Tokyo's prewar population of 6.7 million is reduced to only 25,000. Trees, streets, roads and blocks are reduced to red-brown ash. The city streets are unnaturally still and lifeless, traveled only by American army tanks and jeeps. Japan has entered the era of occupation and reconstruction. It is an era of material shortages, and telephone lines are strung along the trees that line the streets. The first step in reconstruction is the restoration of communications.