The Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia: Esther B. Rhoads and Humanitarian Efforts in Postwar Japan, 1946-1952

The LicensedAgenciesfor Reliefin Asia: Esther B. Rhoads and Humanitarian Efforts in Postwar Japan, 1946-1952 Thomas S. Rogers* This article discusses a positive chapter in U.S.-Japan relations: relief work undertaken by American Christian organizations in postwar Japan between 1946 and 1952. 1 contend that American churches' involvement in reliefwork through the Licensed Agencies for Reliefin Asia (LARA) was part ofa larger American effort to spread Christianity and democracy throughoutthe world. Themostnotable aspectofthe LARAreliefprogram rested in its volunteers' commitment to humanitarian rather than evangelical concerns. While the churches themselves saw reliefwork as part of a larger worldwide "Christianizing" effort, LARA's own vision focused on providing humanitarian reliefto "war victims" and serving as a model to the Japanese ofan American institution grounded in democratic, egalitarian , and charitable principles. Postwar Japan American Christian missionaries returning to Japan in 1946 were startled to see the vast transformation that had occurred during the war years. EstherB. Rhoads, anAmerican Friends Service Committee official, travelling by bus from Atsugi airport to Tokyo in June 1946, recounts: As we approached Yokohama destruction became noticeable and soon we were in the midst ofit all. Yokohama seemed practically leveled. Could see ruins ofKyoritsu' & other buildings on the bluff. Much like the scene after the earthquake—piles of rubble—rusted safes, a few shacks of burned & rustedtin, a few new houses. Some attempt at fields orpatches ofvegetables. (Diary, June 22, 1946) Rhoads was returning to Yokohama city for the first time since 1940. Her comparison ofcurrent damage to that experienced inthe Tokyo earthquake of 1923 is revealing: for several months she worked on a Japan Service Committee emergency relief project that provided humanitarian aid to earthquake victims. Japanese historians substantiate Rhoads' first-hand account. Hugh Bortón characterizes Japan's economic situation in 1945-46 as a period in which scarcity of food, shelter and clothing was acute and industrial Thomas S. Rogers works in Tokyo inthe Finance Department ofKobe Steel, Ltd. He would like to acknowledge his indebtedness to Paul J. Smith. Additionally, he would like to thank Elisabeth Potts Brown and Diana Franzusoff Peterson of Haverford College's Quaker Collection, as well as Jack Suiters ofthe American Friends Service Committee, for their support. Esther B. Rhoads and LARA19 production negligible (407). Michael Schaller estimates that, by August 1945, Allied Forces' bombing raids had laid waste to approximately 40 percent ofJapanese cities (27), while Theodore Cohen2 writes that, by the end of the war, 70 percent of Tokyo, 80 percent of Osaka and up to 90 percent ofNagoya had been destroyed (4). With such large-scale devastation in Japan's urban areas, it is not surprising that many Japanese city dwellers found themselves homeless, naked, andhungry. Rhoads, travelingaroundJapan in the summerof1946, encountered thousands ofdesperate people both on the streets and housed in public and private institutions. Strolling through the Ginza district of Tokyo inJuly 1946, Rhoadspassed"Hundredfs] ofaimlesspeoplewalking the streets." Later that month, Rhoads met over a thousand mentally retarded adults and undernourished or tubercular children living at a "Poor Farm," located fifteen miles outside Osaka city (Diary, July 11, 1946). In addition to the devastation brought to Japanese cities by Allied Forces' bombing expeditions and the abysmal state of the Japanese industrial sector in 1945, what other factors contributed to postwar economic collapse? Cohen mentions two: lower-than-average agricultural yield and extensive territorial loss. Domestic food production in 1945 droppeddrasticallyfromprewarlevels. Between 1944 and 1945 alone,rice production dropped by 30 percent while barley and wheat production fell by 50 percent. Whereas in 1940 the average Tokyo residentreceived 2260 caloriesperday,by 1946, thisnumberhadfallenbymorethantwo-thirds— to about 700 calories per day. Regarding Japan's extensive territorial loss, Cohen notes that with the 1 944-45 dismantling ofthe Japanese empire, the nation lost its critical, external source offood andraw materials (142, 145). One other factorcontributingto economic collapsewas inflation. Between August 1945 and January 1946 alone, the cost of living for the average wage earner in Tokyo increased more than tenfold. Inflation remained a problem within Japan until 1949 (Bortón 408). The lower than expectedagricultural yield and extensive territorial loss meant that starvation was a distinct possibility for Japanese citizens in the years immediately followingthe war. When General Douglas...