Japan Between the Wars

Kevin J. Benoy

Japan’s Modernization• Japan’s tremendous

success in modernizing itself during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries, along with its apparent commitment to liberal democracy made many observers feel Japan was evolving into a kind of Western style democracy.

• This was not entirely true.

Japanese Political System• Japanese institutions

paralleled the British system, with two legislative chambers.

• However, Prime Ministers were not chosen by Parliamentary majorities, but by “a few men who exercised the Imperial prerogative, and only after appointment did they hold elections in which they usually won parliamentary majorities.” (Edwin Reischaer, The Japanese).

Japanese Political System• Furthermore, there was a

division between the military and civil branches of government.

• Army and navy ministers were military men, not politicians.

• The Diet (parliament) voted on both military and civilian budgets, but this was the only control exercised by civilians.

Westernization in Japan

• During the 1920s there was pressure, at least in the cities, to emulate the liberal West.

• The victory of Western democracies against the central powers and the collapse of authoritarian Russia convinced many Japanese of the strength of the democratic model.

Westernization in Japan

• Japanese businessmen wanted Japan to copy the West, calling for cuts in the high taxes needed to fund big army and navy establishments.

• Expanded foreign trade would bring prosperity to Japan, not imperial expansion.

Westernization in Japan

• Westernizers had success in the 1920s.– Japan pulled out of Siberia in

1922.– In the same year, Japan

signed the Washington Naval Agreement and officially recognized the territorial integrity of China.

– In 1925, Japan reduced her army by 4 of 21 divisions, at a considerable tax saving.

Westernization in Japan

• An educated elite of professors, teachers, writers, doctors, lawyers and office workers were quite familiar with Western liberal thought.

• City workers read newspapers, which gave them a range of views.

• Japanese labour unions, which grew during the war years, exerted considerable power.

Westernization in Japan

• Even the great earthquake and fire of 1923 in the Tokyo area helped bring modernization.

• When the 100,000 dead were buried, a great rebuilding programme took place.

Westernization in Japan

• Urban young people were particularly attracted to the world-wide revolt of youth.

• They began to question the traditions of family solidarity, paternal authority and male dominance.

• Some even called for marriages of love, not family arranged unions.

Westernization in Japan

• Some middle class Japanese even treated their wives as social equals.

Westernization in Japan

• Familiarity with American flappers brought a Japanese equivalent – the Moga – “modern girl” and their male equivalent, the Mobo – “modern boy.”

Traditional Values in Japan

• Opposed to liberalism was a deep-seated traditionalism – largely centered in the conservative countryside, which had net experienced the same modernization as the cities.

Traditional Values in Japan

• Tradition had strong support within the military, where the ancient code of bushido was strongly upheld.

• The army and the navy harboured strong authoritarian attitudes – particularly among junior officers and men.

Traditional Values in Japan

• Liberal politics and the antics of the moga and mobo were viewed with hostility by military officers, rural landowners, and the lower middle class in small towns.

Traditional Values in Japan

• Even the school system, which sought to promote modern ideas, carried within its curriculum tendencies that encouraged authoritarianism.

• Nationalism stressed the inherent superiority of Japan.

• Respect for the military was promoted.

Radical Nationalism

• Unlike in the West, radical nationalists focussed on direct action through private pressure groups, rather than work through the political party system

• Ultra-nationalist societies were, therefore, less apparent in Japanese society than in the West. Terrorist acts, not electoral results, were the chief political tools.

Radical Nationalism• One group led the way. The

Kokuryukai (Black Dragon Society), an offshoot of Genyosha (Dark Ocean Society), called for reconstructing Japanese society in a fascist-looking pattern.

• It was xenophobic, militarist and expansionist.

• It wanted authoritarian government in the name of the emperor. Voting would occur, but only after reorganization of the system guaranteed results.

Radical Nationalism

• Reactionaries in Japan looked to the military for leadership against “corrupting” western influences – always saying they were working for the emperor, who was considered divine.

The Military

• Most officers came from rural landowning families – and sometimes from the peasantry.

• These groups did not share in the benefits of recent industrialization.

• Most officers began training at age 14, so were easily moulded into the desired image.

The Military

• Junior officers were often more fervently fascist than the generals and admirals.

• Rather than reflecting traditional samurai values, it reflected the same frustration of frustrated national goals, fear of socialism and resentment of capitalist excesses that characterized European fascist movements.

Economic Trouble• Authoritarianism in Japan grew

slowly during the 1920s, but grew dramatically in the 1930s.

• It smouldered during the slow-growth era of 1920s Japan but burst into full flame when Depression hit.

• A 1927 bank crisis started bad times.

• The American stock market crash reinforced the problem – especially as US tariffs shut out Japanees goods in foreign – and especially the American – markets.

Japanese silk production

Economic Trouble

• Rural Japan was particularly hard hit.– Rice growers faced

competition from Korea and Taiwan within the empire.

– Silk producers lost the valuable American market.

– Tenant peasant farmers sometimes had to sell their daughters into prostitution to avoid starvation.

Economic Trouble• Japanese imperialists pointed out

that Great Britain, France and Holland had large overseas territories and that the USA and USSR had vast continental territories to ensure continuity of markets and sources of raw material.

• Japan was late in joining the game and was deprived of the benefits of empire by the satisfied West.

Economic Trouble

• Liberal businessmen could no longer argue that Japan should use peaceful trade, rather than aggressive imperialist expansion to ensure markets and raw materials. Hungry rural children

ExpansionThe Mukden (Manchurian) Incident

• 1931 proved a turning point.

