Jap election to be January 20
By the Associated Press
The Japanese cabinet decided today a general election will be held in Nippon January 20 to 31, and the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Hochi urged “spontaneous and vigorous action” toward forming a democratic government.
Tokyo radio broadcasts, reported the cabinet’s election decision. It said the government would summon the national diet to an extraordinary session early in December to revise Japan’s election laws, and a nationwide census probably would begin November 1.
The Yomiuri reported that the Nipponese people were “breathing a sigh of relief” because their fears of possible disturbances with the entry of Allied occupation forces “have thus far not materialized.”
To land at Singapore
Allied occupation forces will begin landing at Singapore soon after the formal signing of capitulation terms on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay today, Tokyo radio said.
Yomiuri’s editorial called upon the Nipponese to prepare themselves for democratic government, pointing out that the duration of Allied occupation of Japan will depend upon the speed of political rebirth.
“The basis of modern society is democracy,” the paper said. “Without a change in the people’s spirit and adequate training, democracy cannot be established.”
In a broadcast beamed to Asia, Tokyo radio said the Japan Cultural Patriotic Association. one of the wartime organizations, intended to tighten relations between Nippon and conquered territories, had decided to disband.