Japanese Militarism

(Doc. 8) In the 19th century, Japan began to see that the world was moving forward without them in technology and manufacturing. In addition, they also saw that their military was inferior to those of their peers. On the matter, Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo said, "The protection of the nation’s line of sovereignty and the defense of our line of advantage are essential if we wish to maintain our independence and security... it is essential that we begin to make significantly larger appropriations for our navy and our armed forces." To reconcile this, the nation immediately made every effort to pull themselves out of the past and into the present by strengthening their army and diving headfirst into industrialism. (Doc. 8) Much the same as the British, Japan's rapid industrial growth led to expansion and colonization. By the late 1930s, Japan had taken control of both Korea and Manchuria, giving them more power and position than they had ever before come to know. (Doc.

For much of its history Japan was a “closed country” and only opened up to very few people, those being the Dutch and on occasion their Chinese neighbors (Hayes 2012a). It was not until 1853 that Japan would have its first visitors, the United States (Hayes 2012b). Commodore Matthew Perry would force open Japan’s ports and have them agree to “unfair treaties” (Hayes 2012c). This led to the overthrow of the last shogunate’s rule in 1868 and the eventual emergence of Japan’s imperial empire. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration was well under way. During this time period the Japanese were looking to western powers for industrializing and reorganizing the way their government and even society operates (Hayes 2012d). Japan took it upon itself to emulate the western powers in order to discover its role in the international sphere (Hayes 2012e). As the country expanded and western influence grew Japan looked to expand their empire and saw Korea. Until the 1880s Japan began to assert policy against Korea, this led to conflict with China until 1895 in the Sino Japanese War (Hayes 2012f). The defeat of the Chinese resulted in the annexation of Korea to the Japanese as well as Taiwan and Liaodong Peninsula (Hayes 2012g). This also left a target on the Chinese’s back for many years. Japan now had control over a vast majority of East Asia by the time World War I came around. In order to compete

Japan’s growing nationalism and imperialism scooped the nation up to its feet, In 1931 “Japan launched its first plan by invading Manchuria, Manchuria was the first step in Japan’s imperial expansion” (Work Cited 2). On 1937 Japan launched a full scale war on China. The U.S started transporting resources to China and cutting off export of raw materials and oil to Japan, moves clearly intended to oppose Japan’s expansion. The embargo was seen as a serious threat to Japan’s goals of imperial expansion and to overcome this obstacle Japan began to conquer Asian Pacific territories that were rich in raw materials and oil. “Almost 70 percent of the country’s supply of zinc and tin, 90 percent of its lead, and all of its cotton, wool, aluminum, and rubber had to be imported from other countries” (John F.

This academic journal by Martha Chaiklin, analyzes the efforts taken by various countries that eventually lead to the ending of Japanese isolationism. She first invalidates the notion that Commodore Perry with his gunboats were solely responsible for the opening of Japan. In contrast, the Dutch and liberal policies were greatly attributed if not solely responsible for the opening of Japan. Even the American led event that is attributed to the opening of Japan was in fact not a unique policy “ The United States was not the first to attempt to open Japan since all Westerners except the Dutch had been expelled in 1639. Both the British and the Russians had made several attempts in the preceding two centuries that had all ended in failure” (Chaiklin

When the Meiji Restoration flourished Japan from an agronomic nation to rapid modernization, they were using Western countries as models to industrialize and develop their economy and society. They were not only to better themselves; learning from the West came the goal of wanting to be their equal. Japan tried to shape into countries like France and Britain to prove that they deserve to be a world power, thus starting Japanese imperialism. After the Sino-Japanese war, both Korea and Taiwan were annexed to Japan, where the Japanese used militant colonial rule and assimilation to what seemed like a benefit to them was exploitation to the respective cultures.

In the past, many countries all around the world experienced imperialism. These countries desired for a better country and for much more power by taking control over other parts of the world. China and Japan are two countries that experienced imperialism. However, these two countries had different views on how they would imperialize. China imperialized without modernizing while Japan did. Even though China and Japan both imperialized with dissimilar views while experiencing western penetration in the 19th century, Japan’s industrialization provided greater gains for their country than China’s cultural chauvinism did for them.

In the early twentieth century Japan had reached its industrial revolution therefore, leading to an increase in Japanese nationalism and imperialism. Consequently, this led to Japanese military aggression against China. The Chinese suffered high mortality rates from the advanced Japanese troops that would simply raze and beleaguer Chinese cities. Japan managed to gain an advantage against the less industrialized Chinese who fell as if a deck of cards to the militarized Japanese and died as if infected with a pathogen. This would lead to an inevitable contact with the powerful U.S who proposed inhibiting sanctions against the U.S.A’s new nemesis, the Japanese.

