Section 2 – Japan in World War II
Topic 73 – The impact of the Great Depression
What effects did the Great Depression that started in 1929 have on Japan and the world?
From Taisho to Showa| 286 On December 25, 1926 (Taisho 15), Emperor Taisho passed away. Crown Prince Hirohito, who
was already serving as regent, assumed the throne, and the era name was changed from Taisho
to Showa.
The Great Depression and Showa Depression
The United States, which had the world's largest economy after World War I, fell into recession
after experiencing a dramatic crash of stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange on "BlackThursday", October 24, 1929. Many corporations and banks collapsed. The cities overflowedwith the unemployed, who numbered one out of every four workers. Once the aftershocks of theeconomic downturn had spread throughout the world, it became known as the Great
Depression.
The Japanese economy, which was dependent on exports to the United States, was also hit hard.
Businesses closed or went bankrupt, one after another, and unemployment skyrocketed. In Japan,
this was called the Showa Depression. In rural areas, bountiful harvests in the year 1930 pushed
down food prices and sent farm incomes plummeting. By contrast, the cold snap of 1931 caused
catastrophic crop failure in northern Japan. Indentured servitude of children, especially theyoung daughters of farmers who could no longer feed them, emerged as a major social problem.
Economic blocs and the New Deal
The nations of the world adopted a variety of countermeasures to mitigate the effects of theGreat Depression. The governments of Great Britain and France retreated to economic spheres
comprised of their own home countries and their vast colonial territories that stretched overevery continent. They took steps towards achieving self-sufficiency, at least where important
goods were concerned, within these spheres by raising tariffs to shut foreign goods out of theirnational markets. Through these protectionist policies, they formed economic blocs. The USA
likewise protected its domestic industries with high tariffs, which served to further deepen the
global depression. Under President Franklin Roosevelt, the USA also instituted the New Deal,an ambitious program of fiscal stimulation, putting the unemployed to work on public projects
such as dam construction. Nonetheless, the slump in industrial production was severe and the US
economy was slow to recover.

The London Naval Conference and rising prestige of the militarists
In 1930 (Showa 5), the representatives of the great powers, including Japan, met at the London
Naval Conference to discuss limitations on auxiliary ships, including all naval vessels that were
not battleships, battlecruisers, or aircraft carriers. Opposition politicians, such as Inukai| 287 Tsuyoshi, and some military officers strongly denounced the government of Prime Minister
Hamaguchi Osachi for having allegedly signed an unfavorable deal at the conference. After
Hamaguchi was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, his cabinet collapsed.
Military personnel were forbidden from directly meddling in politics under the Imperial Rescript
to Soldiers and Sailors.1 Even so, some of the military officers who had seen firsthand the plightof rural villagers formed independent groups to discuss political policy. These men blamed thedepression on the corruption and incompetence of Japan's financial elites. In the midst of thesocial unrest caused by the Great Depression, ordinary Japanese also lost faith in party
politicians who wasted time on partisan squabbles while taking money from the wealthy elite.
Instead, over time, many civilians began to pin their hopes for the future on the military.
*1=The Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors was a written directive issued in 1882
(Meiji 15) that expounded the proper mindset of military personnel in the voice of theEmperor. It strongly warned Japan's soldiers and sailors against speaking any untruth or
acting selfishly. Military personnel were denied the right to vote to keep them fromparticipating in politics.
Topic 73 Recap Challenge! – Explain the responses to the Great Depression adopted by (1.)
Great Britain and France, (2.) the United States, and (3.) Japan.

The Economic Blocs and Japan
Self-sufficiency was possible for European countries like Great Britain, France, and theNetherlands with many colonies, as well as the large, resource-rich United States. These were| 288
the privileged "have nations" that constituted economic blocs in response to the crisis of theGreat Depression by erecting high tariffs against foreign products.
On the other hand, Japan was a "have-not nation", with few reserves of natural resources.
Instead, the Japanese economy relied on imports of raw materials from other countries, whichwere processed into finished products and exported. Therefore, when the other great powers shutout foreign goods behind massive tariff barriers, Japan lost the export markets it needed to fuelits economy. In response, Japan attempted to emulate the strategy of the Western powers andcreate its own economic bloc in East Asia.

Topic 74 – The ascent of communism and fascism
What were the differences and commonalities between communism and fascism, two of thetwentieth century's most consequential ideologies?
| 289 Two totalitarian trends
Two political ideologies, both emanating from Europe, expanded worldwide during the 1920s and1930s. One was communism, an extension of Marxism and the ideology that brought about theRussian Revolution. The other was fascism, which manifested itself in Germany and Italy. At
their core, both ideologies denied individual freedom and prioritized the aims of the entire
country or race. For this reason, they have both been described as forms of totalitarianism.
Totalitarianism inspired revolutions in many countries and, when successful, installed one-party
dictatorships and unique political systems placing the party in control of the nation. Totalitarian
movements were responsible for some of the greatest human tragedies in twentieth-century
history.
The rise of communism
The ideal espoused by communist theory is the formation of a classless society through aprocess of uniting the working class and launching a revolution to liquidate the capitalists andoperate a planned economy. The means of realizing this goal was to be a one-party dictatorshipconcentrating all authority in the hands of the communist party.
As a result of the Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union was governed by a dictatorship of theCommunist Party. After Lenin's death, power was seized by Joseph Stalin, who championed thedevelopment of heavy industry and the collectivization of agriculture. To consolidate his rule,
Stalin had many political opponents sent to concentration camps or shot by the secret police.
The creation of the Comintern
The Soviet Union served as the focal point of the global advance of the communist movement.
In 1919, the Soviet Union created the Comintern, an administrative organization dedicated tospreading the revolution by organizing communist parties in the rest of the world.1 Each of thesecommunist parties were designated as branches of the Comintern and sought to destabilize theirnational governments in accordance with the instructions of the Moscow headquarters.

*1=Comintern was an abbreviation of the organization's full name, the Communist
International. The USSR dissolved the Comintern in 1943 during World War II for thesake of wartime cooperation with its allies Great Britain and the USA.
| 290

The Comintern and World Communism
Name of communist organization

Date of establishment

Communist Party of Russia

1898

Comintern

1919

Communist Party of Spain

1918

Communist Party of Germany

1919

Communist Party of China

1921

Communist Party of France

1921

Communist Party of Japan

1922

Communist Party of Vietnam

1930

Workers' Party of Korea

1945

In 1922 (Taisho 11), the Communist Party of Japan was secretly founded under the official name"Comintern Japan Branch Japan Communist Party".2*2=Once Japan had normalized diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1925,
concerns were raised about the spread of subversive activities within Japan. Consequently,
the Japanese government passed the Peace Preservation Law to suppress individuals orgroups seeking to abolish private property or the monarchy. Other countries enacted
similar laws around the same time.
The threat of fascism
In Italy, the people were angered at having been denied their fair share of the spoils after WorldWar I. Exploiting this discontent, Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party rose to power on a wave of
popular support in 1922, but soon turned Italy into a dictatorship.3*3=The term "fascism" derives from the name of Mussolini's political movement, todescribe dictatorial political systems similar to the one he founded.

Burdened by massive reparations and beset by hyperinflation, Germany was also seething withfear and resentment in the wake of World War I. The stage was set for the ascendency of the
Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler,4 who promised the German people more jobs and therestoration of their race to its former glory.
| 291*4=Nazi is the abbreviation of the party's official name, the National Socialist German
Workers' Party. The German nation under Hitler's rule is commonly referred to as Nazi
Germany.
The Nazi Party became the largest party in the German parliament in 1932 (Showa 7) and took
the reins of government the following year. Once appointed as chancellor, Hitler moved quickly
to install a dictatorship through use of naked violence and police power. He outlawed theCommunist Party of Germany, promoted a policy of rearmament, and persecuted German Jews
in the name of defending the purity of the German race. Like Stalin, Hitler set up concentration
camps and a secret police to slaughter his political opponents. Even though these two
totalitarianisms were bitter rivals, they learned the techniques of wielding absolute power fromone another.5*5=Under Stalin, the network of concentration camps known as the Gulag was animportant instrument of the Communist Party's political control. Hitler took note of thisand set up his own concentration camps across Germany to hold Jews and politicalprisoners.
Topic 74 Recap Challenge! – Give three traits that the ideologies of communism and fascismshared in common.

