Revisiting the History of British Commonwealth Forces in Japan (1945-1957)

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When we think about Japan after World War II, most stories focus on the US and on Tokyo. But there’s another chapter that’s often overlooked: the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), which was in Japan from 1945 to 1952. This force – and its successors—played a key role in shaping early postwar relations between the UK and Japan, yet they have been pushed to the margins in most histories. Now is the perfect moment to bring this story back into the spotlight. We are approaching 80 years since the war ended and the Occupation began, and a treasure trove of previously unused BCOF documents has recently been found in Japan. At the same time, Japan’s growing military ties with the UK make this history more relevant than ever, while the ongoing war in Ukraine is reshaping how we think about Cold War dynamics. This paper offers an overview of Britain’s and the Commonwealth’s presence in Japan during those formative years and introduces the multinational, multi-archival project “The British, the Commonwealth, and the Occupied.” to give this neglected but vital story the attention it deserves—restoring its significance both locally and internationally.

Thomas French is a Professor of Modern Japanese History, and a former Vice Dean of the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto. He is a specialist on the Occupation of Japan and peacetime military interactions between Japan and the West. He is the author of National Police Reserve: The Origin of Japan’s Self Defense Forces (Global Oriental, 2014) and editor of The Economic and Business History of Occupied Japan: New Perspectives (Routledge, 2018), and New Perspectives on Peacetime Anglo-Japanese Military Relations (Routledge, 2025). He received large research grants to investigate peacetime UK-Japan military links from the Meiji era to the present and Japan in the Cold War. He is currently heading a major JSPS supported ‘Kakenhi’ Kiban B research project entitled: ‘The British, the Commonwealth, and the Occupied - Re-Examining the International and Domestic Aspects of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force of Japan, 1945 to 1952’.

Chairs: Prof Chris Aldous (University of Winchester) and Dr Graciela Iglesias-Rogers (University of Winchester)

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