JAPSTATE - Taishō Era and Rise of Japanese Militarism

The Taisho Era

• Japan embarked on two political routes during the Taisho Era.
  • Democratization
  • Universal suffrage to males and thinking of giving it to women.
  • Militarization
  • Non-receptive to public criticisms.
• Enjoyed the benefits new reforms of the Meiji Restoration, however faced challenges of a newly industrialized economy.
  • When an economy is expanding, workers tend to ask for better working conditions.
  • Tenancy disputes during this era because they would ask for more from land owners.
  • Women asking for right of suffrage.
• Growth in power and influence of political parties.
  • Issue on “transcendental” vs party cabinets.
  • Prime minister and cabinet appointed by the Emperor.
  • No oligarchs accepted the idea of party cabinet in 1890.
  • Veto power of the Lower House over budget.
  • Rising government expenditures.
  • Division among Meiji oligarchs over political party.
  • Yamagata (no concessions for political parties) vs Ito (accommodation).
  • Hara Kei was elected as the first party Prime Minister in 1918.
  • Bureaucrats joined; Party members appointed to government agencies.
• Characteristics of the Taisho Political System
  • Remained elitists.
  • Development on two-party politics.
  • Seiyukai and Doshikai/Kenseikai/Minseito (anti-Seiyukai coalition)
  • Accountable party cabinets.
  • Extension of civil rights.
  • Rise of democratic political philosophies.
  • Ambivalence in the constitutional structure.
  • Imperial sovereignty but not direct imperial rule.
  • Ministers were individually responsible to the Emperor.
  • Lack of collective responsibility of the cabinet.
• Competing Elites
  • Members of the Upper House
  • Conservative
  • A check on the lower house
  • Allies of the cabinet
  • Imperial family
  • Nobles
  • Deputies
  • Advisors to the Emperor
  • Conservative
  • Genro
  • Group of former Prime Ministers
  • Privy Council
  • Bureaucratic Leaders
  • Conservative and reformists
  • “Servants of the Emperor” (trancedental)
  • Proud and prestigious
  • Technical competence
  • The Military
  • Independent
  • Right of autonomous command
  • Strong influence over foreign policy
  • Business Elite
  • Zaibatsu (business conglomerates)
  • Close ties with government
  • Provide contributions to political campaigns
• Political Parties and Japanese Elites
  • Mediating role among elites in the 1920’s.
  • Interpenetrated various power centers.
  • Closer bonds between military leadership and parties.
  • Recruitment of former bureaucrats.
  • Formation of alliances in the upper house.
  • Political parties did not advocate for popular sovereignty.
• The Taisho Era was a government for the people and not by the people.
• Social turmoil during the Taisho Era
  • Social unrest in post-WW1 period.
  • Rice riots in 1918 due to sharp increase in price of rice.
  • Involved 1 million people in 42 of the 47 prefectures.
  • The largest popular demonstration prior to anti-Security Treaty demonstration in 1960.
    • People were against the extension of the security treaty with the United States.
  • Growing militancy of labor in industrial and agriculture sectors.
  • Rise of labor disputes in 1919.
  • Increase of labor unions.
  • Increase of tenancy disputes.
  • Increase of tenant unions.
  • Exposure to radical ideologies.
  • Influx of radical thoughts.
  • Russian Revolution; Wilsonian democracy.
  • Establishment of Japan Communist Party in 1922.
  • Made workers more militant and demanded for more concessions.
  • 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake
  • Loss of lives and properties were damaged.
  • Anti-Korean sentiment because Japanese thought that the Koreans were sabotaging Japan during the earthquakes.
  • Governments Response to Social Turmoil:
  • Law on Universal male suffrage of 1925.
  • Police crackdown on communists and anarchists.
  • Peace Preservation Law of 1925.
    • Intended for socialists and communists.
    • To suppress political dissent.
    • Curtailment of freedom of speech, expression, and press.
    • "Altering the Kokutai” was punishable by 10 years imprisonment.
  • Limited the range of permissible political debate.
  • Outlawing of groups that sought to change the kokutai.
  • Economic Crisis of 1920s (Interwar Period between WW1 and WW2)
  • Economic depression.
  • High inflation (1915).
  • Agriculture stagnated.
  • Declining world market for Japanese products.
  • Exacerbated social unrest.
  • Women in the Meji Era
  • Could no be vote or be voted.
  • Could not hold government positions.
  • Prohibited from joining political groups.
  • Police Law of 1900: prohibited women from attending political discussion meetings.
  • Women of Tasho Era
  • Compulsory education of six years.
  • Emergence of professional women.
    • Teaching, nursing, clerical positions.
  • Rise of women organizations.
    • Demand for political rights and gender equality.
    • Worked with bureaucrats.
  • Members of the State, knowledge of politics in 1920’s.
  • 1922 allowed women to attend political discussion meetings.
    • Patriotic training of children.
  • Right of suffrage for women was defeated in House of Peers.
  • Worsening problem in the Agrarian society.
  • Agriculture sector was export-oriented, source of foreign exchange.
  • Source of revenue through land tax.
  • Tenants were sacrificed with bearing the cost of industrialization.
  • Increase in tenancy farming, worsened by land tax.
  • Political parties during the Taisho era.
  • Not mass-based, people could not identify their own interests and aspirations.
  • Conservative orientation; poor record in enacting reform legislation; promoted the interest of landlords and businesses.
    • Intermarrige between politicians, landlords, and business.
    • Political contributions
  • Failed to justify themselves within the realm of Japanese value (unity)
    • Competing interests, rule of majority, increased partistanship

