1889 – Japan’s First Constitution
The Meiji Constitution has Three Tiers: The Emperor on top, the symbol of the stateThe Privy Council, behind the scenesThe Diet, popularly elected
• It has the power to set budget and levy taxes
Oligarchs at the controls, butPower curbed by Diet budgetary powers
Political parties appear rapidlyConstitution moves Japan closer to acceptance by the world community
Turn-of-the-century Wars
Two small but important wars:Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5 Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5
Consequences:Japan finally freed from unequal treatiesJapan becomes a colonial power (Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria)Patriotism inflamed
the whole country supports Japan’s “sphere of influence” nation connected by telephone, telegraph
Wars and patriotism
The magazineYouth of the World
reflects Japan’s growing confidence after the Sino-Japanese war (1894-5).
Patriotism at SchoolA page from a first grade
reader, 1918, which reads: "Kiguchi Kohei was struck by an enemy bullet, but even in death, his bugle never fell from his mouth."
First soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine after the Russo-Japanese War
Patriotism in the Media
Hideyoshi congratulates Itō Hirobumi
The Wars and Patriotism
A cover of Tokyo Puck Magazine
General Terauchi bathed in the light of Amaterasu as he oversees the Korean peninsula
Turn-of-the-century Economics
Silk and cotton spinningWomen workers
More urbanization
Developments inMining
heavy industry
However…
Hard times in the countryside
Farmers exploited, restive
Tenancy still high
Laborers widely exploited
The “dual economy”
The 1920s –Taishō Democracy
The era of “party politics”
The Privy council can no longer hold off the Diet
Compromise is struck with a series of “Party Prime Ministers” such as Hara Kei
Assassinations continue
As the Meiji constitutional system collapses
the military steps in
The 1920s –Taishō Democracy
Other Aspects:Universal male suffrage
The “Peace Preservation” laws
Socialism crushed
Population growth:55 million in 1920
Persistent divide between rich and poor
Continuing urbanization and industrialization
Urban Fashion – 1920s
Urban Japanese followed international fashion trends
“modern girl” or moga
“modern boy” or mobo
Depression and Militarism – the 1930s
The Meiji constitutional system collapses
The global depression hits Japan hard
The military steps into the vacuum
The Manchurian, or Mukden, incidentthe Manchukuo puppet regime
Attempted military coup, 2/26/1936
Marco Polo Bridge incident, 1937
Japan’s incursion into China begins
The Pacific War
The US response The US and other
Western Nations embargo Japan in response
But this only serves to justify further Japanese advances in Southeast Asia.
Japan as protector of Asia
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The expulsion of the West
The “A B C D” powers
Pacific War statisticsChinese civilians killed at Nanjing:
~80,000-100,000Japanese civilians killed in the firebombing of Tokyo:
~80,000-100,000Deaths in Okinawa:
62,500A-bomb deaths
~180,000
Homefront war production
Mitsubishi aircraft plant
Homefront production
Exhortation to increase production of staple foods in
support of the war effort
WWII – Japan’s Homefront
Women exhorted to support the war effort
Woman as compassionate Kannon
Homefront war support
The various measures taken to aid the war effort
Education and Propaganda
Children at Naka-Meguro school, Tokyo
Pledging allegiance to the Imperial Rescript on Education
and imperial regalia
Wartime “fashion”
Women in mompe during wartime
Wartime political commentary
“sweep away‘Westernisms’ like
dandruff out of hair”
WWII – Japan’s Homefront
Posters from the“Spiritual
Mobilization”Committee
WWII – the US and Japan
Negative portrayals of Japanese
Conclusions
Japan fell into war as a result of:Social, political, and economic turmoil in the first half of the 20th century
Unwise foreign adventurism – following the Western colonial model
An inability to keep its military in check
Even today, Japan has not officially fully confronted its wartime past.