Flag of Occupied Japan

By Crusader1307

With the end of World War II in The Pacific Theater (1945), a conquered Japanese Government fell under the administrative control of The United States Army. It's Commander in The Pacific was General Douglas MacArthur. He took a ''hands on'' approach to the total dismantling of The Imperial Japanese War Machine and the radical Government he and Washington saw as the reason for Japan's aggression in the late War. MacArthur felt that he needed to completely remove all forms of Japanese patriotism and set about creating not only a new Democratic Government, but the development of a new Constitution to insure complete and future peace. The Japanese Flag (The ''Rising Sun'' and ''War Flag''), was seen as a major contributing factor in Japanese martial sentiment. MacArthur banned The National Flag and saw that a new government would design and adopt a new set of Colors to represent Japan in the future. MacArthur used a US Army Guidon identifier which represented Japan from 1945 until 1952. The ''Occupation Flag'' was a swallowtail design, which featured a Red Upper stripe over a Blue Lower stripe. These were basic US Army ''Infantry Organizational'' colors which are still used today within The US Army. The Occupation Flag flew from all official Government Buildings and concerns. When Japan decided upon a new Constitution in 1952 (and The American Occupation was officially over), The Nation went back to it's traditional ''Rising Sun'' Flag (with United Nations approval).