Topic 75 – The anti-Japanese movement in China and the failure of cooperative diplomacy
At a time when cabinets were party-based, why did Japan's policy of cooperative
diplomacy fail?
| 292 The anti-Japanese movement in China
By the start of Japan's Showa period, China was in a state of civil strife, its territory having been
carved up by rival warlords and their private armies. In 1919, the Chinese Nationalist Party was
founded by Sun Yat-sen, who was later succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek. Aspiring to unify thecountry, Chiang commenced a military campaign against the warlords known as the Northern
Expedition. In 1928, Chiang captured Beijing and achieved his goal. The movement to unite
China also reached Manchuria, where Japan had many vested interests, but local warlords
remained in place there and chaos reigned.
Over the same period, anti-foreign feelings were rising in China towards Japan and the Westerncountries that had gained rights and interests in China through unequal treaties.1 This trend waspartly motivated by the nationalist sentiment that foreign control over Chinese property was ahumiliation to the Chinese people. However, it was also influenced by revolutionary communism,
which had marched to power in the Soviet Union at the point of a gun, and soon assumed a radical
character. An anti-Japanese movement, which arose in reaction to a growing Japanese presence in
China, also gained momentum. Japanese goods were boycotted and Japanese citizens attacked.2*1=In 1925, anti-British riots broke out in Shanghai, and the violence even extended to
Hong Kong. In March 1927, Chiang's forces attacked consulates and foreign-owned
factories and residences. Many foreigners, including Japanese citizens, were killed orwounded.
*2=In May 1927, Japan dispatched troops to China's Shandong Province in the name ofprotecting the lives and property of Japanese residents. This was the first of three such
deployments within the next year, referred to as the Shandong Expeditions. The history of
the anti-Japanese boycott movement in China dates back to the presidency of Yuan Shikai.
The failure of cooperative diplomacy
Shidehara Kijuro, who served as foreign minister in two successive party cabinets, advocated apolicy of "cooperative diplomacy" that dealt sympathetically with China's rising nationalism.
While working with Britain and the USA to uphold treaty obligations, Shidehara also backed

China's demand for restoration of its tariff autonomy. And yet, anti-Japanese activity in China
showed no sign of abating. Japanese people then grew weary of Shidehara's policies, particularly
military officers who denigrated them as "weak diplomacy".
| 293 The question of Manchuria
Due to its victory in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan gained a lease on Kwantung in the southern
Liaodong Peninsula of China as well as the right to operate the railway that Russia wasconstructing in Manchuria south of Changchun. Once completed, Japan named it the South
Manchuria Railway. By the start of the Showa period, there were already more than 200,000
Japanese settlers living in Manchuria. A 10,000-man military unit called the Kwantung Army
was also stationed there to protect the settlers, garrison Kwantung, and guard the South
Manchuria Railway.
In 1928 (Showa 3), Japan dispatched an army to Shandong Province on the pretext of protecting
Japanese residents, and the Kwantung Army made a bid to tighten its sway over Manchuria byassassinating Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin. In response, anti-Japanese sentiment in China
boiled over, leading to an eruption of terrorist incidents and railway sabotage by Chinese
attackers. The safety of the Japanese settlers was in danger. Indeed, the entire region was facedwith the twin threats of Soviet pressure from the north and the advance of Chiang's Nationalist
forces from the south. In this context, some officers of the Kwantung Army began preparing aplan to safeguard Japan's interests by occupying all of Manchuria and driving out anti-Japaneseelements.
Topic 75 Recap Challenge! – Explain why Japan's policy of cooperative diplomacy failed withreference to the anti-Japanese movement in China.

Shidehara Kijuro's Appeal to China for Prudence
Shidehara Kijuro (1872-1951) served as foreign minister in the Kato Cabinet, First Wakatsuki
Cabinet, Second Wakatsuki Cabinet, and Hamaguchi Cabinet. The following is an excerpt from| 294
his address to China.
"When Japan was suffering the ignominy of the unequal treaties and seeking their abolition, we
blamed ourselves more than any foreign power. Rather than clamoring for the defeat ofimperialism, we started by calmly turning our attention to the reform of our domestic politics.
Our predecessors endured unimaginable suffering during the age of imperialism, but when
Japan's modernization had been accomplished, the Western powers readily agreed to conclude
equal treaties with us. Even when foreigners enjoyed extraterritorial rights on our soil, Japan did
not curse Western imperialism, but instead concentrated on national progress… We are notnecessarily insisting that China follow Japan's example, but since China is eager to achieveequality with the West, I must advise her government and people to exercise prudence."
John MacMurray's Views on the Situation in China
John MacMurray (1881-1960) was an American diplomat and an authority on China who served
as US Envoy to China between 1925 and 1929. The following is an excerpt from amemorandum he wrote on the China problem that was published in the book How the Peace
Was Lost.
"The Chinese, in their resurgence of racial feeling, had been willful in their scorn of their legal
obligations, reckless in their resort to violence for the accomplishment of their ends, andprovocative in their methods; though timid when there was any prospect that the force to which
they resorted would be met by force, they were alert to take a hectoring attitude at any sign ofweakness in their opponents, and cynically inclined to construe as weakness any yielding to theirdemands… Friends of the Chinese would urge that persistence in a course of antagonism and bad
faith toward foreign nations must sooner or later drive one Power or another to assert itself against
an intolerable situation."

Topic 76 – The Manchurian Incident and foundation of Manchukuo
How did the Manchurian Incident start and what was the world's reaction to it?
From the Manchurian Incident to the foundation of Manchukuo| 295 In September 1931, members of the Kwantung Army dynamited the rail lines of the South
Manchuria Railway at Liutiao Lake in the suburbs of Mukden (now Shenyang). Claiming this tobe a Chinese attack, the Kwantung Army swiftly overran all the cities adjacent to the railway. In
Tokyo, the leaders of Japan's government and military desired to keep the Manchurian
Incident contained. However, the Kwantung Army ignored their wishes, expanded its combat
operations, and soon had captured every strategic site in Manchuria.
The actions of the Kwantung Army were enthusiastically supported by most Japanese citizens,
who were fed up with the failure of their government's diplomatic policy to deal with
anti-Japanese violence in Manchuria. The Japanese Army received a swell of private donations.
Eventually, the Japanese government yielded and sanctioned the Kwantung Army's occupationof Manchuria.
After the Manchurian Incident, some Manchurian warlords struck deals with the Kwantung
Army concerning their mutual interests. In March 1932 (Showa 7), the Kwantung Army
rechristened Manchuria as the new nation of Manchukuo, and installed the last emperor of
China's Qing dynasty, Puyi, as its Chief Executive. Later, Puyi was crowned Emperor ofManchukuo. However, it was the Kwantung Army that wielded de-facto control over
Manchukuo.
Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi, leader of the Friends of Constitutional Government Party, tried
to resolve the Manchurian problem through negotiations. However, he was assassinated on May
15, 1932, by a group of young naval officers. This event is known as the May 15 Incident. His
death put an end to the eight-year period during which all of Japan's cabinets were party-based.
Thereafter, the post of prime minister was filled by military officers or bureaucrats.
The Lytton Commission
Other nations, including the USA, denounced Japan for having provoked the Manchurian Incident.
The League of Nations dispatched the Lytton Commission, headed by the Earl of Lytton, toinvestigate conditions in Manchuria. The Lytton Commission report acknowledged thelegitimacy of Japan's interests in Manchuria and the danger that had been posed to the interestsand safety of Japanese settlers in the region.
Regardless, it did not endorse the foundation of Manchukuo by Japanese forces, recommending| 296 instead that Japan withdraw its troops from the territories they had occupied and transfer
authority over Manchuria to an international body. The Japanese government, which by then had
already recognized Manchukuo's independence, rejected these recommendations and withdrew
from the League of Nations in 1933 (Showa 8).1
*1=By 1939, Manchukuo's independence was recognized by about twenty countries,
including Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Japan and China later concluded a truce. Manchukuo, which was promoted as a "righteousparadise" based on "harmony among the five races", achieved high rates of economic growththanks to Japanese investment in heavy industry. Even so, there continued to be frequent
outbursts of Chinese resistance to Japanese rule.
The February 26 Incident
In the early morning of February 26, 1936 (Showa 11), a group of young army officers and morethan 1,400 men under their command stormed the Prime Minister's Official Residence and theMetropolitan Police Department, occupied the area around the Diet Building, and murdered key
government officials, including a cabinet minister. This was known as the February 26
Incident.
The motivations of the ringleaders were to oust Japan's party politicians, financial elites, andelder statesmen, who the rebels blamed for political corruption and the impoverishment of ruralvillages during the Great Depression, and to inaugurate a new political system of direct imperial
rule. However, Emperor Hirohito made clear his strong opposition to the rebels' objectives. The
attempted coup was defeated within three days, but its suppression helped to increase the cloutof Japan's military leaders.2*2=After the incident, an old system that allowed only active-duty military personnel toserve as Army or Navy Minister was revived. This meant that it would be impossible toform a cabinet without the support of both the army and navy.

