From the Wikipedia article on Japanese chess "sega"

After World War II, SCAP (the occupation government of Japan, mostly controlled by the United States), trying to eliminate feudal factors from the life of Japanese society, decided to ban the shogi (as well as the bushido) on the basis that the game used captured figures. SCAP insisted that this led to the idea of violence against prisoners.

However, Kozo Masuda, one of the strongest shogists of the time, being summoned to the SCAP headquarters for trial, criticized this view of the shogi and stated that it was not the shogi, and Western chess carried the idea of violence over prisoners, because in them figures die, while the shogi are more democratic, because in them captured figures are given a chance to participate in the game again. Masuda also said that chess is in conflict with the idea of gender equality in Western society, as the king defends himself in them, hiding behind the queen and fleeing. As a result, Masuda’s arguments resulted in the shogi being removed from the list of prohibited things.