Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF) was torn asunder by sectarian massacres and war with the new state of Pakistan All that was, in real measure, the still-burning legacy of the meteor that was the impact of the Japanese Empire violently impacting European colonies and deeper Asian nationalisms in the 1930s and early 1940s Japan would gain much of lasting value from the occupation: internal stability, prosperity, rehabilitation, security, democracy, and a sure path back to regional acceptance and international respect Japan was demilitarized and a democratic “peace constitution” passed that made Hirohito a figurehead monarch Article Nine limited the military to a strictly self-defense role That was interpreted until 1992 as blocking deployment of any troops overseas, even in a peacekeeping role Among major achievements of the occupation were democratization, but also land reform and enfranchisement of women In 1951 the Japanese Peace Treaty was signed On the same day, a security treaty with the United States affirmed siting of U.S military bases and a formal alliance that required limited rearmament by Japan Japan had allied with Great Britain 50 years before and progressed haltingly toward democracy After World War II, Japan absorbed additional liberalizing influences under an umbrella of military security provided by the United States, and completed the journey See also DOWNFALL; Emperor cult; Genroˉ; Ianfu; intelligence; kokuboˉ kokkai; Nanjing, Rape of; Sho-Goˉ; Tanaka Memorial; Tokkoˉ; Tokyo Tribunal; unconditional surrender; war crimes trials; Yamashita, Tomoyuki Suggested Reading: Haruko Cook and Theodore Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History (1992); John Dower, Japan in War and Peace (1995); Richard Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (1999); T R Havens, Valley of Darkness: The Japanese People and World War II (1978); Daikichi Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito (1995); Louise Young, Japan’s Total Empire (1998) JAPANESE AIR FORCES See Japanese Army Air Force; Japanese Naval Air Force JAPANESE AMERICANS Unlike Americans of German or Italian descent who were vetted for loyalty as individuals, Japanese Americans were interned as a group for a time during the war by order of President Franklin Roosevelt, starting on February 19, 1942 Many Japanese Americans volunteered for military service, and by 1944 the camps were closed See also Argenta Gap (1945); Japanese Canadians; Merrill’s Marauders; Saipan JAPANESE ARMY See Imperial Japanese Army JAPANESE ARMY AIR FORCE ( JAAF) The Imperial Japanese Army first began training pilots in France and Germany in 1909 Before World War I it experimented with several types of dirigibles It acquired its first fixed-wing aircraft from France In 1913 Japan had just five military aircraft The JAAF grew rapidly 607