Topic 76 Recap Challenge! – Sort the following events that arose from the crisis in Manchuria
into chronological order: (1.) the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident, (2.) the appointment of
the Lytton Commission, (3.) popular support in Japan for the occupation of Manchuria, (4.) the
foundation and development of Manchukuo, (5.) Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations,| 297(6.) the May 15 Incident.
Summary of the Report of the Lytton Commission(September 1932)
According to the Lytton Commission, Japan's interests in Manchuria had to be respected bothdue to their historical legitimacy and their importance to the Japanese economy. The attacks on
Japanese property in Manchuria and the numerous boycotts of Japanese goods had thus done
serious damage to Japan's economic interests. The report of the Lytton Commission
acknowledged that these incidents, including illegal acts, had been systematically organized by
the Chinese Nationalist Party, though they were also buoyed by popular nationalist sentimentamong the Chinese people.
Nevertheless, the Lytton Commission insisted that the foundation of Manchukuo was not an
acceptable solution to the problem, instead advocating that China's sovereignty be recognized
and that a government capable of maintaining law and order be installed in Manchuria.

Topic 77 – The Second Sino-Japanese War (The China Incident)
How did the Second Sino-Japanese War begin?
The Comintern's plan for world revolution| 298 The Comintern hoped to touch off a world revolution by overthrowing the capitalist nations ofEurope in a single stroke. However, the revolutionary struggle that the Comintern waged afterWorld War I in Europe, particularly in and around Germany, ended in its defeat. In response, theComintern sought to find another method to bring about the revolution.
The Comintern's plan for world revolution was to protect socialism in the Soviet Union whileagitating in the colonies and dependencies of the Western nations and Japan. Communists basedin China increasingly made Japan their target.
The Xian Incident
China descended into a bloody civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the
Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek. After the numerically inferior army of the Chinese
Communist Party had been driven to the brink of annihilation, they appealed to the nationalists
to join forces with them against the common enemy, Japan.1 However, Chiang refused to alter
his policy of first destroying communism within China before dealing with the external threat
posed by Japan.2*1=At the 1935 World Congress of the Comintern, the communists embraced a new policyof rallying together a broad range of anti-fascist groups. They called it the "people's front"
or "united front" strategy. Pursuant to this strategy, the Chinese Communist Party
decided that rather than challenging the nationalists, it should fight alongside them against
Japan.
*2=This policy was called annei rangwai in Chinese, which means, "first internal
pacification, then external resistance".
After Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin was killed in 1928 (Showa 3) when his train was
dynamited by Japanese agents, he was succeeded by his son Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang
was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to suppress the Chinese Communist Party, but he privately
supported their call to resist Japan. Because of this, he detained Chiang in the city of Xian in1936, and he forced him to cease hostilities with the communists and form a united front withthem against Japan. This is referred to as the Xian Incident.
With that, China turned its attention towards the coming confrontation with Japan.
| 299
Why Were China and Japan Unable to Avert War?
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident that occurred on July 7 was only a minor skirmish. Neither theJapanese military nor the Chinese forces on the scene had any intention of extending the fighting
to other battlefields. Four days after the initial affair, both sides signed a local ceasefire underwhich China apologized to Japan and promised to control the provocations of "communist
elements" in order to prevent another such incident. By contrast, the Chinese Communist Party
cried for war with Japan soon after the first shots were fired.
On July 11, the cabinet of Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro announced that Japan would send
military reinforcements to northern China. Then, on July 17, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech
at Lushan endorsing all-out war with Japan. Chiang's determination to fight Japan was hardening
with time.
The Japanese government tabled a compromise offer to Chiang Kai-shek called the Funatsu
Peace Initiative. One of its provisions even proposed that Japan abandon the rights and interests
it had acquired in China since the Manchurian Incident. Unfortunately, Japanese sailors wereshot dead in Shanghai on the same day that the first round of negotiations was supposed to havestarted. The negotiations were immediately called off.
Of course, not all the Japanese people, nor all Chinese people, wanted a war, but as the range ofthe fighting expanded, the possibility of reaching a peace agreement became more and more
remote.
The start of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Japan engineered the establishment of pro-Japanese governments in the regions of northern
China bordering on Manchuria. This was a measure intended to secure resources and defend
southern Manchukuo, but it also served to heighten Sino-Japanese animosity. On the night ofJuly 7, 1937 (Showa 12), Japanese soldiers3 doing training exercises near Marco Polo Bridge onthe outskirts of Beijing were fired upon by unknown assailants, leading to a clash the next day
between Japanese and Chinese army units. This is referred to as the Marco Polo Bridge
Incident. Neither of the armies involved in the incident wanted to escalate the hostilities, and,four days later, they concluded a local ceasefire. In spite of this, Japanese Prime Minister Konoe| 300 Fumimaro decided to send reinforcements to China on the very same day, and the Chinese side
committed numerous provocations, including attacks on Japanese citizens. Japan and China
were veering towards all-out war.4*3=After the Boxer Rebellion, Japan stationed five thousand soldiers near Beijing
according to the terms of the Boxer Protocol, a treaty that China signed with Japan andseveral of the Western powers.
*4=A pro-Japanese government was created in the city of Tongzhou east of Beijing. On
July 29, when the Japanese garrison was absent, its Chinese military units attacked theJapanese residential zone, murdering 223 of the 385 Japanese inhabitants, including
women and children. This is known as the Tongzhou Massacre.
As tensions between Japan and China mounted in the month of August, two Japanese military
personnel were murdered in Shanghai, a city dominated by foreign properties and concessions.
On August 13, fighting broke out between a massive Chinese force and the Japanese soldiers
guarding the Japanese residential area. This was the Battle of Shanghai. Japan dispatchedreinforcements, which were forced into a fierce engagement with elite Chinese units.5 By
November, 40,000 Japanese soldiers had been killed or wounded.
*5=Japan had had little regard for China's combat capabilities, even though the Chinese
Army had been greatly strengthened by weaponry and military training provided byGermany. In return for German military aid, China supplied Germany with the rare
metal tungsten to sustain Adolf Hitler's arms buildup.
This brutal conflict, the Second Sino-Japanese War, was to drag on for eight long years. At thetime, it was referred to by the Japanese government as the China Incident. The Japanesemilitary was convinced that Nationalist China would surrender once its capital, Nanking, wasconquered. Though Japan did occupy Nanking in December, Chiang simply transferred his
capital to Chongqing deep in the heartland of China and continued his resistance.

Topic 77 Recap Challenge! – Explain the circumstances that led to the Second Sino-Japanese
War using the following key terms: (1.) Comintern, (2.) Xian Incident, (3.) Battle of Shanghai.
HISTORICAL KEYWORDS
Incident
The Japanese government utilized the word "incident" (jihen) to mean a disturbance or upheavalthat could not be suppressed with police force, but did not reach the level of being a war. Since
the Japanese government never declared war on China, it designated the Second Sino-Japanese
War as the "China Incident" (shina jihen). Moreover, the United States was officially forbidden,in accordance with its Neutrality Acts, from selling any material used for military purposes tonations at war. Because Japan was dependent on natural resource imports from the USA, it had
special motivation to avoid uttering the word "war". Though the Chinese side also did not issue a
declaration of war, the "China Incident" was in reality a war in all but name.

Topic 78 – The deterioration of US-Japan relations over China
How did US-Japan disputes over China originate and why did they intensify?
The quagmire of the Second Sino-Japanese War| 301 Once hostilities in mainland China had begun, the Japanese economy enjoyed a wartime boom.
Employment and consumer spending rose. However, as the fighting dragged on, it was unclear
how or when Japan could extricate itself. Japan had hoped to conclude the war early on,
formulating numerous peace plans. Even so, none of them came to fruition due to lack of
coordination between the Japanese and Chinese governments.
Chiang Kai-shek continued the war with aid from the United States, Great Britain, France, andthe Soviet Union. As a result, Japanese forces were sucked deeper into the Chinese interior, andthe war turned into a quagmire with no end in sight. In 1940, Diet member Saito Takao of theConstitutional Democratic Party asked the Diet the question, "What is the objective of this war?",but the government was unable to give a clear answer.
The national mobilization regime
As the struggle with China continued to be prolonged, the Japanese government passed the
National Mobilization Law in 1938 (Showa 13) to rally the whole country behind the war
effort. This law gave the government the authority to mobilize resources and labor without theconsent of the Diet. In 1940, rationing was introduced for daily necessities such as rice, miso,
sugar, and matches. Japan's citizens were gradually obliged to adopt austere lifestyles under theslogan "Luxury is the enemy!" The censorship system was also tightened.1*1=The censorship system had begun during the Meiji period, but censorship became
more pervasive following the passage of the National Mobilization Law. The law stipulated
that the government could ban publication of any material, including newspapers,
whenever it was deemed necessary. Strict censorship remained in place until the end ofWorld War II.
Since the Great Depression, the idea of a controlled economy under state guidance, similar to thesystems in place in Germany and the USSR, gained popularity in other nations, including Japan.
In 1940, Japan's political parties disbanded in the name of national unity and merged into theImperial Rule Assistance Association.

