Cementing Infra-Technocracy in Postwar Japan

The Allied Occupation in Japan from 1945 to 1952 had a profound effect on both the Japanese construction industry, and the sociopolitcal status of its specialists. Heavy construction equipment became the major sight when building various infrastructure; the adoption of heavy equipment, such as bulldozers and heavy road rollers, dramatically changed labor relationships on construction sites. Though manual labor was still necessary, recruitment and management was no longer the main concern for engineers. This minimization of workforce interactions distanced engineers from workers, and conditioned how engineers wrote about the past and considered their political role. For one, postwar engineers tended to focus more on how Japanese technology shaped the landscape of former colonies, while sidelining the colonial relations embodied their exploitation of the colonized as manual workers. Furthermore, these engineers rejected the American vision of participatory democracy, in favor of a specialist technocracy, on the basis that the latter would most efficiently represent the public’s interest. Thus, roots of Japan’s famed postwar technocratic governance can trace its roots to this period of political reconfiguration.

This paper combines English and Japanese original archival materials to trace how individual consulting companies served as mediators that translated Occupation’s priorities of demilitarization and democratization to Japanese producers, and indirectly promoted the development of heavy construction equipment industry. These American consulting companies’ roles as middlemen in postwar Japan are yet to be fully explored. This paper’s focus on Overseas Consulting Inc. and use of the company’s documents will explore the confrontations and negotiations between the General Headquarters and various Japanese industries and officials. In doing so, both contributed to paving the way for a technocratic order in postwar Japan.