SCAPitalism

In Tokyo the rich were madly spending to avoid tomorrow's tax, and the poor were madly striking to pay tomorrow's bills. No one knew what tomorrow's yen might be worth.

The Japanese Government, with the approval of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, increased its efforts to check the mounting inflationary trend. To supplement a stiff war-profits tax ordered by SCAP (Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Pacific) last fall, the Government has prescribed a set of anti-inflationary measures which one U.S. correspondent dubbed SCAPitalism: 1) restriction of cash incomes to a monthly maximum of 500 yen (about $33 at the present arbitrary rate of exchange); 2) freezing of bank accounts (individuals may not withdraw more than 300 yen a month); 3) collection and distribution of essential foodstuffs through official channels only.

Every beggar now has two or three 100-yen notes, once as rare in Japan as a $100 bill in the U.S. Half-yen notes are used as nose-wipers. A group of men spent 35,000 yen on a night's spree at the seaside resort of Atami, taking care to bring their own slaughtered cow for food. Five pounds of black-market rice would fetch 5,000 to 7,000 yen (official price: 150).

Nevertheless, the Japanese, with 1,800 to 2,100 calories a day, were better off economically than many Europeans and most Asiatics. They expressed pleasant surprise at the fairness of the U.S. occupiers, supported (at least publicly) Allied prosecution of war criminals and gave lip service to democratic slogans. However, members of the Far Eastern Commission, returning to Washington last week, reported that Japanese liberals were still afraid of their militaristic countrymen; the liberals estimated that it would require 20 or 30 years of Allied occupation to bring real democracy to Japan.

Meanwhile the Japanese people were making the most of their SCAP-sponsored freedom. In a holiday spirit, 500 workers of the Yokohama Wire Workers Union piled into trucks, drove to Tokyo to agitate for a 250% wage increase. Said one of them in clear but truncated English: "We won war. One year ago no could do this. Now we can shout and sing and strike. We really win war. Yes?"

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