Strains in the US-Japan relationship
In 1938 (Showa 13), Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro proclaimed the institution of a "New
Order" in East Asia. The objective of Konoe's "New Order" was the creation of an independent
economic bloc in East Asia centered on Japan and also comprising the nations of China and| 302 Manchukuo.
The United States, which was still suffering from the effects of the Great Depression, strongly
protested Konoe's declaration as a violation of the Open Door Policy and equality of opportunity,refusing to recognize Japan's plan for a new economic bloc. Though the United States had until
then maintained at least outward neutrality in the Second Sino-Japanese War, from around thistime on, it came to openly favor China. The seeds of war between the USA and Japan had beensown. Then, in 1939, the United States announced that it would not renew the Japan-US Treaty ofCommerce and Navigation. This decision thrust Japan, which relied on imports of petroleum andmany other commodities from the United States, into dire economic straits.
The Northern Expansion Doctrine, the notion that Japan should advance northward to counter the
threat presented by Russia, had traditionally been the grand strategy preferred by the upper brassof the Japanese military. Now, the trend increasingly favored the Southern Expansion Doctrine,
which held that Japan should advance southward to seize control of Southeast Asia's reserves ofnatural resources, especially petroleum.2 However, an invasion of Southeast Asia, where GreatBritain, the United States, the Netherlands, and France all had colonies, would certainly mean war
with those countries.
*2=German citizen Richard Sorge (1895-1944), who worked as a Soviet spy, was connected
to an advisor to the Konoe Cabinet and informed the USSR early on that the policy of theJapanese government had shifted from northern expansion to southern expansion. It isbelieved that the leaders of the USSR were relieved to receive this intelligence, as it allowed
them to concentrate their military power on the European front.
Topic 78 Recap Challenge! – Write in their proper order the events that caused the deteriorationof the US-Japan relationship.

Foreign Support for Chiang Kai-shek
Country

Year

Type of assistance

USSR

1937

900 aircraft / 200 tanks / 1,500 trucks / 150,000 guns /120,000 shells / 60,000,000 bullets (under the Sino-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact)

USSR

1939

$150,000,000 in aid / Soviet pilots who participated incombat operations covertlyUSA

1927-1941$420,000,000 in aid

USA

1940

50 state-of-the-art fighter planes / 1,500,000 bullets

USA

1941

100 fighter planes / 300 trucks / 500 B-17 bombers

Great Britain

1939£10,000,000 loan

Great Britain

1940£10,000,000 loan

France1938

F150,000,000 loan

France1939

F96,000,000 in aid| 303

Topic 79 – The start of World War II
How did World War II begin and in what ways did it affect Japan?
Nazi Germany and the war in Europe| 304 Under its leader, Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany made a bid to win back lost territories in Europe
and acquire new ones through military aggression. After signing a non-aggression pact with its
former rival, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany used blitzkrieg tactics to defeat Poland in
September 1939 (Showa 14). Germany and the Soviet Union then partitioned Poland under theterms of a secret protocol. France and Great Britain responded by declaring war on Germany inaccordance with the mutual assistance agreements they had signed with Poland. World War II
had begun. In 1940 (Showa 15), German forces invaded Western Europe, captured Paris, andcompelled France to surrender. Next, they launched a series of intense aerial bombardments of
the British Isles.
The Tripartite Pact and Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Impressed by Germany's victories, Japan opted to conclude a military alliance, the Tripartite
Pact, with Germany and Italy in 1940. However, an alliance with two countries so distant fromJapan proved to be of little practical value. Worse still, the agreement made it unlikely that Japan
could reconcile with the United States, which was supporting Great Britain.
In April 1941, the Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was ratified by Japan and the USSR.
Japan expected to utilize these two pacts as leverage to extract concessions from the UnitedStates, but this carefully-laid scheme fell through in June of the same year when Germany
invaded the Soviet Union, leading the Soviets to align themselves with the Allied Powers.
Japan in the grip of an economic blockade
In search of a new supplier of petroleum, Japan approached the Netherlands about obtaining oilfrom Indonesia, its colony, but was rejected.1 Now Japan was being put under economic pressure
by the Americans, British, Chinese, and Dutch simultaneously. Japanese newspapers adopted theacronym "ABCD encirclement" to describe this international embargo.
*1=The Netherlands was at war with Germany, Japan's ally, and, after being prodded byAmerica to refuse to provide Japan with oil, decided that it was better off making common
cause with the USA and Great Britain.

Negotiations to break the impasse in Japan-US relations opened in Washington DC in April 1941,
but they ended in failure. In July, Japanese soldiers carried out the occupation of southern
Indochina by marching into the city of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in French Indochina.2
This move was intended to pressure the Netherlands into supplying Japan with petroleum, as| 305 Saigon was a militarily strategic location that could serve as a staging point for a possible
invasion of the Dutch colony of Indonesia. The United States immediately retaliated by freezing
Japanese assets in the USA and, most seriously of all, by completely prohibiting the export ofpetroleum to Japan. In August, the leaders of the USA and Great Britain met in the Atlantic
Ocean and announced the Atlantic Charter, which laid out both nations' war aims and plans forthe postwar world. According to the Atlantic Charter, the USA and Great Britain would respect
the right of all peoples to self-determination and would not seek any territorial gains or changes
in national borders.
*2=French Indochina was a French colony composed of the modern-day countries ofVietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
From the Hull Note to the decision for war
As Japan's economy neared the breaking point, the Japanese government worked strenuously toavert war with the United States. The Japanese government continued the negotiations with theUS, but had decided to declare war in the event that no agreement could be reached. The turning
point came in November when the US abruptly presented Japan with a set of hard-line proposals,
including a demand for unconditional withdrawal of all Japanese forces from China andIndochina. This was called the Hull Note, after US Secretary of State Cordell Hull. The
Japanese government took the Hull Note to be an ultimatum, and resolved to go to war with theUnited States.
Topic 79 Recap Challenge! – State the two major events that provoked the definitive breakdown
of US-Japan relations.

Excerpt from the Hull Note

thousand Jews were able to legally escape through Japan and survived the Holocaust.

(November 26, 1941)| 306"3. The Government of Japan will withdraw all military, naval, air and police forces from China
and from Indo-China.
4. The Government of the United States and the Government of Japan will not support militarily, politically, economically - any Government or regime in China other than the national
Government of the Republic of China with capital temporarily at Chungking."
The Japanese People Who Saved the Lives of Persecuted Jews - Higuchi Kiichiro andSugihara Chiune
In March 1938, a group of Jewish refugees who had fled persecution in Nazi Germany madetheir way via the Trans-Siberian Railway to Otpor Station near the Soviet-Manchukuo border.
News of their plight reached Major General Higuchi Kiichiro, the head of the Japanese Special
Service Agency in Harbin. Japan enjoyed cordial relations with Nazi Germany at the time, but
Higuchi took inspiration from the principle of "harmony among the five races", one ofManchukuo's founding ideals, and treated the matter as a humanitarian crisis. Even though the
Jewish refugees had no visas, Higuchi arranged for the South Manchuria Railway Company tosend in relief trains and transport the refugees safely to Shanghai and other cities.
As soon as Germany learned of this, an official protest was lodged with the Japanese Foreign
Ministry. Nonetheless, Tojo Hideki, the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, supported thedecision of his subordinate Higuchi and ignored the German objections, retorting that, "Japan is
not a satellite of Germany." Thanks to their actions, the lives of 11,000 Jews were saved.
In July 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Jews who had fled the German Army began
gathering outside the Japanese consulate in the Baltic nation of Lithuania in the hopes ofreaching a safe country via Siberia and Japan.
Though the Japanese Foreign Ministry was eager to maintain friendly ties with Germany,
diplomat Sugihara Chiune decided that he had to help the refugees escape to Japan. Day andnight, Sugihara wrote up one visa after another until his hand had swollen up. As a result, six

After the war was over, the government of Israel paid homage to Higuchi and Sugihara for theircourageous acts.

