The Public Opinion And Sociological Research Division: Attempting to understand the Japanese during the American Occupation

In 1948, to cope with a lack of knowledge regarding the reforms they had implemented during the American Occupation of Japan, the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers directed the Civil Information and Education to create the Public Opinion and Sociological Research Division. The Division’s purpose was to guide Japanese Public Opinion agencies in refining and democratizing their public opinion gathering apparatus, while also gathering sociological information on the Japanese themselves for utilization by different areas within SCAP and military government. The implementation of this division was not without its opponents in military intelligence who felt that techniques utilized during the war were just as viable during the occupation. Both POSR and its opponents fostered differing views on the Japanese, but were both no-less based on racial biases both groups held.;Overcoming these and financial obstacles during its inception, POSR employed a small group of American and Japanese social scientists to gather information with an unprecedented access to Japanese citizens, due to its lack of a formal command structure, not enjoyed by anyone else in SCAP. Despite this, POSR was never fully understood or appreciated by SCAP at large and was eventually deactivated as attention shifted to Korea and the onset of the Korean War. POSR had been crucial, not in implementing reforms themselves, but guiding and gaining knowledge of Japanese culture that SCAP had been sorely lacking during the first phase of the occupation.