Rise of Japanese Militarism

The Showa Era | Radiant Japan | Enlightened Peace (1926 - 1989)

1. Unfavorable international environments

   • Collapse of balance of powers in East Asia after WW1.
     • Spheres of influence was over and in need of a new order.
     • US was against imperialism.
     • Creation of League of Nations.
   • Emergence of new diplomacy based on self-determination and equal sovereign rights in the post-WW1 period
     • US a major power, decline of Britain.
     • Played as a champion of sovereign rights of China.
     • Against spheres of influence.
     • Japan found it unfair as it was just starting its spheres of influence and really saw expansion as an ambition.
   • Chinese nationalism and unification.
   • Racial discrimination against Japanese in California.
     • 1905 Law, limit on immigration, calling Japanese immigrants as “immoral, quarrelsome men.”
   • Washington Treaty System
     • Nine-Power Treaty of 1922
     • Condemning spheres of influence in East Asia.
     • Equal opportunity for commerce and industry.
     • Respect for sovereignty and independence.
     • Territorial integrity of China.
     • Five-power Naval Limitation Treaty of February 1922.
     • US, UK, Japan, France, Italy
       • Naval Ratio of 5:5:3
   • Japan’s Expansionism
     • Japanese seizure of German holdings in the Pacific.
     • Japan’s Twenty-One Demands on China.
     • Employment of Japanese as advisors
     • Construction of railways
     • Recognition of Japanese rights over Shantung
     • Passage of the Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924 in the US
     • Prevented immigration from Japan
   • This started the hostility between Japanese-American friction and US as the Champion of Sovereign Rights of China.
   • Japan’s Reaction to the new world order.
     • Shidehara Kijuro visions of liberal capitalists world order.
   • Growing trade protectionism in the US and British preferential tariff agreements wit colonies.
     • Detrimental to Japanese trade.
   • Racial discrimination in the US.
     • Japan being treated as an inferior state.
   • Konoe Fumimaro said that the LON and Washington Treaty System to Mask-Anglo American interested and contain Japan’s inspiration.
   • Konoe Fumimaro
     • Fujiwara clan
     • Central figure seeking an end to the Second Sino-Japanese war.
     • Introduced the concept of Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere
     • Tried to balance civilian and military control of the government.
     • Tried to avoid war with the US through negotiations.
   • The Kwantung Army
     • Foremost advocate of Japanese expansions in China.
     • Rise of extremist elements.
     • Insubordination.
     • Staged the Manchurian Incident.
     • Attacked Chinese troops and conquered Machuria
     • Challenged by Chinese nationalism.
   • Ultranationalism in Japan
     • Extremely difficult to control due to weak government.
     • Rise of Ultranationalists.
     • Instigated a series of political assassinations, such as PM Inukai Tsuyoshi.
     • Young Officers’ plot of February 26, 1936.
     • 1,400 soldiers from the First Division in Tokyo
     • Seized control of the Diet.
   • Second Sino-Japanese War
     • When Japan took hold of Manchuria and committed acts of war, The US used economic assets as a response.
     • Frozen Japan’s assets in the United States
     • Stopped their trade with Japan of steel iron which prompted Japan more to enter China and Southeast Asia.
     • The United States has also stopped exporting oil to Japan.
     • The League of Nations condemned the attack, but Japan simply withdrew.
   • When Japan invaded the Indochina Region, they were still open to peace talks with the US.
     • Japan was given a demand stating the withdrawal of troops in China, Indochina, and the Dutch East Indies.
     • Japan treated it as an ultimatum and prepared a war with the US.
   • US historians would argue that the demands were an ultimatum because first of all, it was just a draft, and second, there was no date stated when Japan should withdraw.