Topic 80 – The Greater East Asian War (Pacific War)How did the Greater East Asian War unfold?
The attack on Pearl Harbor| 307 On December 7, 1941 (Showa 16), the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the US
naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, almost completely annihilating the naval and air forces
stationed there. The objective of this operation was to achieve naval superiority in the Pacific
Ocean by preemptively destroying the main American fleet. On the same day, units of theJapanese Army landed in the Malay Peninsula, defeating the British forces there and marching
rapidly towards Singapore.
When Japan declared war on Great Britain and the United States, it asserted that the war, which
it called the Greater East Asian War,1 was a just fight for the "self-preservation andself-defense" of the nation. Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, expanding
the conflict into a struggle of truly global scope pitting the Axis Powers2 of Japan, Italy, andGermany against the Allied Powers of Great Britain, the USA, France, the USSR, and China.
*1=The postwar US occupation prohibited the use of the term "Greater East Asian War",and so the term "Pacific War" came into common use instead.
*2=Because the prior alliance between Germany and Italy was referred to as the"Rome-Berlin Axis", Germany, Italy, and Japan came to be collectively known as the Axis
Powers.
Most of the people of Japan, who learned about the outbreak of the war through the news media,
were elated by reports of victory after victory. On the other hand, the US government told theAmerican people that the attack on Pearl Harbor was a devious "sneak attack", because it had
taken place before Japan had given notice that it intended to discontinue peace negotiations.3
Though the attack on Pearl Harbor was a military success, it served to unite the American people,
who had previously been opposed to war, behind the rallying cry, "Remember Pearl Harbor!"*3=Pearl Harbor was not intended to have been a sneak attack. Though the Japanese
government planned to send notification to the American government just before theattack that it was breaking off the negotiations, the procedure was bungled and ultimately
the notification was not sent until after the attack.

Japan's sinking fortunes
Japan achieved spectacular victories during the first six months of the war. On the southern front,
the Japanese Army landed in Malaysia on December 7 and captured the British stronghold of
Singapore on the southern tip of the peninsula a mere seventy days later. Through a series of| 308 equally bold advances, Japan soon occupied the entire vast region of Southeast Asia.
However, Japan's winning streak ended in June 1942 (Showa 17) when its Combined Fleet was
defeated by the US Navy in the Battle of Midway at the cost of their aircraft carriers and many
naval personnel. Consequently, the United States gained the initiative. Having failed in its bid
for naval supremacy, Japan was now at the mercy of US submarines that cut off Japan's supply
routes by repeatedly attacking transport ships. The gap in productivity between Japan and the
USA became increasingly stark as the war progressed. Faced with shortages of weapons andammunition, Japanese soldiers experienced unimaginable suffering. In Europe as well, Japan's
allies were losing the upper hand.4 In 1943, Italy surrendered, and Germany retreated from Paristhe next year.
*4=In Europe, the Axis Powers initially held the advantage, but after 1942 the AlliedPowers began to counterattack. In 1943, the German Army's attack on the Soviet city of
Stalingrad ended in a disastrous defeat.
Topic 80 Recap Challenge! – Arrange into chronological order the following major events thattranspired within the first six months of the Greater East Asian War: (1.) the attack on Pearl
Harbor, (2.) Japan's defeat at the Battle of Midway, (3.) Japan's occupation of the whole ofSoutheast Asia, (4.) the fall of Singapore.

Topic 81 – The Greater East Asia Conference and the nations of Asia
What was the significance of Japan's war to the peoples of Asia?
The rise of new hopes for independence in Asia
| 309 Japan's early victories inspired the peoples of Southeast Asia and India, suffocating under foreigncolonial domination, and awakened their hopes and dreams of winning independence from thewhite peoples of the West. Indeed, the dramatic advances made by the Japanese military had
been possible only thanks to the cooperation of local Asian people. The Japanese military was
aided by the Thai Army, whose government was allied with Japan, and by the Indian National
Army, which was created primarily from Indian soldiers serving in the British Army who had
been taken prisoner by Japan. Pro-Japanese military units were also organized in Indonesia andBurma under Japanese guidance, and they would later form the core of their post-independence
national armies.
The Greater East Asia Conference
Since before the war, many Asian independence activists had lived in exile in Japan and gainedwidespread support from the Japanese people. After the outbreak of the Greater East Asian War,the Japanese government asked them to support the war effort in the former Western colonies
under Japanese occupation. The peoples of Asia answered Japan's call in the hopes of achieving
independence in the future.1 As a show of solidarity, Japan hosted the Greater East Asia
Conference in Tokyo in November 1943 (Showa 18).
*1=In 1943, Japan granted independence to Burma and the Philippines, and recognized
the Provisional Government of Free India, whose representatives also attended the Greater
East Asia Conference. In 1945, Japan granted independence to Cambodia, Vietnam, andLaos.
The conference promulgated the Greater East Asia Declaration as a response to the AlliedPowers' Atlantic Charter. According to the declaration, the objective of the war was "theestablishment of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".

Excerpts from the Greater East Asia Declaration"The countries of Greater East Asia will ensure the fraternity of nations in their region, by
respecting one another's sovereignty and independence and practicing mutual assistance and| 310
amity.""The countries of Greater East Asia will cultivate friendly relations with all the countries of theworld, and work for the abolition of racial discrimination… and contribute thereby to theprogress of mankind."
The nations of Asia and Japan
The purposes of Japan's southward advance were to acquire the natural resources that it needed
to prosecute the war and to promote the foundation of a new economic bloc of independent
nations under Japanese leadership. Though Japanese forces claimed to act in the name of "Asianliberation", they inflicted considerable harm on the people of China and Southeast Asia where
the war was being fought.
Japan placed its occupied territories under military administrations, which built new elementaryand vocational schools and used the education systems to encourage a national awakening
among the masses. The leaders of local independence movements supported Japan's militaryadministrations as a means to liberate their countries from the yoke of the Western powers.
On the other hand, local people strongly resisted attempts by the military administrations todemand worship at Shinto shrines and impose Japanese-language education. A number ofanti-Japanese guerrilla insurgencies sprang up with the backing of the Allied Powers.2 TheJapanese military brutally suppressed these guerrillas, resulting in the deaths of a huge numberof Asian people, including civilians. In the late stages of the war, as Japan's fortunes ebbed andfood supplies ran low, the Japanese military also frequently forced the local population to do hardlabor.
*2=The "terrorist" attacks of guerrillas who did not wear military uniforms or openly
carry weapons were prohibited under the international laws of war. Therefore, it was
believed that captured guerrillas were not entitled to the protections afforded to POWs
under international law.

Immediately after Japan had surrendered and Japanese soldiers had withdrawn from Asia, thewho had freed them from Dutch rule. Though Japan continued to occupy Indonesia for the next

Western powers of Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands tried to reassert control over their
Asian colonies, but local nationalist movements rose up against the return of colonial rule and,one after another, won independence for their countries. The course of these independence| 311 campaigns was heavily influenced by the policies that had been implemented by Japan's wartime
military administrations. Furthermore, many Japanese military personnel stayed behind invarious parts of Asia even after the war was over in order to fight alongside the local people intheir struggles for independence.3

three and a half years, it instituted numerous political and social reforms that laid the groundworkfor future independence. These reforms included the popularization of a common Indonesianlanguage, expansion of secondary education, and the training of an army called Defenders of theHomeland, better known by its Indonesian acronym PETA. On the other hand, the Japanesemilitary also conscripted Indonesians to labor under harsh conditions near the end of the war
when food was scarce, and the Japanese military police were guilty of a number of abuses.
How Japan's Actions Inspired the Peoples of Asia

*3=In Indonesia, about one thousand Japanese soldiers stayed behind and fought for fourand a half years in the Indonesian War of Independence alongside PETA, apro-independence army formed under the Japanese occupation. About seven hundred
Japanese were killed in action during the war.

Raja Datuk Nong Chik, a leader of the Malaysian independence movement and former member ofthe Malaysian Senate, discussed Japan's impact on colonial Asia as follows in his book, "Thank
You Japan!"

