Taishō period
93-665: Shōwa period The Tripartite Intervention or Triple Intervention ( 三国干渉 , Sangoku Kanshō ) was a diplomatic intervention by Russia , Germany , and France on 23 April 1895 over the harsh terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki imposed by Japan on China that ended the First Sino-Japanese War . The goal was to stop Japanese expansion in China. The Japanese reaction against the Triple Intervention
186-478: A boundary between private and public matters and, thus, demanded loyalty in all spheres of society. Subsequently, any ideological attack, such as a proposal for socialist reforms, was seen as an attack on the very existence of the state. The meaning of the law was gradually stretched to academic spheres. After the passage of the Peace Preservation Law and related legislation, kokutai emerged as
279-548: A complete coup d'état, but it effectively ended rule by political parties in Japan. From 1932 to 1936, the country was governed by admirals. Mounting nationalist sympathies led to chronic instability in government. Moderate policies were difficult to enforce. The crisis culminated on February 26, 1936. In what became known as the February 26 Incident , about 1,500 ultranationalist army troops marched on central Tokyo . Their mission
372-722: A constituent part of Indochina, was effectively placed under the authority of the French Resident Superior in Tonkin (itself under the Governor-General of French Indochina, also in Hanoi); the French Resident was represented locally by Administrators. In addition to the territory acquired, France was given the right to connect the bay by railway with the city and harbour situated on the west side of
465-587: A control and observation post in the harbour. However, as in the rest of French Indochina, the civilian administration of the territory was to remain in the hands of officials of Vichy France following the Fall of France ; in November 1941, Governor-General Jean Decoux , newly appointed by Marshal Philippe Pétain , made an official visit to Kwangchow Wan. In mid-February 1943, the Japanese, after having informed
558-566: A local pro-Vichy militant, was appointed to replace him. In May of the same year, Roques signed a convention with the local Japanese military authorities in which the French authorities promised to cooperate fully with the Japanese. On 10 March 1945, the Japanese, following up on their sudden attack on French garrisons throughout Indochina the night before, disarmed and imprisoned the small French colonial garrison in Fort-Bayard. Just prior to
651-585: A military presence in Manchuria . On September 18, 1931, the Mukden Incident occurred. There was a small explosion on the tracks of a Japanese railway, north of Mukden . Japan invaded Manchuria in the aftermath. The Imperial Japanese Army mobilized the Kwantung Army and attacked Chinese troops. The Minseito government, headed by Hamaguchi's successor Wakatsuki Reijirō , was unable to curb
744-499: A powerful force in society. Mass education and conscription served as a means to indoctrinate the coming generation with "the idea of Japan" as a nation state instead of a series of daimyōs . In this way, loyalty to feudal domains was supplanted with loyalty to the central government. Industrialization and centralization gave the Japanese a strong sense that their country could once more rival and dominate Western powers technologically and socially. Moreover, successful foreign wars gave
837-472: A threat to all Asians and that Asia could only survive by following the Japanese example. Japan had been the only Asian and non-Western power to industrialize itself successfully and rival great Western empires. While largely described by contemporary Western observers as a front for the expansion of the Japanese army, the idea behind the Co-Prosperity Sphere was that Asia would be united against
930-532: A weakened China to seize the port cities of Guangzhouwan and Weihaiwei , respectively, on various pretexts and to expand their spheres of influence. Japan's government felt it had been cheated of its deserved spoils of war by this intervention. This humiliation at the hands of the European powers helped lead to the Gashin Shōtan ( 臥薪嘗胆 ) movement. Figuratively translated as "Persevering through Hardship (for
1023-582: Is a historical period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989 . It was preceded by the Taishō era and succeeded by the Heisei era . The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almost completely different states: the pre-1945 Shōwa era (1926–1945) concerns the Empire of Japan , and post-1945 Shōwa era (1945–1989) concerns
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#17327646915181116-467: Is an issue of fierce debate between Chinese and Japanese historians. By 1939, the Japanese war effort had become a stalemate. The Japanese Army had seized most of the vital cities in China, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, and Wuhan . The Nationalists and the Communists, however, fought on from Chongqing and Yenan , respectively. Negotiations for a German-Japanese alliance began in 1937 with
1209-791: The Convention between the Provisional Government of the French Republic and the National Government of China for the retrocession of the Leased Territory of Kouang-Tchéou-Wan . Almost immediately after the last Japanese occupation troops had left the territory in late September, representatives of the French and the Chinese governments went to Fort-Bayard to proceed to the transfer of authority;
