Japanese Militarism

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

Before the mid-1850’s, Japan used to be isolated from the rest of the world to avoid colonization because of Tokugawa Shogunate. This did make the country come together and endure that way of life for many years. However, this made the country weak and extremely susceptible to attacks, since having a variety of weapons, such as guns, was a rarity for them. After a threat from Matthew Perry, a commodore of the U.S. Navy, Japan went through the Meiji Restoration. During this short period, Japan sent armies all over the world to learn what other nations have to offer and copy tactics and techniques they know will work best for them. Everything within the nation, including the government system, education system, and army, is improved so Japan becomes a wealthy and strategic nation. Eventually, Japan goes to war with China and Russia, defeating both and staying a strong nation. Japan and its people knew they were better because they had gone through the Meiji Restoration in a short period of time and defeated both China and

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.

Throughout history, East Asia has had a relationship with the rest of the world. Sometimes it was not a positive relationship, but other times it was. China in specific had a trade relationship with the Western countries, such as America and Great Britain, which developed into a war known as the Opium War. A relationship with the Western countries at times caused tension in Japan with threats of imperialism when they did not appreciate that Japan was isolated. The threat of imperialism and isolation in Japan went hand and hand, China questioned if they should be isolated or not, and Korea was isolated with a few exceptions.

In the year 1904, Japan and Russia had been fighting over Manchuria, the area around Korea, for quite some time. Japan had declared war on Russia, but before the declaration had been received in Moscow, the Japanese attacked Russian troops that were stationed at Port Arthur. During the next year, there were many battles in Korea and the Sea of Japan, and, although both sides experienced high casualties, Japan was able to remain victorious. In 1905, representatives from both countries met in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a peace agreement that was mediated. The treaty was finally decided upon to give Japan Korea and most of Southern Manchuria. This victory for Japan was really important as it had finally made them an Imperial Power. Because Japan they had won, Japan became the first Asian power to defeat a European power (www.brittanica.com).

Japanese imperialism was uniquely derived during the nineteenth century within the structure of the informal empires of the West in East Asia. Due to Japanese political feudally and economically backwards system, it was a victim to powerful Western Empires such as Russia, Britain and the United States. They had imposed similar legal and commercial disabilities previously in China to serve their imperialistic needs. Japan was officially integrated into the treaty port system by 1860, thus establishing it’s first step towards incorporation into the world economics. The international political environment was crucial in structure Japanese imperialism particularly in two ways. Firstly, treaty privileges in China became Japanese definition of success, hence structuring Japanese responses and international aspirations. Secondly, it raised awareness for an unavoidable setting for action. Historically, Japan would appease and seek satisfaction within the structure of western imperialism. Thereafter, Japanese imperialism reformed internally in response to the demanding international environment.

The Sino Japanese War lasted from August 1894 to 17 April 1895 and was fought by China against to Japan for control of Korea. Japan won this war and took control of Korea and showed Japan’s advancement in Western-style military tactics.

Also, Japan was able to expand their military power and become a powerful empire through the Anglo-Japanese Alliance which led to the Russo-Japanese war. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance which happened between the years of 1902 to 1923 was a set of three treaties. These treaties were signed just before World War one and stated that Great Britain and Japan would have to help each other in protecting their various interests in Korea and china against Russia. It also stated that if the other country needed military assistance the other country would provide them with their military and if the various interests from Korea and/or china were in any way threatened by foreign powers Great Britain or Japan could come and interfere. With this treaty in place Japan decided to

This time period also led them to understand the need of allying with other countries in order to survive. For example, memories of Japanese atrocities led to the Chinese alliance with the USSR in 1949 and again normalizing relations with Russia in the 1980’s as Japan re-emerged as a

Japan may have restored sovereignty to the Emperor and updated its Feudal government to a modern system, but its economy could not reach its potential unless Japan compensated for its need of resources such as oil, rubber, and metals (Columbia University). The Empire of Japan, as it was called from the Meiji Restoration until post World War Two invaded a series of countries from the late 1800’s to the 1940’s. These include the Sino-Japanese War (1895), Russo-Japanese War (1905) both over Korean domination, Manchuria (1931), China (1937), and French Indochina (1940) (Columbia University). The government was still militaristic and expansion for economic gain was the direction Japan chose (Japan-Guide). This is seen through the risks Japan took to get the benefits of the invasions, such as Korea and its raw materials, and the supplies of Manchuria, China, and French Indochina. Lastly, Japan wanted to go after British and Dutch colonies to help secure their defense. The only thing standing in the way of taking these territories was the American Navy (Columbia University). Now Japan has to gamble. However, Japan has won wars against both Russia and China from a few decades before. Not only has Japan gained what they wanted from them, but they have established themselves as a power and gained respect (Japan-Guide). With a great sense of Nationalism and militarism, Japan has convinced people that loyalty to the country and the ways of Bushido, the old Samurai creed, will bring them

In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan is also aiming to expand its imperialist ideology when it started invading China, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and the members of the ASEAN region in order to become the strongest imperial nation in the world. Japan wants to extensively invade the Asia-Pacific region by occupying all territories that lies across its circumferential territories as far as Australia. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Canada started to counteract agasint the Japanese forces during the Second World War. After the coalition forces successfully liberated Europe, other wing of military troops went to intervene against Japan’s imperial forces. The Japanese was one of the most feared nations in the Asia-Pacific

The Russo-Japanese War was important for propelling Japan forward to becoming a very powerful country in the world. Japan did win the war, but it was a difficult was for both countries involved. It was a war fought for expansion, power, and economic gain.

China counters Japan by forming a military alliance with the Soviet Union in 1950. This alliance was indirectly directed at the United States but primarily directed against Japan. China tried to encourage Japan to have better relations by playing upon Japanese war guilt and issues of Japanese behavior in the 1930s and ‘40s. This didn’t work in the political dimension of the relationship.

This paper will explain the two most significant impacts that the aggressive Empire of Japan history affects its connections with its neighbours. History has caused the reconciliation process between the countries to be delayed and continues frictions between them to occur.

One of the earlier influences on Japan’s decision to invade China was the effect of western imperialism. During the Meiji reform, Western Imperialism heavily influenced Japan and their country changed dramatically within those 44 years. From the success of their reform they began to develop