Topic 81 Recap Challenge! – Check which colonial powers controlled the modern-day nations ofIndia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines at the start of the"Japanese soldiers drove out the Western powers that had ruled the nations of Asia as theircolonial fiefs for generations. This astonished the Asian people, as we had long since given up

Greater East Asian War.

any hope of defeating the white man, and filled us with a new sense of confidence. It awakened
us from our long slumber, and convinced us to make the nation of our ancestors our own nation
once again. We cheered the Japanese soldiers as they marched through the Malay Peninsula.
When we saw the defeated British troops fleeing, we felt an excitement we had neverexperienced before."

The Indonesians Who Welcomed the Japanese Military as Liberators
In Indonesia, which endured 350 years of Dutch colonial rule, there was an old legend passed on
by word of mouth about a prophecy made by one of the country's last monarchs. When his small
kingdom on Java was destroyed by the Dutch invaders, he foretold that, "Before long, theyellow-skinned giants will descend from the north to drive out our oppressors, but when the corn
ripens, they will depart. Then, we will be free."
When Indonesians saw the Strait of Malacca packed with the fearsome warships of the Russian
Baltic Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War, they had little faith that Japan could defeat it.
However, as the news spread that the Japanese, a yellow race like themselves, had annihilated
the Russian armada in the Sea of Japan, many Indonesians were convinced that the Japanese
were the very yellow-skinned giants of the north predicted by the old legend. In secret, theseIndonesians eagerly anticipated their arrival.
When Japanese forces marched into Indonesia in 1942, they were welcomed by crowds ofcheering people lined up along the streets. The Japanese soldiers were the long-awaited liberators

Topic 82 –The lives of civilians on the home front
What was life like in the final years of World War II for civilians living in Japan?
The mobilization of the nation| 312 World War I ushered in the era of total war where wars were waged not only by soldiers on thefrontlines, but by every citizen of the combatant nations, whose lives, education, and culture it
engulfed. As soon as the Second Sino-Japanese War erupted, Japan also instituted a generalmobilization system under which the government managed every aspect of life, includingcommodities, the economy, industry, and transportation.
Due to wartime shortages in Japan, formerly familiar products made of cotton, wool, leather, andrubber disappeared from daily life. The Japanese government organized the National Spiritual
Mobilization Movement to urge the citizenry to consume less and save more.
As Japan's military position worsened, government control tightened even further. Because somany young men had been conscripted to fight overseas, the Japanese government resorted toimpressment of civilians to fill the labor shortfall.1 Even schoolchildren became subject to labormobilization, as were unmarried women, who were put to work in factories as part of the
Women's Volunteer Corps. Under the new policy of student conscription, Japanese university
students lost their draft deferment privileges and were sent to the battlefield.
*1=The National Impressment Ordinance, introduced in 1939 (Showa 14), compelledcivilians to do paid labor in munitions factories and other industries related to war
production.
Supplies of every sort of resource eventually ran so short that anything made of metal, including
even temple bells, was donated to the war effort. The people were forced into lives of extreme
deprivation. And yet, most citizens continued to work hard and fight bravely in the hopes ofachieving victory.
After the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the government of Japanese-ruled Korea
introduced the so-called "Name Change Policy", known as soshi kaimei in Japanese. Soshi,
literally meaning "create a family name", required Koreans to adopt a family name to write on
their census forms. Kaimei, literally meaning "change your personal name", gave Koreans theoption of adopting a Japanese-style personal name.

Late in the war, military conscription and labor impressment were extended to Japanese-ruled
Korea and Taiwan. Many Koreans and Taiwanese were killed toiling under dangerous
conditions in Japanese mines and other war-related industries.
| 313 Devastation wrought by air raids
The war situation deteriorated even further in 1944 (Showa 19). Japan's desperately
outnumbered military resorted to having its pilots and midget submarine crews undertake suicide
attacks in which they deliberately crashed their own vessels into enemy ships. These were called
Special Attack Units, better known as the kamikaze.
Finally, the horrors of war descended directly upon ordinary civilians in Japan. In July 1944(Showa 19), Saipan, one of the Japanese-held Mariana Islands,2 fell to US forces, putting theJapanese mainland within range of American bombers. Later that year, US B-29 bomberscommenced indiscriminate air raids over cities across Japan. The evacuation of schoolchildren
was undertaken to keep children out of harm's way by sending them away from home to rural
temples and other remote locations.
*2=The Mariana Islands were a Japanese-governed League of Nations mandate territory.
Certain territories that were not yet ready to become independent as nation-states wereplaced under mandate status by the League of Nations and were administered by othercountries under the supervision of the Council of the League of Nations.
On March 10, 1945 (Showa 20), about 100,000 citizens lost their lives in a single night during
the Great Tokyo Air Raid. In subsequent months, two hundred major cities were bombed,
resulting in the deaths of 500,000 civilians.
Topic 82 Recap Challenge! – Using bullet points, give three or more ways in which the generalmobilization system affected the lives of Japanese civilians.

What Was the "Name Change Policy"?
The samurai of Japan traditionally had both a clan name and a family name, whereas Koreans
had only a clan name. About 250 different clan names were in use in Korea at the time that
| 314
Korea's Japanese administration implemented the "Name Change Policy", which comprised twoparts, soshi and kaimei.
Under the policy, all Koreans were required to decide on a family name (soshi) and register it on
the next Japanese census. However, no one was forced to take a Japanese-style name.
In addition, Koreans were henceforth permitted to select a Japanese-style personal name(kaimei) upon payment of a fee. Unlike soshi, kaimei was purely voluntary, but eighty percent of
Koreans ultimately did choose to adopt Japanese-style names.

Topic 83 – Diplomacy to end the war and the defeat of Japan
What brought World War II to an end in Asia?
From Yalta to Potsdam| 315 The eventual victory of the Allied Powers looked increasingly certain in both Europe and Asia.
In February 1945 (Showa 20), the Soviet Union hosted the Yalta Conference in the Crimean
city of Yalta, where the leaders of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain met to discuss theAllied Powers' plans for the postwar world. US President Franklin Roosevelt requested that theSoviet Union join the war against Japan to help relieve the burden on American forces.
Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin worked out a secret arrangement whereby the USSR
would declare war on Japan three months after Germany was defeated in exchange for theJapanese territories of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. This agreement was a violation of
the Atlantic Charter's assertion that the Allied Powers sought no territorial aggrandizement.
When Allied forces entered Berlin, Hitler committed suicide and the German government
collapsed. In May, the German military surrendered unconditionally.
The Battle of Okinawa, atomic bombings, and Soviet invasion
In late-March, the US military launched an assault on Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa1 caused
tremendous loss of life not just among soldiers, but among the residents of Okinawa as well.2
Japan's soldiers fought doggedly and were often assisted by the civilian population. Meanwhile,the top-ranking officials in Japan held several meetings to discuss ending the war. They decided
to ask the neutral Soviet Union to serve as an intermediary between Japan and the United Statesin negotiating a peace deal. However, when British, American, and Soviet leaders met in
Potsdam, Germany, the Potsdam Declaration was announced on July 26 to lay down the terms
for Japan's surrender on behalf of the USA, Great Britain and China.3*1=Rear Admiral Ota Minoru, Japan's naval commander during the Battle of Okinawa,
described the selfless heroism of the people of Okinawa and the terrible tragedies that
befell them in his final telegram to Japan before committing suicide. The last lines of his
telegram read, "This is how the people of Okinawa have fought. Therefore, I request that
the Okinawan people be given special consideration by future generations."