1302-778: The Dutch East Indies ( Indonesia ). Thailand managed to stay independent by becoming a satellite state of Japan. On 13 April 1941, the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed. In December 1941 to May 1942, Japan sank major elements of the American, British and Dutch fleets, captured Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, and reached the borders of India and Australia. Japan suddenly had achieved its goal of ruling
1395-651: The Great War in France . In the presence of such devastation, I understand the blessing of peace and the necessity of concord among nations. The election of Katō Takaaki as the Prime Minister of Japan continued democratic reforms that had been advocated by influential individuals on the left. This culminated in the passage of universal adult male suffrage in May 1925. General Election Law gave all male subjects over
1488-593: The Imperial General Headquarters tolerated many atrocities against local populations , such as the experimentations of Unit 731 , the sankō sakusen , the use of chemical and biological weapons , and civilian massacres such as those in Nanjing , Singapore and Manila . Some of the atrocities were motivated by racism. For instance, Japanese soldiers were taught to think of captured Chinese as not worthy of mercy. On July 7, 1937, at
1581-571: The Russian Revolution were subsequently crushed and scattered. This was in part due to the Peace Preservation Act, but also due to the general fragmentation of the left. Conservatives forced the passage of the Peace Preservation Law because the party leaders and politicians of the Taishō era had felt that, after World War I , the state was in danger from revolutionary movements. The Japanese state never clearly defined
1674-808: The State of Japan . Before 1945, Japan moved into political totalitarianism, ultranationalism and statism , culminating in Japan's invasion of China in 1937, part of a global period of social upheavals and conflicts such as the Great Depression and the Pacific War . Defeat in the Pacific War brought about radical change in Japan. For the first and only time in its history, Japan was occupied by foreign powers , an American-led occupation which lasted for six years and eight months. Allied occupation brought forth sweeping democratic reforms. It led to
1767-617: The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers ; he and his staff exerted wide but indirect power, for the decisions were carried out by Japanese officials. A War Crimes Tribunal , similar to that at Nuremberg , was set up in Tokyo. On 3 May 1946, the prosecution began of Japanese military leaders for war crimes. Several prominent members of the Japanese cabinet were executed, most notably former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo . But
1860-834: The Trans-Siberian Railway and the acquisition of a warm-water port would enable Russia to consolidate its presence in the region and further expand into Asia and the Pacific. Russia had not expected that Japan would be victorious against China. Port Arthur falling into Japanese hands would undermine its own desperate need for a warm-water port in the East. France was obligated to join Russia due to their military alliance . French bankers did have financial interests in Russia, especially in railroads. However, France had no territorial ambitions in Manchuria , as its sphere of influence
1953-652: The Western powers under the auspices of the Japanese. The idea drew influence in the paternalistic aspects of Confucianism and Koshitsu Shinto . Thus, the main goal of the Sphere was the hakkō ichiu , the unification of the eight corners of the world under the rule ( kōdō ) of the Emperor. The reality during this period differed from the propaganda. Some nationalities and ethnic groups were marginalized, and during rapid military expansion into foreign countries,
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#17327646915182046-579: The economic collapse brought new hardship to the people of Japan. Silk and rice prices plummeted and exports decreased 50%. Unemployment in both the cities and the countryside skyrocketed and social agitation came to a head. Meanwhile, the London Naval Treaty was ratified in 1930. Its purpose was to extend the Washington Treaty System. The Japanese government had desired to raise their ratio to 10:10:7, but this proposal
2139-462: The "crass" materialism of the West. In practice, however, the Japanese installed organizationally-minded bureaucrats and engineers to run their annexed territories, and they believed in ideals of efficiency, modernization, and engineering solutions to social problems. It was fascism based on technology and rejected Western norms of democracy. After 1945, the engineers and bureaucrats took over and turned
2232-508: The American demands. ...we cannot let the present situation continue. If we miss the present opportunity to go to war, we will have to submit to American dictation. Therefore, I recognize that it is inevitable that we must decide to start a war against the United States. I will put my trust in what I have been told: namely, that things will go well in the early part of the war; and that although we will experience increasing difficulties as
