Ian Buruma concludes the story of the postwar occupation of Japan. American culture - from the boogie-woogie to steamy romantic movies - became the rage. Meanwhile Japanese women embraced the new rights brought by General Douglas
MacArthur's team, voting in their millions in the country's first free elections. Leftists and labour activists took advantage of their new rights to campaign and to strike. But as the Cold War set in, the American authorities began to regret both encouraging the left and demobilising Japan's army. As the occupation ended, the perceived threat to Japan was no longer feudalism, but communism. Producer Hugh Levinson