They tried to use the excuse that it would improve literacy rates. But when they conducted a nation wide literacy test on Kanji, the average student scored 90%.
So they couldnt use "muh literacy rates" as an excuse either
John Pelzel of GHQ, based on the prejudice that "Japanese has many kanji characters, which makes it difficult to remember, and the literacy rate is slow to increase, which is delaying democratization
In August 1948 , the Ministry of Education's Educational Training and Research Institute (now the National Institute for Educational Policy Research ) conducted Japan's first nationwide survey, the "Survey on Literacy Ability of the Japanese People," targeting approximately 17,000 people between the ages of 15 and 64. The results showed that only 2.1% of people were unable to read or write kanji, proving the high literacy rate of the Japanese people.
After the test, Shibata was summoned by Perzel, who indirectly warned him that the results needed to show a low literacy rate. Shibata rebuffed, insisting that the results could not be compromised.
Kanji still ended up being simplified in the end anyways and the writing system was changed despite there being no reason to do so.
They tried to use the excuse that it would improve literacy rates. But when they conducted a nation wide literacy test on Kanji, the average student scored 90%.
So they couldnt use "muh literacy rates" as an excuse either
John Pelzel of GHQ, based on the prejudice that "Japanese has many kanji characters, which makes it difficult to remember, and the literacy rate is slow to increase, which is delaying democratization
In August 1948 , the Ministry of Education's Educational Training and Research Institute (now the National Institute for Educational Policy Research ) conducted Japan's first nationwide survey, the "Survey on Literacy Ability of the Japanese People," targeting approximately 17,000 people between the ages of 15 and 64. The results showed that only 2.1% of people were unable to read or write kanji, proving the high literacy rate of the Japanese people.
After the test, Shibata was summoned by Perzel, who indirectly warned him that the results needed to show a low literacy rate. Shibata rebuffed, insisting that the results could not be compromised.
Kanji still ended up being simplified in the end anyways and the writing system was changed despite there being no reason to do so.
"Democratization" was simply a code word for "Destroying Individuality."
They really liked the "War Boom" in the US. They thought they could sustain it and export it to other nations. That fantasy lasted about 2 years.