2325-623: The Americans. Finally, the death agony of the Empire of Japan came in August 1945. On August 6, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima , instantly killing approximately 70,000 people when the attack took place (plus another estimated 130,000 by 1960 due to after-effects). On August 8, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria began. The following day, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki , killing approximately 40,000 people. These attacks with
2418-682: The Emperor Hirohito was neither tried at the Tokyo trials nor dethroned, nor any members of the imperial family . Instead, under the Post-war Constitution , the Japanese Emperor was reduced to a figurehead nominal monarch without divine characteristics and is forbidden to play a role in politics. Douglas MacArthur sought to break the power of the zaibatsu ; Japan was democratized and liberalized along American " New Deal " liberal lines. Parliamentary party politics
2511-666: The Empire of Japan. One solution was war. During the first part of the Shōwa era, racial discrimination against other Asians was habitual in Imperial Japan, having begun with the start of Japanese colonialism. The Shōwa regime thus preached racial superiority and racialist theories, based on sacred nature of the Yamato-damashii . One of Emperor Shōwa's teachers, historian Kurakichi Shiratori, remarked, "Therefore nothing in
2604-487: The French flag was lowered for the last time on 20 November 1945. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong , Kwangchow Wan was often used as a stopover on an escape route for civilians fleeing Hainan and Hong Kong and trying to make their way to Thailand, North America and Free China; Patrick Yu , a prominent trial lawyer, recalled in his memoirs how a Japanese military officer helped him escape in this way. However,
2697-591: The Great Powers met to set limits on naval armament. The Five Power Naval Limitation Agreement worked out in Washington limited competition in battleships and aircraft carriers to a ratio of 5:5:3 (in terms of tonnage) for the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan respectively. Japanese ultra-nationalists viewed this as an attempt by Western powers to curb Japanese expansionism in an area of
2790-611: The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The ideology of Japan's colonial empire, as it expanded dramatically during the war, contained two somewhat contradictory impulses. On the one hand, it preached the unity of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere , a coalition of Asian nations, directed by Japan, against Western imperialism . This approach celebrated the spiritual values of the East in opposition to
2883-539: The Japanese surrender, Chinese forces were prepared to launch a large-scale assault on Kwangchow Wan; however, due to the end of the war, the assault never materialised. While the Japanese were still occupying Kwangchow Wan following the surrender, a French diplomat from the Provisional Government of the French Republic and Kuo Chang Wu, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, signed
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2976-550: The Liaodong Peninsula and the possible impact of the terms of the treaty on the stability of China. Russia persuaded France and Germany to apply diplomatic pressure on Japan for the return of the territory to China in exchange for a larger indemnity. Russia had the most to gain from the Triple Intervention. In the preceding years, Russia had been slowly increasing its influence in the Far East . The construction of
3069-753: The Marco Polo Bridge, the Japanese Kwantung army stationed there used explosions heard on the Chinese side of Manchuria as a pretext for invasion. The invasion led to a large-scale war known as the Second Sino-Japanese War approved by the Emperor that was called a "holy war" ( Seisen ) in Imperial propaganda . At the time, China was divided internally between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which
3162-543: The Nations for his actions. The withdrawal from the League of Nations meant that Japan was politically isolated. Japan had no strong allies and its actions had been internationally condemned , whilst internally popular nationalism was booming. Local leaders, such as mayors, teachers, and Shinto priests were recruited by the various movements to indoctrinate the populace with ultra-nationalist ideals. They had little time for
3255-778: The Netherlands, threatening to restrict the supply of vital materials to the Japanese war machine, especially oil, steel and money. The Japanese army, after sharp defeats by the Russians in Mongolia , wanted to avoid war with the Soviet Union, even though it would have aided the German war against the USSR . The Emperor became fatalistic about going to war, as the military assumed more and more control. Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe
3348-434: The Philippines, Malaysia , Papua New Guinea , French Indochina , Burma and many Pacific islands . The decisive naval/aerial Battle of Midway took place in early June 1942. That changed the momentum of the war. Japan was put on the defensive as the Americans pursued their policy of island hopping . Tokyo was repeatedly firebombed in 1945 and in the early spring and summer of 1945, Iwo Jima and Okinawa were seized by