*2=The fierce fighting in Okinawa is estimated to have cost the lives of over 180,000
soldiers and civilians, including about 94,000 of the inhabitants of Okinawa. Okinawa was
occupied by the US Army on June 23.
| 316*3=The Soviet Union initially made no comment on the Potsdam Declaration due to its
non-aggression pact with Japan, but did join after breaking the pact.
Excerpts from the Potsdam Declaration"Following are our terms… (1.) There must be eliminated for all time the authority andinfluence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on worldconquest… (2.) Until there is convincing proof that Japan's war-making power is destroyed,
points in Japanese territory to be designated by the Allies shall be occupied to secure theachievement of the basic objectives we are here setting forth. (3.) Japanese sovereignty shall belimited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we
determine. (4.) The Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted
to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive lives. (5.) Stern
justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon
our prisoners. The Japanese government shall remove all obstacles to the revival andstrengthening of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people... (6.) Japan shall bepermitted to maintain such industries as will sustain her economy… but not those industries
which would enable her to re-arm for war. (7.) The occupying forces of the Allies shall bewithdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and there has been
established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people a peacefully
inclined and responsible government. (8.) We call upon the Government of Japan to proclaim
now the unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper andadequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt andutter destruction."
When the Potsdam Declaration was issued, Prime Minister Suzuki Kantaro and the leading
members of his cabinet noticed that it was a request for conditional surrender and were inclined toaccept it. On the other hand, Army Minister Anami Korechika opposed accepting the Potsdam
Declaration on the grounds that it contained no guarantee that the status of the emperor would bepreserved.4 Anami insisted on fighting a decisive battle on the Japanese main islands. The
Japanese government continued to hope that the Soviet Union would respond favorably to itsrequest to serve as an intermediary, unaware that Stalin had already decided to go to war withJapan.
*4=Japanese army officers were determined to preserve the kokutai, which can be| 317 translated as “national constitution” and refers to the unity of the Japanese people under
the Emperor of Japan since the country's foundation. They feared that acceptance of the
Potsdam Declaration would mean the dissolution of Japan as a nation.
On August 6, the US dropped the first atomic bomb in history on Hiroshima. Now, the Japanese
government had no choice but to sue for peace as quickly as possible. In accordance with thesecret agreement struck at Yalta, the USSR breached the Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pactand declared war on Japan on August 8. Soviet forces invaded Manchuria on August 9 and, on
the same day, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
Emperor Hirohito's decision
Late at night on August 9, top government officials held an Imperial Conference in the presenceof Emperor Hirohito to discuss whether to accept the Potsdam Declaration. The opinions of those
assembled were evenly divided and the conference was deadlocked. At 2:00 AM on August 10,
Prime Minister Suzuki approached the Emperor and requested that he pass judgment on thematter. At a second Imperial Conference convoked on August 14, Emperor Hirohito gave his"sacred decision" that Japan would immediately surrender to the Allied Powers under theconditions of the Potsdam Declaration in order to avoid further loss of life.
At noon on August 15, Emperor Hirohito delivered the Jewel Voice Broadcast, informing theJapanese people by radio that their long war was over and Japan had been defeated. It was Japan's
first defeat since the start of the modern era. Japan's surrender marked the conclusion of WorldWar II.
Topic 83 Recap Challenge! – List in chronological order six or more major events in the final
year of the Greater East Asian War that led to the end of the conflict.

The "Sacred Decision" of Emperor Hirohito Excerpted from the Testimony of Chief
Cabinet Secretary Sakomizu Hisatsune"Given the current situation, I am terribly worried about the outcome of a decisive battle waged onJapanese soil. It is entirely possible that every single Japanese person will be killed. If so, howwould we be able to hand down the nation of Japan to our descendants? If we save the lives of as
many Japanese as possible, so that they may rebuild our country in the future, only then will wehave a country to hand down to our descendents... I know that you are all concerned about whatmight happen to me after the surrender, but I am not at all worried about myself. I have given
the matter much thought and have resolved to end this war immediately."

JAPAN AS SEEN THROUGH FOREIGN EYESThe Greater East Asian War and the Independence of Asia
Though Japan lost the war that it fought in the name of Asian liberation, Asia did manage
to throw off the shackles of colonialism and achieve independence.
| 318
The impact of the Greater East Asian War
Asserting that the war was necessary for national survival, Japanese forces seized Dutch andBritish colonial territories in Southeast Asia at the outset of the fighting in order to take controlof their resources.
By then, most of Asia was suffering under the white colonial domination of Western nations.
For this reason, Japan's impressive victories during the initial stages of the war raised hopes forindependence among the peoples of Asia.
Nevertheless, it is also true that the fierce battles fought by the Japanese Army as it marchedthrough Southeast Asia exacted a heavy toll on local peoples. In the Philippines especially,
countless civilians were embroiled in the brutal fighting with the US Army and became
casualties of the war. Likewise, many Chinese people were killed due to the Japanese military's
actions in China.
The Japanese military and Indian independence
India was a British colony for generations, but by the twentieth century was home to a lively
independence movement led by such well-known figures as Mahatma Gandhi. Another Indian
independence activist was Chandra Bose, who believed that the movement needed to constitute agovernment with its own army. Thanks to the backing of the Japanese military, he was able torealize this plan. At the time that Japan captured the British military base at Singapore, many
Indian soldiers serving in the British Army were taken prisoner. Japan persuaded 13,000 of themto join the Indian National Army and fight for Indian independence.
Then, in October 1943, the Provisional Government of Free India was established in Singapore
under Bose's leadership. When the Japanese Army advanced into their homeland of India, thesoldiers of the Indian National Army marched right alongside it while shouting "To Delhi!
In spite of their efforts, the campaign into India ended in failure. After the war was over, theBritish attempted to put the leaders of the Indian National Army on trial for treason as a means

to reassert their colonial rule over India. In response, the Indian people promptly rose up as one
to demand their freedom. Finally, Great Britain was forced to recognize India's independence.
The wave of independence that swept Asia
| 319

Once Japan had surrendered to the Allied Powers, they returned to regain control over theircolonies that Japan had occupied, including Burma (Myanmar), Malaya (Malaysia), andIndonesia.
However, the people of these nations, including groups that had been armed and trained by theJapanese military, fought back valiantly and succeeded in foiling the bid by the Western powers
to re-colonize Asia. Though Indonesia had not been granted independence during the Japanese
occupation, many Japanese soldiers remained there after the war to support the Indonesian
people in their struggle for freedom.
During the war, the Japanese military occupied French Indochina, which was composed ofVietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, with the permission of the French government. Here also, many
Japanese troops stayed behind in order to fight alongside the local people in their war for
independence.
How the world saw the Greater East Asian War
Ba Maw, who attended the 1943 Greater East Asia Conference in Tokyo as the representative of
Burma, became the first prime minister of his home country. In his book, Breakthrough in
Burma, he wrote the following about Japan's role in the liberation of Asia:"The case of Japan is indeed tragic. Looking at it historically, no nation has done so much toliberate Asia from white domination, yet no nation has been so misunderstood... Had her Asian
instincts been true, had she only been faithful to the concept of Asia for the Asians that sheherself had proclaimed at the beginning of the war, Japan's fate would have been very different."
While criticizing the tyrannical acts and plunder of resources perpetrated by the Japanesemilitary, Ba Maw still praised Japan's positive contributions towards liberating Asia fromcolonialism.
Moreover, Kukrit Pramoj, who became prime minister of Thailand, recalled the Greater East
Asian War as follows in a newspaper article entitled "December 7th":

"It was thanks to Japan that all nations of Asia gained independence. For Mother Japan, it was adifficult birth that caused her great pain, and yet her children are growing up healthy and strong.
December 7th was the date on which Mother Japan made the momentous decision to risk her| 320 own life for our sake. Furthermore, August 15th was the date on which our beloved mother lay
bedridden. Neither of these two days should ever be forgotten."
Asian Countries That Achieved Independence After World War II
Year of Independence

Country

Suzerain

1946

Philippines

USA

1947

India

Great Britain

1948

Burma (Myanmar)

Great Britain

1949

Indonesia

Netherlands

1953

Laos

France1953

CambodiaFrance1954

Vietnam

France1957

Malaysia

Great Britain

1963

Singapore

Great Britain

I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT...
The International Laws of War and War Crimes
Approaches to the international laws of war| 321

Throughout our long history, human societies never stopped waging wars against one anotherdue to conflicting national or ethnic interests, and these wars always occasioned horrible
atrocities. Consequently, the idea came about to set international standards on how wars could
legally be conducted. These rules are known as the international laws of war. One of the mostinfluential treaties on the international laws of war was the Hague Land War Convention, signedin the Netherlands in 1907 (Meiji 40).
The killing or wounding of non-combatant civilians and mistreatment of soldiers taken prisoner
are designated as war crimes and therefore illegal under the international laws of war. In
addition, it is prohibited to arm civilians and have them participate in fighting without militaryuniforms. If non-uniformed combatants are captured, it is permissible to punish and evenexecute them as spies or guerrillas following legal proceedings.
The greatest war crime of the twentieth century
Unarmed civilians were targeted and slaughtered en masse in both the Battle of Okinawa and theindiscriminate bombing of major Japanese cities. It has been said that even one of the US B-29
pilots had questioned his commanding officer about whether the proposed Great Tokyo Air Raidof March 10, 1945 (Showa 20), was a violation of international law. During this attack, 100,000
people were burned alive in a single night. As for the atomic bombings, the number of people
killed totaled over 200,000 in Hiroshima and over 70,000 in Nagasaki, and these victims wereordinary citizens. Whether measured by their human or material devastation, the atomic
bombings could be fairly described as the greatest war crimes of the twentieth century.
The Siberian Internment
On August 9, Soviet forces overran Manchuria and Sakhalin in violation of the Japanese-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact. They were responsible for innumerable incidents of pillage, murder, andrape against Japanese civilians. Even after Japan's surrender, the Soviet invasion continued. It
was in September that the USSR completed its conquest of the Northern Territories, an integral
part of Japan. What's more, though the Potsdam Declaration stipulated that all Japaneseprisoners were to be repatriated in short order, the USSR blatantly disregarded this condition andtransported more than 600,000 Japanese civilians and POWs to sites in Siberia where they weremade to do brutally hard labor and denied adequate meals. Among those Japanese interned in
Siberia, the officially recorded deaths alone exceeded 60,000 people.
Because the Allied Powers were the victors of the war, none of their war crimes were
| 322 prosecuted.
The war crimes of the Japanese military
The Japanese military was also responsible for the mistreatment and unlawful killing of captured
enemy soldiers and unarmed civilians within the areas it occupied over the course of the war.
The Allied Powers dealt severely with Japanese war criminals, sentencing nearly one thousandof them to death. However, there were some cases of Japanese soldiers having been wrongfully
convicted and executed for crimes that they had not committed.

