never be allowed to have the possibility of turning things around!

　In order to prevent pro-Japanese factions from showing any mercy and leave Japan with a foundation for revival, the US Army Civil Affairs Bureau, which managed the occupied territories after the war, deliberately excluded American experts who were pro-Japan when seeking expert consultations. Instead, it specifically sought out high-ranking intellectuals who were hostile to Japan.

　In the end, those responsible for formulating the US's policy toward Japan were a group of pro-China and anti-Japanese American experts, such as the famous Sinologist Lattimore.

　Under their advice, the core policy of the US occupation forces in Japan was to eliminate Japan's war potential and completely destroy Japan!

　The ruling strategies formulated by the occupying forces in Japan were also full of malice, and each move hit the weak points of the Japanese economy (the weak points in their perception)!

　First, according to the requirements of the US occupation forces, after Japan surrendered, it had to dismantle 50% of its machine tools and power generation equipment, 70% of its steelmaking equipment and other heavy industrial equipment, and compensate China, South Korea, the Philippines and other neighboring countries that had been invaded by the Japanese army, in order to reduce Japan's industrial advantage over its Asian neighbors.

　Secondly, according to American experts, Japan's political landscape, like that of the early United States, was characterized by a long history of division, numerous feudal domains, and strong local power. Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was divided into hundreds of feudal domains, which had maintained self-government by powerful aristocrats for over 700 years, a deeply entrenched system.

　The central government of the old Japanese Empire was able to concentrate its efforts on major tasks because, on the one hand, it relied on the imperial army to suppress the local governments, and on the other hand, it relied on the four major zaibatsu (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda) and a dozen or so medium-sized zaibatsu to control the national economic lifeline, thus forcibly uniting the fragmented Japan.

　To eliminate Japan's war potential, it is necessary to destroy the island nation's centralized power tools and restore Japan to its normal state of local division.

　At this time, because of the defeat, the former Japanese army no longer exists. So in order to make Japan more fragmented, let's kill the zaibatsu as well!

　So, just one month after Japan's surrender, the US occupation forces announced the "dissolution of the zaibatsu," claiming that Japan's major zaibatsu were parasites on the nation and criminals who had pushed Japan into a war of aggression. To settle Japan's war crimes, the entire zaibatsu system must be eradicated!

　Don't even mention "too big to fail" to me! Even the emperor would kneel before the American masters, and the chaebols would be at their mercy!

　I have issued an order! All of those "too big to fail" Japanese chaebols must be dissolved immediately, completely, and completely!

　The specific operation process is to cut large companies into smaller ones, split conglomerates into independent companies, and fire all the bosses. The chaebol families, as war criminals, must sell all their shares at a low price, and all corporate executives with close ties to the chaebol families must also resign.

　Well, because the Americans were completely clueless about the interpersonal relationships within Japanese chaebols, and had no idea of ​​the close relationships, they implemented a blanket policy, firing every executive in every company and replacing them with mid-level executives.

　After all, in the original chaebol companies, if you don’t have a close relationship with the chaebol family, how can you become a senior executive?

　In that case, all the original executives should just get out!

　Well, this time we really have to cut the grass and wipe it out completely! The Japanese chaebols were stunned by this as if they had been hit on the head by a heavy hammer.

　Under normal circumstances, those chaebol families in Japan have connections everywhere and have pervasive connections in the political and media circles.

　But after the defeat, all the connections they had made in the past were useless. Even if they tried to find connections with the emperor, it would be in vain.

　Because even Emperor Hirohito himself was deprived of his gold coins by MacArthur, most of the royal property was confiscated by the US military, and even the throne was in danger of flying away. In order to crack down on the emperor and make him obedient, the US occupation forces often spread the word that they were considering deposing the emperor.

　If you want to keep your throne, shut up.

　, and hand over your property! Don't hide it! Otherwise, we will have to find someone else to be the emperor!

　Or maybe just end Japan's monarchy altogether and create a Republic of Japan or a Federation of Japan, that would be a good idea too, right?