3441-493: The Philippines, and 50 percent of military fatalities in China. The aerial bombing of a total of 69 Japanese cities appears to have taken a minimum of 400,000 and possibly closer to 600,000 civilian lives (over 100,000 in Tokyo alone, over 200,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and 80,000–150,000 civilian deaths in the battle of Okinawa). Civilian deaths among settlers who died attempting to return to Japan from Manchuria in
3534-478: The Treaty of 29 May 1898, ratified by China on 5 January 1900, during the " scramble for concessions ". The colony was described as "commercially unimportant but strategically located"; most of France's energies went into their administration of the mainland of French Indochina, and their main concern in China was the protection of Roman Catholic missionaries, rather than the promotion of trade. Kwangchow Wan, while not
3627-498: The United States and dropped Japanese immigrants to the level of other Asians (who were already excluded). The overwhelming reaction in Japan, both at the highest levels and in mass rallies that reflected angry public opinion, was hostile and sustained. Commentators suggested the opening guns of a race war and called for a new buildup of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces . The Shōwa financial crisis
3720-409: The Vichy government that they needed to strengthen the defence of Kwangchow Wan, unilaterally landed more troops and occupied the airport and all other strategic locations in the Territory. From then on, Kwangchow Wan was de facto under full military Japanese occupation and the French civilian administration was gradually reduced to a mere façade. The Administrator resigned in disgust and Adrien Roques,
3813-433: The Zhanjiang Waterway ( Chinese : 湛江水道 ; pinyin : Zhànjiāng shuǐdào ). The Maxie is navigable as far as 19 kilometres (12 mi) inland even by large warships. The territory leased to France included the islands lying in the bay, which enclosed an area 29 km long by 10 km wide and a minimum water depth of 10 metres (5.5 fathoms). The islands were recognised at the time as an admirable natural defence,
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3906-405: The age of 25 the right to vote, provided they had lived in their electoral districts for at least one year and were not homeless. The electorate thereby nearly quadrupled in size, from 3.3 million to 12.5 million. However the forces of reaction grew more powerful and steadily; after 1925 there was a retreat from reform, liberal policies and democracy. Pressure from the conservative right forced
3999-451: The army's offensive. The Kwantung Army conquered all of Manchuria and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo on March 1, 1932. The last Emperor of China , Puyi , was installed as the puppet ruler of Manchukuo. The Diet, now dominated by army officials, voted to withdraw from the League of Nations . The first seeds of the coming conflict had been sown. Prior to 1868, most Japanese more readily identified with their feudal domain rather than
4092-478: The coast of present-day Zhanjiang in China leased to France and administered by French Indochina . The capital of the territory was Fort-Bayard, present-day Zhanjiang. The Japanese occupied the territory in February 1943. In 1945, following the surrender of Japan, France formally relinquished Guangzhouwan to the Republic of China . The territory did not experience the rapid growth in population that other parts of coastal China experienced, rising from 189,000 in
4185-445: The creation of a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere . Indeed, the Second Sino-Japanese War fueled the need for oil that could be found in the Dutch East Indies . After the Imperial General Headquarters refused to remove its troops from China (excluding Manchukuo ) and French Indochina , U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced in July 1941 an oil embargo on Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy , increasingly threatened by
4278-443: The early 20th century to just 209,000 in 1935. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The leased territory was situated on the east side of the Leizhou Peninsula ( French : Péninsule de Leitcheou ), near Guangzhou, around a bay then called Kwangchowan, now called the Port of Zhanjiang . The bay forms the estuary of the Maxie River (French: Rivière Ma-The , Chinese : 麻斜河 ; pinyin : Máxié hé ), now known as
4371-422: The east, away from itself. Secondly, to enlist Russia's support in establishing German territorial concessions in China. Germany hoped that supporting Russia would encourage Russia, in turn, to support Germany's colonial ambitions, which were especially vexed since Germany had only recently formed itself into a unified nation and had arrived late in the colonial "game". The Japanese government reluctantly acceded to
4464-408: The era name Meiwa ( 明和 ) during the Edo period in the late-18th century. There were two other candidates at the time – Dōwa ( 同和 ) and Genka ( 元化 ). The term could be roughly understood as meaning "enlightened peace" or in some interpretations "radiant Japan". In his enthronement address which was read to the people, the Emperor referenced this era name : I have visited the battlefields of