   Japan’s Surrender in the Second World War

   • Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and was headed by PM Hideki.
   • Transitional Japanese Prime Minister
     • Kuniaki Koso
     • Former Governor-General of Korea
     • Army General
     • Kuntaro Suzuku
     • Last leader of the Imperil Rule Assistance Association
     • Naruhito Higashikuni
     • Japanese imperial prince and career officer of the Japanese imperial army
     • First prime minister after Japan’s surrender
     • Kijuro Shidehara
     • Former Ambassador to the U.S. and chief Japanese delegate to the Washington Conference
     • Suggested to put the clause in the constitution that makes it illegal for Japan to wage wars
     • Shigeru Yoshida
     • Serged in the foreign ministry, ambassador to Britain
     • Facilitated Japan’s economic recovery
     • Resisted American pressure for Japan to re-arm due to the Cold War.
   • The Surrender
     • US and British leaders demanded Japan’s uncondoitional surrender
     • Potsdam Conference (July 1945) was convened to do the following:
     • Dismante Japanese empire
     • Punish war criminals
     • Establish democratic order
     • On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was bombed with an atomic bomb with no response from the Emperor yet.
     • On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was bombed with an atomic bomb.
     • Was the atomic bomb necessary?
     • To bring the war to an end, save lives by avoiding an invasion of Japan.
     • Its use was to prevent to share the occupation of Japan with Russia, preventing the Red Army to influence East Asia.
     • Result of the irrational impulses of US domestic politics and public opinion.
     • Emperor’s delayed Japan’s surrender.

   U.S. Occupation of Japan

   • Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers)
     • Univerisality of American values and institutions.
     • Belief in democracy
   • Demilitarizaton
     • Disband the military, closing of bases, arsenals, etc.
     • International Military Tribunal for the Far East to try war criminals.
     • Purging of all officials who played in promoting Japanese militarism, nationalism.
   • Democraization
     • A new constitution drafted by the Americans, and approved by the cabinet on March 5, 1946.
     • Inclusion of the War reunification under Article 9.
     • Emperor became a symbolic head of state, stripped of his political power.
     • Imperial institutions was necessary to maintain political stability.
   • Economic Reforms
     • Trade Union Act of 1945
     • Guaranteed rights of workers to organize, bargain, and strike.
     • Unionization of workers.
     • Break-up of the Zaibatsu
     • Concentration of capital, technology were obstacles to economic democracy.
     • Land Reform Program
     • Land distribution
     • Retention of up to 7.5 acres to be farmed by owner himself, government purchased excess lands.
     • Ended the absentee landlord system.
     • Social Reforms
     • Emancipation of women.
     • Female suffrage was introduced.
     • Reform of education.
       • Adoption of the US Education System (6-3-3-4)
       • To root out the nationalist orientation of schools. to be replaced by strong democratic and individualist philosophy.
     • Reverse Course of 1947
     • Increased tension due to Cold War.
     • Japan as bulwark against communism in Asia.
     • Less sympathy to leftist politicians.
       • Labor unions were increasingly viewed as fifth column of communism
     • Red purge
     • 1949, Dodge Line
       • Joseph Dodge - US economic policy consultant.
       • Stabilisation of Japanese economy through:
       • Balance national budget.
       • Fixing yen-dollar rate at 360 yen to dollar.
       • More efficient tax collection

