Are there any books or videos that include the reaction of the Japanese to the American soldiers right after the end of World War 2?

Answer 1

Try The Fall of Japan by William Craig and Embracing Defeat by John W. Dower. The former deals with the early part of the occupation; the latter gives a full history of it. I had often wondered about this same question, and, particularly the reaction to the very first U.S. soldiers to set foot on mainland Japan itself (which obviously none had done yet at the time of the surrender). There is a fascinating account of the organizing of all this in General MacArthur's book Reminiscences, including the U.S. Army staff's worry that there might be an assassination attempt or suicide attack on MacArthur himself as his plane landed! There were ARMED Japanese soldiers on the road that MacArthur's motorcade took from the airport, and the Japanese commander (possibly at the suggestion or insistence of the American staff officers) had all the troops FACE AWAY from MacArthur's car! It is an amazing story. Many Japanese would not look at General MacArthur because they were afraid of the mighty warrior who had conquered Japan and thought just his glance would kill them. This was taken from the "1st cav ww2 scrapbook" -- true story.