4557-437: The escape route was closed when the Japanese occupied the area in February 1943. The territory was formally returned to the Republic of China on 18 August 1945 after a meeting between the French and Chinese. A French-language school, École Franco-Chinoise de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan, as well as a branch of the Banque de l'Indochine , were set up in Fort-Bayard. In addition, a Roman Catholic church (St. Victor) constructed during
4650-541: The expense of individual wants and needs. The Triple Intervention had a profound effect on Japanese foreign relations, as Japanese diplomacy sought to avoid a reconstitution of a combination of European powers against Japan. It led directly to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 which was explicitly intended to shield Japan from interference from other European great powers , and from Russia in particular. Sh%C5%8Dwa (1926%E2%80%931989) The Shōwa era ( 昭和時代 , Shōwa jidai , [ɕoːwadʑidai] )
4743-409: The focus of the nationalist movement in Japan. Japanese nationalism was buoyed by a romantic concept of Bushidō and driven by a modern concern for rapid industrial development and strategic dominance in East Asia . It saw the Triple Intervention of 1895 as a threat to Japanese success in East Asia and warned that the " ABCD Powers " (America, Britain , China , and the Dutch ), were threatening
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#17327646915184836-412: The formal end of the emperor's status as a demigod and the transformation of Japan from a form of mixed constitutional and absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system with a liberal democracy . In 1952, with the Treaty of San Francisco , Japan became a sovereign state again. The postwar Shōwa period was characterized by the Japanese economic miracle . The Shōwa era
4929-424: The globe over which they had no interest. However, those in power in Japan readily agreed to the disarmament, realizing that the global taste for war had been soured after the First World War and knowing that, the ratio was sufficient to maintain hegemony in the Pacific. In 1924, however, friendly U.S.–Japanese relations were torpedoed by the Immigration Act of 1924 . The act closed off Japanese immigration to
5022-418: The idea of "Japan" as a whole. When the Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown, the leaders of the revolt, Satsuma and Chōshū , were ideologically opposed to the house of Tokugawa since the Battle of Sekigahara . The Meiji era changed all of that. With the introduction of mass education , conscription , industrialization , centralization , and successful foreign wars, Japanese nationalism began to foment as
5115-430: The intervention, as British and American diplomatic intercession was not forthcoming, and Japan was in no position to militarily resist three major European powers simultaneously. The three powers had 38 warships with a displacement of 95,000 tons already deployed in East Asia, whereas the Imperial Japanese Navy had only 31 warships in total with a displacement of 57,000 tons. After futile diplomatic efforts to enlist
5208-431: The loss of its oil supplies, insisted on a decision, warning the alternatives were a high risk war, that Japan might lose, or a certain descent into third class status and a loss of China and Manchuria. Officially the Emperor made the decision, but he was told by a key civilian official on 5 November 1941: it is impossible, from the standpoint of our domestic political situation and of our self-preservation, to accept all of
5301-475: The main island being Île de Tan-Hai . On the smaller Île Nau-Chau farther to the southeast, a lighthouse was constructed. Another island of significant size is Île des Aigrettes [ fr ] located to the north-northeast. The limits of the territory inland were fixed in November 1899; on the left bank of the Maxie, France gained from Gaozhou prefecture (Kow Chow Fu) a strip of territory 18 kilometres (11 mi) by 10 kilometres (6.2 mi), and on
5394-485: The new atomic weapons were a surprise. Japan lacked any atomic bomb technology and could not counter it. The government of the Empire of Japan (Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki ) surrendered on August 14. The official surrender ceremony was held on September 2. Total Japanese military fatalities between 1937 and 1945 were 2.1 million; most came in the last year of the war. Starvation or malnutrition-related illness accounted for roughly 80 percent of Japanese military deaths in
5487-399: The next six months, the Japanese had the initiative and went on the offensive. Hong Kong was overrun on December 8, 1941. By the summer of 1942, the Japanese had conquered Burma , Siam , the Dutch East Indies , and the Philippines . The Empire of Japan was one of the largest in history. In 1942 the Empire of Japan was at its greatest extent with colonies in Manchuria, China, Indonesia ,
5580-417: The onset of hostilities between Japan and China. On September 27, 1940, the Tripartite Pact was signed, creating the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis . The alliance was shallow, with very little coordination or mutual help until the last two years of the war, when it was too late to make much difference. By 1938, the United States increasingly was committed to supporting China and, with the cooperation of Britain and