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY:SUMMING UP THE MODERN PERIOD (PART 2)
Hiroki asks his brother about the periodization of modern history…
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The following is a dialogue between Hiroki, a Japanese middle school student, and his elder
brother.
Hiroki: In this period, the wars went on non-stop. I read that even kids like us had to fight!
Hiroki's brother: Yes, we call that "total war". Unlike earlier wars that had been fought bysoldiers alone, in a total war, the entire population of the country has to support the war effort.
For example, women and children worked in munitions factories and supported the front bymaking bullets.
Hiroki: A lot of ordinary people were killed too…
Hiroki's brother: New technologies of war like tanks and bombers were developed, and evenurban areas where ordinary civilians lived became targets to be destroyed.
Hiroki: But why couldn't the United States and Great Britain get along with Japan?
Hiroki's brother: Once the Great Depression began, every country was just desperate to survive.
The "have nations", which already had many colonies, made it through the depression byforming economic blocs. "Have-not nations" like Japan tried to export their goods abroad, but
unfortunately found no buyers due to the high tariff walls raised by the economic blocs.
US-Japan relations eventually got so bad that Japan was not even allowed to import raw
materials like oil and iron from the USA. As a way to survive the crisis, Japan planned to rely on
Europe's colonies in Asia as a market for its goods and a rich source of natural resources.
Hiroki: Japan didn't have many resources. We imported materials from other countries, madethem into products, and shipped them out again, right?
Hiroki's brother: Free trade is so universal now that I guess it's hard for us to imagine how things
were back then. We can only understand what really caused the war by putting ourselves into theshoes of the people who experienced it firsthand.

Comparing historical periods
Compare each set of the following topics and jot down the key differences and similarities.
| 324 (1.) World War I versus World War II.
(2.) Communism versus fascism.
(3.) The modern period (Part 1) versus the modern period (Part 2)
An essay "in a word"(1.) What did you find most interesting about Japan's modern history (Part 2)? Give one topic.
In a word, the Taisho and early Showa periods were the era of __________.
In the blank, insert the topic that you think best fits and write a short essay of between 100 and
200 words on it.
Examples: war, totalitarianism, national independence, etc…
(2.) Now let's consider all one hundred years of the modern period of Japanese history.
In a word, the modern period was the era of __________.
In the blank, insert the topic that you think best fits and write a short essay of between 100 and
200 words on it.
Group discussion work
Read the section entitled "The Greater East Asian War and the Independence of Asia" and let
everyone share their own opinion on it.

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY:MINI HISTORICAL DICTIONARY(explanation of key terms in less than 100 words)
World War I

1914 – 1918

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The first truly global war. It began in Europe
when the assassination of the heir to theAustrian throne in Sarajevo sparked aconfrontation between two rival camps, theTriple Alliance and the Triple Entente. It
quickly escalated into a total war causing
unprecedented loss of life in Europe.

Twenty-One
Demands

1915

Demands issued by Japan against China
during World War I following Japan's
military victories over Germany in Asia.
They included recognition by China ofJapan's control over Germany's former
interests in China and extension of Japan's
leases in southern Manchuria. Though they
were later reduced to sixteen demands, they
contributed to the rise of anti-Japanesesentiment in China.

Russian Revolution

1917

The revolution that overthrew the Russianmonarchy and brought the Communist Party
to power. Lenin and his supporters led anarmed revolt to install a government based
upon councils of laborers and soldiers(known as soviets in Russian). Later, Lenin
established a one-party communist
dictatorship.

Treaty of Versailles

1919

The treaty drawn up at the peace conference
held in Paris after the end of World War I. It
was signed by the defeated Germany and the"Big Five" victor powers: the United States,
Great Britain, France, Japan, and Italy. The
treaty imposed harsh reparations on Germany
that played a role in the future outbreak ofWorld War II.
1912 –The trend towards democracy andinternationalism that prevailed in Japan
immediately following World War I. A
variety of dynamic social movements sprangup, including labor activism, agrarian
movements, and even a campaign for
women's suffrage led by Hiratsuka Raicho.

1921 – 1922

A conference bringing together nine nations,

economic development. However, theincluding Japan, mainly to discuss the issuesof naval disarmament and relations with
China. Its purpose was to balance theinterests of the powers involved and promotea stable international system in East Asia.
The conference also dissolved thetwenty-year-old Anglo-Japanese Alliance at

ensuing international outcry induced Japan toleave the League of Nations.

Taisho Democracy| 326

Washington

Showa Depression.

Conference

Foundation ofManchukuo

February 26
Incident

1932

1936

America's urging.
Totalitarianism

1920 –

Two political ideologies originating inEurope. The first form of totalitarianism,
called communism, inspired the Russian
Revolution. The other form of totalitarianism,
called fascism, had its greatest impact on
Italy and Germany. Communism and fascism
each manifested unique political systems in
the totalitarian mold and played decisiveroles in the course of twentieth century world
history.

Great Depression

1929 –

A global economic depression that started
with the collapse of the stock market in the
United States, the world's largest economy.
The Japanese economy, which was dependent
on exports to the US, was dealt a devastating
blow. Many businesses closed or wentbankrupt and the unemployment rateskyrocketed. It was known in Japan as the

The Kwantung Army, the Japanese military
unit posted in Manchuria, occupied all the
major Manchurian cities in a bid to put themunder Japanese control. The Kwantung Armythen founded the nation of Manchukuo,
installed the last Qing emperor Puyi as Chief
Executive, and implemented a program of

An attempted coup d'état led by a group ofyoung army officers with the aim ofdestroying Japan's party politicians, financial
elite, and elder statesmen and installing a
military dictatorship under the Emperor's
guidance. The rebels attacked key
government facilities such as the Prime
Minister's Official Residence and theMetropolitan Police Department, murderedleading officials including a cabinet minister,and occupied the vicinity of the Diet.
However, the coup was soon defeated.

Second1937 – 1945

started with a clash at Marco Polo Bridge in
1937, but escalated into all-out war after the
Battle of Shanghai. Peace efforts fell through,the scope of combat operations grew broader,
and the fighting dragged on for many years.

Sino-Japanese War(China Incident)

World War II

A conflict between China and Japan that1939 – 1945

History's second war of global scale. It beganwith Great Britain and France declaring war
on Germany in response to Germany's
invasion of Poland. It evolved into a contest
between the Allied Powers of the USA, GreatBritain, France, China, and the USSR versus

the Axis Powers of Japan, Germany, andItaly. The Allied Powers ultimately emerged
triumphant.
Tripartite Pact

1940

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A military alliance that Japan signed withGermany and Italy in response to Germany's
victories in Europe. The alliance was actuallyof little effect due to the great geographic
distance between Japan and its two allies, but
it did do irreparable damage to Japan's
relationship with the United States, which
was supporting Great Britain.

Greater East Asia
Conference

1943

A conference held in Tokyo that brought
together representatives from a variety of
Asian nations, including India, Thailand, andSoutheast Asia. The purpose of theconference was to prove Japan's solidarity
with the peoples of Asia and request theircooperation in winning the war. The
conference issued the Greater East Asia
Declaration and upheld the liberation of Asia
as Japan's war aim.

PotsdamDeclaration

1945

The declaration of the Allied Powers
enumerating the conditions that Japan would
have to accept in order to end the war. The
declaration was released on July 26 in thename of Britain, the USA, and China, at a
meeting of the leaders of Britain, the USA,and the USSR in Potsdam, a city in thesuburbs of Berlin. At the Imperial
Conference of August 14, Japan agreed to
accede to the Potsdam Declaration.