GENERAL HEADQUARTERS
SUPREME COMMANDER FOR THE ALLIED POWERS

9 December 1945

AG 602.6 (9 Dec 45) CIE
(SCAPIN-411)

MEMORANDUM FOR	THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE GOVERNMENT.
THROUGH	Central Liaison Office, Tokyo.
Subject	Rural Land Reform.

1. In order that the Imperial Japanese Government shall remove economic obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies, establish respect for the dignity of man, and destroy the economic bondage which has enslaved the Japanese farmer to centuries of feudal oppression, the Japanese Imperial Government is directed to take measures to insure that those who till the soil of Japan shall have a more equal opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
2. The purpose of this order is to exterminate those pernicious ills which have long blighted the agrarian structure of a land where almost half the total population is engaged in husbandry. The more malevolent of these ills include:
a. Intense overcrowding of land.
Almost half the farm households in Japan till less than one and one half acres each.
b. Widespread tenancy under conditions highly unfavorable to tenants.
More than three-fourths of the farmers in Japan are either partially or totally tenants, paying rentals amounting to half or more of their annual crops.
c. A heavy burden of farm indebtedness combined with high rates of interest on farm loans.
Farm indebtedness persists so that less than half the total farm households are able to support themselves on their agriculture income.
d. Government fiscal policies which discriminate against agriculture in favor of industry and trade.
Interest rates and direct taxes on agriculture are more oppressive than those in commerce and industry.
e. Authoritative government control over farmers and farm organizations without regard for farmer interests.
Arbitrary crop quotas established by disinterested control associations often restrict the farmer in the cultivation of crops for his own needs or economic advancement.
Emancipation of the Japanese farmer cannot begin until such basic farm evils are uprooted and destroyed.
3. The Japanese Imperial Government is therefore ordered to submit to this Headquarters on or before 15 March 1946 a program of rural land reform. This program shall contain plans for:
a. Transfer of land ownership from absentee land owners to land operators.
b. Provisions for tenant purchase of farm lands from non-operating owners at equitable rates.
c. Provisions for purchase of land at annual installments commensurate with tenant income.
d. Provisions for reasonable protection of former tenants against reversion to tenancy status. Such necessary safeguards should include:
(1) Access to long and short term farm credit at reasonable interest rates.
(2) Measures to protect the farmer against exploitation by processors and distributors.
(3) Measures to stabilize prices of agricultural produce.
(4) Plans for the diffusion of technical and other information of assistance to the agrarian population.
(5) A program to foster and encourage an agricultural cooperative movement free of domination by non-agrarian interests and dedicated to the economic and cultural advancement of the Japanese farmer.
e. The Japanese Imperial Government is requested to submit in addition to the above, such other proposals it deems necessary to guarantee to agriculture a share of the national income commensurate with its contribution.

FOR THE SUPREME COMMANDER:

H.W.Allen
Colonel,A.G.D.
Asst Adjutant General