Corporate Dismantling: The Forced Dissolution of Japan's Zaibatsu: Monopolies, Geopolitics, and the Radical Economic Restructuring in Post-War Tokyo, 1945-1952

How do you permanently neutralize the economic engine of an entire empire after a devastating global conflict? Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Allied occupation forces faced this exact dilemma, resulting in the aggressive, geopolitical dismantling of the colossal Zaibatsu conglomerates.

For decades, a handful of hyper-powerful, family-controlled monopolies completely dominated the Japanese economy, manufacturing everything from silk textiles to heavy military aircraft. Deeming ...