<P> In addition, the document stated: "The occupying forces of the Allies shall be withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and there has been established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people a peacefully inclined and responsible government" (Section 12). The Allies sought not merely punishment or reparations from a militaristic foe, but fundamental changes in the nature of its political system . In the words of political scientist Robert E. Ward: "The occupation was perhaps the single most exhaustively planned operation of massive and externally directed political change in world history ." </P> <P> The wording of the Potsdam Declaration--"The Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles ..."--and the initial post-surrender measures taken by Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), suggest that neither he nor his superiors in Washington intended to impose a new political system on Japan unilaterally . Instead, they wished to encourage Japan's new leaders to initiate democratic reforms on their own . But by early 1946, MacArthur's staff and Japanese officials were at odds over the most fundamental issue, the writing of a new Constitution . Emperor Hirohito, Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara and most of the cabinet members were extremely reluctant to take the drastic step of replacing the 1889 Meiji Constitution with a more liberal document . </P> <P> In late 1945, Shidehara appointed Jōji Matsumoto, state minister without portfolio, head of a blue - ribbon committee of Constitutional scholars to suggest revisions . The Matsumoto Commission's recommendations (ja: 松本 試案), made public in February 1946, were quite conservative as "no more than a touching - up of the Meiji Constitution"). MacArthur rejected them outright and ordered his staff to draft a completely new document . An additional reason for this was that on 24 January 1946, Prime Minister Shidehara had suggested to MacArthur that the new Constitution should contain an article renouncing war . </P> <P> Much of the drafting was done by two senior army officers with law degrees: Milo Rowell and Courtney Whitney, although others chosen by MacArthur had a large say in the document . The articles about equality between men and women were written by Beate Sirota . </P>

Who was in charge of creating a consitution and a working democracy in japan