For ensuring the safety of its northern area, Japan and Russia signed the “Pact Of Neutrality Between Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics And Japan”. In the pact, it said that both Contracting Parties undertake to maintain peaceful and friendly relations between them and mutually respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of the other Contracting Party (5). This article gave Japan sufficient confidence to invade China and other South Asian countries. This pact verified its ambition to realize the “Great East Asia Coprosperity

The first step of the Japanese plan for world domination, the effects of this war are still felt today. Japanese ties with China and other Asian countries are still strained due to the Japanese invasion of these countries and atrocities Japanese while occupying their neighbors. It is important for us, half the globe away, to understand this conflict, and to gain a better understanding of how this event shaped the politics of the region

Japan was weary of outsiders, due to the fact that they were getting cheated by the countries they were trading with. In 1639, Japan cut off all foreign access, thus included trade. In the centuries that followed; Japan made special arrangements with the Dutch and Chinese for trade policies. When Commodore Matthew Perry came to Japan, the people were again, weary to sign the treaty to open a sea port. They finally gave in and signed the treaty and opened the sea ports to

Japan started to change their attitude to Europeans, they welcomed them because they were satisfied by the glory they bring, they traded things like glasses, clocks, and artillery. However it also brought social changes, and Tokugawa rulers started to grow suspicious of the Portuguese and Spanish intention for Japan, so at last, they only trade with Dutch and Chinese in a fixed harbour. Through the trading with Dutch, they began to build up knowledge of Western ideology and world events, according to the knowledge of Western ideas, Japan's scientific, geographical and political knowledge began to grow. Due to the influences foreign countries brought to Japan, Japan become the country we see

The shortage of a domestic supply of raw materials and fuel due to rising population pressure, a rise in protectionism in foreign countries, and the recession of the domestic economy after 1929 are said to have been the economic cause of Japanese

The Russo-Japanese War lasted from February 1904 to September 1905 and was fought over differing views about which country should control Manchuria and Korea. The war was instigated by the territorial issues that were resolved by military means. At the time, Japan’s fighting force was roughly half the size of the Russian army, but despite this limiting factor, the Japanese were able to defeat the Russians. This defeat shocked many around the world and completely shifted the power structure in East Asia, giving Japan more power and status world-wide. While Japan’s military capacity was dramatically smaller than Russia’s, the Japanese victory over the Russians illustrated the exemplary military strategy the Japanese utilized. It further illustrated to the people that the strategies that the military used here are effective and that they should be supported because of their success. This support was vital because it showed the people that they should support the military’s methods in the future, especially in later wars such as World War II. The faith that was entrusted to the military during this

Like other Asian nations, the Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers. These treaties granted the Westerners one-sided economical and legal advantages in Japan. “For years several countries have applied for trade, but you have opposed them on account of a national law. You have thus acted against divine principles and your sin cannot be greater than it is. What we say thus does not necessarily mean, as has already been communicated by the Dutch boat, that we expect mutual trade by all means. If you are still to disagree we would then take up arms and inquire into the sin against the divine principles, and you would also make sure of your law and fight in defence…” As stated in the quote, the Americans and Europeans wanted to have trade with the Japanese but according to their law they only trade with the Chinese and the Dutch for economic purposes. This second letter poses a threat upon Japanese society, so on July 8, 1853 when Matthew Commodore Perry trained his guns on the bakufu capital of Edo and demanded that the shogun open Japan to diplomatic and commercial relations and forcibly sign a treaty of friendship. The shogun had no other choice than to acquiesce to Perry’s demands. To regain independence from the Americans and Europeans, Japan has to be established as a respected nation.

In the field trading with Europeans, the Dutch was the only Europeans allowed to have traded with Japanese by 1690s. Japan had expelled the Portuguese and promised to the best treatment to the Dutch. Japan then turned to East Asia market, she traded for medicines and textiles with Korea. Japan also traded with China. There were conflicts between Asian diplomacy and bakufu legitimacy, and the Korea invasion by Japan in the 1590s had put these three into difficulties, and led to Japan realized she was at war with all of East Asia. Thus she had sent letters from 1611 to 1625 expressed her wills to have direct trade and relations with China, made an apology for the invasion. It was until the bakufu’s system of licensing trade and international commerce had proved herself did not require any Japanese legitimacy or sovereignty and the interest in entering the Chinese world order waned, Japan had received the willing of openness for trade from China. Although the relation between Japan, Korea and China was complicated, Japan had made efforts on postwar normalization, promoted the trading interests with China and Korea in 17th century. Trading with China and Korea was maintained and boosted Japan’s economy. Japan had limited her trading and traveling with Europeans while tried to have more connection and trades with China and Korea, this is because Japan did not want to be completely isolated