At the end of WWll, the Japanese had millions of soldiers in China and
the Pacific islands.  With the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet
destroyed, how did these soldiers get back to the Japanese Islands?

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 04 Nov 2002 17:45 PST

Dear ashmoor,

I do not post this as an answer, since I don't know whether this is
what you expect. But are you aware of the fact that the repatriation
of the 3,000,000 Japanese soldiers and several hundereds of thousands
civilians abroad after the surrender of Japan was organized by Allied
military, namely General McArthur, and not by Japanese authorities?
Therefore, it's only logical that the Japanese in China, Formosa,
South East Asia and the Pacific Islands were brought back to Japan on
American, Australian, and British ships. The US Navy alone had lots of
troop transporters and freight vessels, as a result of the war
efforts. So it does absolutely not matter that the Japanese war and
merchant navy were virtually inexistand; they were not needed for the
repatriation program.

Regards,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by ashmoor-ga on 05 Nov 2002 12:29 PST

Thanks, Scriptor- That was exactly what I was looking for

Dear ashmoor, 
 
Thank you for accepting my elucidation as an answer. In order make it
distinguishable as such, I post it again in slightly revised form:

It is a fact that the repatriation of the 3,000,000 Japanese soldiers
and several hundereds of thousands civilians abroad after the
surrender of Japan was organized by Allied military, namely General
McArthur, and not by Japanese authorities. Therefore, it's only
logical that the Japanese in China, Formosa,
South East Asia and the Pacific Islands were brought back to Japan on
American, Australian, and British ships. The US Navy alone had lots of
troop transporters and freight vessels, as a result of the war
efforts. So it does absolutely not matter that the Japanese war and
merchant navy were virtually inexistent; they were not needed for the
repatriation program.

It was an honor to help you.
Best regards, 
Scriptor

John Dower discusses the repatriation in detail in his Pulitzer
Prize-winning, "Embracing Defeat." Herbert Bix ("Hirohito") describes
how Emperor Hirohito proposed that the Russians keep Japanese as
laborers instead of Japan having to pay financial reparations. Russia
took him up on this generous offer.