• Elements of the Kwantung army (Japanese forces guarding the Manchurian railway), without the approval or knowledge of the government, struck against Chinese Manchuria, claiming that Chinese troops tried to blow up the railway.

ExpansionThe Mukden (Manchurian) Incident• Within a few months all

of Manchuria was in Japanese hands.

• A puppet government was installed and the territory was supposedly independent Manchukuo.

• It was, in fact, a colony of Japan.

ExpansionCivilians Cowed Into Silence

• Even politicians opposed to expansion were forced into silence by public support for the action.

• The government even denied that there had been a war. The conquest of Manchuria was called “the Manchurian Incident” -- the term still used in Japanese school textbooks today.

ExpansionShanghai

• Japanese troops were also landed at Shanghai.

• The League of Nations and the United States protested Japanese aggression loudly, but no action was taken.

• Japan simply withdrew from the League.

Inukai Assassination, May 15, 1932• Young army cadets and naval

officers killed Premier Inukai, head of one of the largest political parties to “free the emperor from evil advisors.”

• Inukai was one of the figures associated with the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

• The plotters also wanted to kill Inukai’s son and Charlie Chaplin, a guest, who was visiting Japan at the time. They were attending a Sumo competition – and, luckily, survived.

Inukai Assasintion, May 15, 1932• A petition of 35,000 signatures

(in blood) supported the plotters.

• 11 young men from Niigata offered to be executed in their place, sending 7 severed fingers to the court to show their serious purpose.

• Only light sentences (15 years was the longest) were given and the plotters would all be released in a few years.

Inukai Assassination

• Though the action ended, the military high command still took advantage of the situation to call for a cabinet consisting of bureaucrats, politicians and military people, all balancing one another.

• The Result was an end to liberal democracy in Japan.

February 26 Incident (1936)

• More serious still was the coup attempt of February 26, 1936.

• Unlike the direct action of 1932, this involved soldiers of many units trying to initiate a “Showa Restoration“– a strong government in the name of the emperor.

February 26 Incident

• 1500 troops seized control of Tokyo

• Politicians were hunted down and killed in cold blood.

• Many key leaders escaped only through luck. The Prime Minister survived when the plotters killed his brother-in-law by mistake.

February 26 Incident• The coup only collapsed when the

Emperor intervened directly – against the conspirators.

• This time severe sentences, including capital punishment, was meted out.

• However, political opposition to the military and extremists was silenced completely in fear of the consequences of not doing so.

• By 1937 all party participation in cabinet was ended.

• Prime Minister, Konoye Fuminaro, was unable to control the military.

Aftermath to the February 26 Incident

• There was no lessening of military influence, just a change in direction.

• Kodo-Ha (Imperial Way), which favoured expansion at the cost of the Soviet Union, was eclipsed by Tosei-Ha (Control Way), which sought expansion to the South – against the Europeans and Americans. Both groups saw China as a target.

General Ugaki, Head of Tosei-Ha

Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact

• Tension with the USSR remained high, and a border conflict resulted in a resounding defeat of the Japanese at Khalkin Gol.

• However, in 1941 the Soviets and Japanese came to an agreement and a neutrality Pact was signed on April 13, 1941.

War With China

• On July 7, 1937, fighting broke out between the Japanese and Chinese near Beijing – at the Marco Polo Bridge.

• World War II really began in Asia at this time.

• Japan launched an all-out offensive against China.

War With China

• Soon all of China’s coastal areas were in Japanese hands.

• In December, 1937, Nanking – the capital of China at the time – was attacked.

• In the 6 weeks following the December 13 capture, 300,000 civilians were slaughtered.

These two Japanese officers claimed to have killed more than a hundred people each -- with their swords.

War With China• European powers

and the USA had considerable interest in China, holding trade concessions that dated back to the 19th century.

• Japan’s actions put them on a collision course with the White Powers.

Xenophobia in Japan

• Hatred of foreign powers was fanned to strengthen militarist goals.

• American racial exclusion of Japanese emigration to the US was continually brought up.

• Talk of a future naval war with the US for control of the Pacific was common.

Xenophobia in Japan– Bilingual street and railway

signs were made unilingual.– Schools had to give up

progressive educational practices & employ rote learning.

– Women were excluded from intellectual life.

– Political rationalism was replaced by nationalist and mystical slogans.

– Political witch hunts took place, with educators and statesmen hounded out of office or assassinated.

Xenophobia in Japan• Japanese leaders began to speak

of “freeing“ the Asian colonies of the European countries, bringing them into a Japanese-controlled Asian community – what would come to be known as “the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.“

• The Japanese saw themselves as champions of the downtrodden people of Asia – however, most Asians who were under their control did not think them so.

Xenophobia in Japan

• Anti-Western sentiment brought vast changes to Japan.– Ballroom dancing was

condemned and dance halls closed.

– Golf and luxury sports were frowned upon.

– An attempt was made to stop the use of English scientific and technical terms.

Xenophobia in Japan

• Even the great Zaibatsu, the huge monopolistic business conglomerates – like Mitsubishi and Mitsui – were cowed into acceptance of the reactionary trend, despite the disruptions that impending war would bring.

• Though some looked forward to profits from the growing armaments industries.

Conclusion• As in Europe, economic

dislocation helped to strengthen existing authoritarian tendencies within a society.

• It was not inevitable that a “fascist” approach be adopted – but it vastly increased the likelihood of such an occurrence.

• Simple answers were posed to complex problems and a troubled population accepted them.

finis