Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements -- Conventions -- List of abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- Studies of the police in Japan and elsewhere -- The Japanese police and the American Occupation -- The Occupation structure -- Police and society -- Methodology and sources -- 2 Foundations -- A national police organization -- Wide-ranging police powers -- The police ethos -- Police methods -- Thought control -- Wartime and the neighbourhood associations -- The Kenpei -- 3 The Consequences of defeat -- United States policies -- The health of the police institution -- Economic conditions -- 4 Guardians of the people -- Economic regulation -- The treatment of detainees -- Neighbourhood surveillance -- Strikes and demonstrations -- 5 Serving the old guard -- The disappearance of surplus military supplies -- The oyabun-kobun system -- 'Voluntary' contributions -- The tale of Suzuki Eiji -- 6 Allies of military government -- The structure of military government -- The process of military government -- Mutual dependence -- A weakness for entertainment -- 7 'Immediate and final decentralization' -- Preliminaries -- The PSD/Yoshida government plan -- A clash of principles -- Advising the Katayama government -- Reconciliation -- 8 Towards recentralization -- Organization and facilities -- Shouldering the financial burden -- Vulnerability to lawless elements -- Trusting in the national rural police -- 9 Conclusion -- A two-faced Occupation -- A durable social system -- Resisting reform -- Epilogue -- The implications of recentralization -- Resurgent police powers -- Police practices -- The police ethos -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.