The years after World War II saw Japan as a defeated nation and the Japanese people had to improvise in many aspects of daily life.

[1] Repatriation of Japanese living in other parts of Asia only aggravated the problems in Japan as these displaced people put more strain on already scarce resources.

Deep exhaustion, declining morale, and despair was so widespread that it was termed the "kyodatsu condition" (虚脱状態, kyodatsujoutai, lit.

People who were desperate for food and basic necessities turned to the black market with its inflated prices as the official lines of supply and stores had either been destroyed or had nothing to sell.

[4] In Shinjuku, Tokyo, the Ozu gang then created a large market near the station and by September 1945 had an enormous sign with 117 hundred-watt bulbs advertising its location; it was so bright that it could be seen from several miles away.

[5] After the Empire of Japan's surrender, the territories it had controlled (often for decades) were broken up to form new countries, like North and South Korea, or occupied by Allied Powers.

[6] More than forty Taiwanese men were arrested in connection with the incident, but their cases were quickly taken up by the Chinese component of Allied command in Tokyo.