　Therefore, Emperor Hirohito, whose life was precarious, was too busy to be humble in front of the American boss, so how could he dare to speak for the chaebol?

　No matter how the chaebol families jump around, as long as they have no way to lobby in Washington, the US military will ignore them and continue to enforce the laws.

　All chaebols will be eliminated and all executives will be fired!

　What? Private property is sacred and inviolable and is a basic right of citizens?

　Come on, you're not just anybody, you're a war criminal! What power do war criminals have? I'm glad they didn't hang you on the gallows!

　Anyway, in this land of Japan, whoever we Americans say is a war criminal is a war criminal! Even if the Emperor himself comes to plead for mercy, it will be useless!

　As a result, all shares and properties of dozens of Japanese chaebol families were forcibly confiscated, and only a small amount of cash and government bonds were given as compensation.

　From then on, while Japanese chaebols like Mitsui and Mitsubishi still existed in name only, they were no longer closely connected to these families. Instead, they were controlled by 150,000 connected individuals. However, because the highly diluted shareholdings were so dispersed, the shareholders' voices carried little weight.

　Then, when shareholders have no say, the management of Japanese companies can completely ignore the shareholders and manage collectively.

　According to American experts, after using such a decapitation tactic on a company, the management will definitely engage in massive corruption and bring the company down.

　——Unfortunately, reality seems to be different from their imagination...

　After dealing with the chaebols in Japanese cities, the next step is to deal with the landlords in Japanese countryside.

　American economists believe that Japan, in its quest to realize its potential, relies not only on the zaibatsu to control the economy and concentrate resources on major projects, but also on cheap rural labor. Due to the exploitation of landlords, Japanese farmers have repeatedly gone bankrupt and are forced to work in factories to make ends meet.

　Specifically, it is similar to the enclosure movement in Britain, which led to unemployed farmers flocking to cities and becoming consumables, giving rise to the process of the Industrial Revolution.

　In order to destroy the cheap labor source of Japan's industry, the Americans had to do the opposite: eliminate the Japanese landlords and distribute the arable land to the farmers!

　At the same time, once large tracts of arable land are cut into small pieces, the agricultural production methods in Japan's rural areas will regress to the backward small-scale peasant economy, thereby hindering the promotion of modern large-scale production and the upgrading of agricultural technology, thereby reducing the production efficiency of Japanese agriculture and destroying the market competitiveness of Japanese agricultural products!

　In this way, Japan will be forced to rely on American food for survival. Without American food, it will starve and will never dare to attack again!

　In this way, the Civil Affairs Bureau instructed the Japanese government to come up with a land reform plan. Japanese civil servants discussed it. The radicals believed that it would be enough to leave only three hectares of arable land for each landlord, while the conservatives believed that the step should not be too big, and it would be better to leave five hectares for the landlord!

　The two groups of Japanese civil servants were arguing and went to the Americans for a resolution. The American experts from the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Occupation Army said, "Land reform should be done all at once. You're all too conservative! Just give each landowner one hectare of arable land and distribute the rest to the farmers!"

　Landlords throughout Japan were naturally furious, but they lacked the courage to confront the American imperial army, and ultimately had no choice but to surrender their farmland.

　Therefore, the so-called large landowners in modern Japan actually do not have much arable land, but mainly own large tracts of mountains and forests. Because the arable land has been divided up by the Americans, only mountains and forests unsuitable for farming may be preserved - and in modern times, they can be developed into tourist attractions.

　In this way, both the tycoons in the city and the landlords in the countryside lost their core industries and only received a little redemption banknotes and government bonds.

　Unfortunately, in the days that followed, Japan was hit by hyperinflation. Prices soared seventy-fold in just one or two years. The small amount of money and government bonds held by the chaebols and landlords quickly depreciated to nothing. The lucky ones could become wealthy, but the unlucky ones were reduced to poverty.

　After dealing with the landlords in rural Japan, American experts once again turned their attention back to Japanese companies in the city, with the same goal of destroying Japan's cheap labor advantage - land reform in rural Japan is certainly a fundamental solution, but what about the cheap labor that has already entered the factories?