Raffy’s Notes

Pyle 11

• The Washington Treaty System
  • A replacement of the Anglo-Japanese alliance by the innocuous Four-Power Treaty
  • Britain, Japan, America, France agreed to confer (discuss/bestow) if their possessions or rights in the Pacific be threatened.
  • A Nine-Power Treaty laid the principles of order in East Asia.
  • Condemns spheres of influence.
  • To forestall a naval arms race and provide mutual security for Britain, Japan, and the USA.
    • Limits their battleship and aircraft carrier ratio.
  • Shidehara Kijurō, the ambassador to Washington shared the American vision.
    • A world of peace
    • Political harmony
    • Economic interdependence
  • American congress passed the “Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924” which undone the work of the Washington Conference.
  • A flaw in Shidehara vision is economic interdependence.
    • Japanese economic policymakers realized that foreign trade did not perform up to expectations.
    • US followed a protectionist course.
    • Britain made preferential tariff agreements that harmed Japan.
    • China demanding tariff autonomy and anti-Japanese economic interest.
    • The Great Depression.
    • Realization Japan had to make its own economic bloc.
  • Konoe Fumimaro denounced the League of Nations and Washington Treaty System because they mask Anglo-American self-interest.
    • He said that the treaty system must be revised for equal distribution of land and resources for the great powers.
    • Accuses the conference of trying to maintain the status quo by pitting “have nations” vs “have nots” and condemning late-developing nations to remain subjected to developed nations.
  • The Kwantung Army was against the foreign policy made in the Washington Conference because Manchuria would be lost.
    • The extremist part of the group bombed a train car carrying Chiang Tso-Lin in order to create disorder and give pretext in expanding to in Manchuria.
    • This event exposed the weakness of the party government as they never punished the extremists and will just breed insubordination in the future.
    • A small explosion in Manchuria was enough for the Kwantung Army to attach Chinese troops in the area and expand control.
    • Weakness of the government, diffuseness of decision-making power and general confusion of attending both domestic and foreign turmoil allowed the army to conquer all of Manchuria and establish a puppet government.
  • The Manchuria Incident made Japan abandon the policy of cooperation with powers and chose to pursue its own destiny in East Asia.
    • Japan declared an “Asian Monroe Doctrine” which states that Japan is responsible for maintaining peace in Asia.
    • Withdrew from the Washington System
    • Japan had 3 major tasks:
      • Defeat the Soviet Army in Manchuria
      • Guarantee security in the homelands from Americans in the pacific.
      • Compel Chinese government of Japan’s position in Manchuria.
  • Japan formed closer relationships with European fascists and identified with “have-not” countries such as Germany and Italy.
    • It was common from this time to call japan as “fascist”
    • Extreme nationalism and militarism with an emphasis on a single powerful leader.
    • It was fascism from above because it was the bureaucratic elites who directed Japan to that path. They were the brightest and the best, unlike the misfits of Europe.
  • Total War Planning was a product of new strategic thinking in the aftermath of WWI.
    • Japan must be a self-sufficient industrial base with strong resistance to foreign economic pressure.
  • Petroleum Industry Law of 1934 was the first example of a law to boost Japan’s economy with military implications.
  • Japan adapted “industrial rationalization” which limits competition through government-sponsored trusts and cartels.
  • Coal, iron, and steel must be the priority while civilian goods should be limited to a minimum.
  • Japan was blundering a war with China as they were still unprepared and setting their plans for the Total War Planning.
  • Japan, in need of creating a “new order in Asia” deemed Chiang’s government to be an obstacle to it and declared a campaign to “annihilate” the nationalist regime.
    • Japan justified their goals with Pan-Asian slogans and a vision of the Greater East Asia Coprospherity Sphere where Western Imperialism was removed.
  • Because of the Conflict in China, they were less prepared to deal with the Soviet in Manchuria and Americans in the Pacific.
  • In 1940, Matsuoka Yosuke signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy which pledged to one another to aid if one is attacked by other countries.
  • When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, Japan entered Indochina to start creating the Coprosperity Sphere enables all races to assume their proper place.
    • This stressed Japanization, reverence for the Emperor, observance of Japanese customs and holidays, and usage of Japanese as the language.