Citizens
Right after the war there were lots of rumors that the Americans were coming and what they'd do to women. Many people worried what would happen to them, so my family and friends ran and hid in the mountains, some for three days, others for a week. [10]
This unease as to the treatment of the people was seen even voiced publicly in the newspapers. The question on treatment was the main focus of the people before the forces arrived. Well known political activist Toyohiko Kagawa aimed to do more than just speculate on how they will be treated. Kagawa in a plea directed at General MacArthur, evaluates the Japanese people and their willingness to change and because of this the occupation should look more kindly at the people
“All the Japanese were determined to fight to the last. Everybody was ware of the power of atomic bomb attacks. None of them doubted that the war would have to be continued even he or she might be blasted to bits or burned to, ashes, while His Majesty the Emperor willed so. Following the proclamation of the Imperial Rescript, however, Japan made a quick turn from war to peace. The determination and efforts of all the Japanese to start out on a new path are shown in their tightly-set mouth. Can you find any other people like the Japanese?" [11]
It was after the arrival of the occupation forces that the people realized their worries were put at ease. In Yumi Goto’s memoir Those Days in Muramatsu: One Women’s Memoir of Occupied Japan, she explains her time with the occupation forces as she was a guide and a translator for them. She explains throughout her memoir that the soldiers were very happy and calm, which wasn’t what they were told they were going to be like.[12] These reactions were not unique to her, among the other villagers they found the soldiers very likable as they didn’t act like victors.[13]