　The solution is very simple. Force Japanese companies to raise wages so that labor is no longer cheap, isn't that enough?

　When the former middle-level managers who had just become bosses heard that the occupying forces wanted companies to raise wages, they all panicked. They said that Japan was short of resources and could only gain a foothold in the international market by developing an export-oriented economy, processing imported materials, and selling cheap labor.

　If Japanese workers' wages increase, Japanese companies will lose their core competitiveness. How will they survive in the international market in the future?

　American experts said that how to run the business is something your boss should consider, not something I should consider.

　Now a Japanese worker’s daily salary is not enough to buy two bottles of Coke. Is this reasonable?

　An American worker’s hourly wage is enough to buy eight bottles of Coke!

　Hurry up and get higher!

　Of course, I'm not just saying you can raise your wages and not cut them. While Japanese workers used to earn meager salaries, corporate executives earned incredibly generous salaries, often hundreds or even thousands of times more than ordinary workers! This is also outrageous!

　When you go back, raise the workers' wages and lower the executives' salaries. After this increase and decrease, won't it be balanced?

　Note that this is not a suggestion, but an order!

　Those who don't listen will never have a good ending!

　In this way, the wages of Japanese workers soared after the defeat, even outperforming the post-war inflation.

　On the contrary, the salaries of Japanese corporate executives plummeted after the defeat, leaving them at only about three times the salaries of grassroots employees.

　However, since all the original executives before the war were fired and the executives after the war were newly promoted, there was not much difficulty in adapting.

　From then on, Japanese society became extremely unequal. Even department heads and section chiefs earned only two or three times as much as their employees.

　The Gini coefficient of Japanese society plummeted from 0.65 to 0.3 in an instant due to the reforms after the defeat. A fair society became a reality overnight!

　Moreover, this tradition continued for a long time afterwards. Even in the 1980s, when Japan's economy was at its peak, the salary of the president of a large Japanese company was only about seven times that of an entry-level employee. They relied entirely on various gray incomes, additional benefits, and public spending to maintain their upper-class status.

　After forcibly adjusting the salaries of Japanese companies, American experts discovered another problem: even if wages have increased, Japanese companies can still lay off employees!

　While Japanese bosses can no longer cut wages, they still treat workers like they're not human beings, forcing them to do the work of several people. Within three years, they'll wear out a group of workers. Then, they'll lay them off, exporting their waste to society, and replacing them with a fresh crop of "human miners" to work tirelessly in the factory.

　Doesn't this mean that they have successfully bypassed the wage increase threshold set by American experts and regained cheap labor?

　No! This loophole must be closed! The labor costs of Japanese capitalists must be raised no matter what!

　To this end, American experts from the Civil Affairs Bureau racked their brains and tailored a "lifetime employment system" for Japanese companies!

　There is only one core idea, that is, no layoffs!

　No performance evaluation, no firing of employees, and no layoffs for life unless the company goes bankrupt!

　Incompetent employees can be sidelined, but they cannot be fired!

　Even if he is lazy, as long as he doesn't make any big mistakes, the company will keep him until retirement!

　Humph, we have blocked your layoff mechanism, let’s see how you can still dig up talent!

　In response, Japanese companies said they could no longer tolerate this - isn't it natural to lay off employees when business is bad in a capitalist society?

　Forcing us to adopt a lifetime employment system is essentially forcing our companies to employ lazy people! This is so uncapitalist!

　We simply cannot accept this kind of thinking that completely disregards the interests of capitalists!

　The answer from American experts is also very simple: if the ideas don’t change, then change the people.

　If the president doesn't listen, then solve the problem fundamentally and deal with the president directly!

　If you don't want to be the president, there are still many people who want to be the president!

　A three-legged frog is hard to find, but a two-legged living person is also hard to find?

　What? I have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the company? You must be kidding! Who doesn't know that in this land of Japan, America's power is unlimited!

　In this way, because the arms were no match for the thighs, the lifetime employment system was finally successfully forced into Japan by the occupying forces.