5673-438: The passage of the Peace Preservation Law of 1925 along with other anti- left-wing legislation, only ten days before the passage of universal manhood suffrage. The Peace Preservation Act curtailed activism on the left—which was not extensive—and the screws were steadily tightened. It outlawed groups that sought to alter the system of government or to abolish private ownership. The small leftist movements that had been galvanized by
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#17327646915185766-416: The peninsula; however when they attempted to take possession of the land to build the railway, forces of the provincial government offered armed resistance. As a result, France demanded and obtained exclusive mining rights in the three adjoining prefectures. The return of the leased territory to China was promised after the First World War by the French at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922, but
5859-513: The populace a sense of martial pride in their country. The rise of Japanese nationalism paralleled the growth of nationalism within the West. Certain conservatives such as Gondō Seikei and Asahi Heigo saw the rapid industrialization of Japan as something that had to be tempered. During the Meiji era, such nationalists railed against the unequal treaties , but in the years following the First World War , Western criticism of Japanese imperial ambitions and restrictions on Japanese immigration changed
5952-451: The pragmatic ideas of the business elite and party politicians. Their loyalty lay to the Emperor and the military. In March 1932 the " League of Blood " assassination plot and the chaos surrounding the trial of its conspirators further eroded the rule of democratic law in Shōwa Japan. In May of the same year a group of right-wing Army and Navy officers succeeded in assassinating the Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi . The plot fell short of staging
6045-427: The promise was not fulfilled until 1945, by which time the territory had already ceased to be under French rule. By 1931, the population of Kwangchow Wan had reached 206,000, giving the colony a population density of 245 persons per km (630 per square mile); virtually all Chinese, and only 266 French citizens and four other Europeans were recorded as living there. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The port
6138-413: The right bank a strip 24 kilometres (15 mi) by 18 kilometres (11 mi) from Leizhou prefecture (Lei Chow Fu). The total land area of the leased territory was 1,300 square kilometres (500 sq mi). The city of Fort-Bayard (Zhanjiang) was developed as a port. Kwangchouwan was leased to the French for 99 years, or until 1997 (as the British did in Hong Kong's New Territories ) according to
6231-400: The sake of revenge)", the saying is derived from the Chinese chengyu of wòxīnchángdǎn ( 臥薪嘗膽 ), literally meaning "sleeping on sticks and tasting gall", that alludes to the perseverance of King Goujian of Yue (reigned 496–465 BC) in the war between Wu and Yue. For modern Japan, this ideology meant an increase in heavy industry and the strength of the armed forces, especially the navy, at
6324-419: The same fate as the rest of the Indochina colony during World War II. Even before the signing of the 30 August 1940 accord with Japan in which France recognised the “privileged status of Japanese interests in the Far East” and which constituted the first step of the Japanese military occupation of Indochina, a small detachment of Japanese marines had landed at Fort-Bayard without opposition in early July and set up
6417-590: The superior Japanese army. By October, Chiang Kai-shek 's best armies had been defeated at Shanghai . By the end of the year, the Chinese capital at Nanjing had also been seized . The use of brutal scorched earth tactics by both sides, the Chinese as in 1938 Yellow River flood and later by the Japanese with the Three Alls Policy , "kill all, burn all, loot all", initiated in 1940, claimed millions of lives. The Chinese nationalists resorted to massive civilian guerrilla tactics, which fatigued and frustrated Japanese forces. Countless Chinese civilians were executed on
6510-579: The support of the United States and Great Britain, on 5 May 1895, Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi announced the withdrawal of Japanese forces from the Liaodong Peninsula in exchange for an additional indemnity of 30 million kuping taels (450 million yen). The last Japanese troops departed in December. Much to Japan's astonishment and consternation, Russia moved almost immediately to occupy the entire Liaodong Peninsula and especially to fortify Port Arthur. Germany secured control over concessions in Shandong Province . France and even Great Britain took advantage of
6603-462: The suspicion of being resistance fighters. Japanese war crimes at Nanking and other sites in China and Manchukuo have been well documented. On December 13, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army , following the capture of Nanjing, began the Nanjing Massacre (sometimes called the "Rape of Nanking"), which resulted in a massive number of civilian deaths including infants and elderly, and the large-scale rape of Chinese women. The exact number of casualties
6696-621: The symbol of the state. Kokutai was seen as the barrier against communist and socialist movements in Japan. With the challenge of the Great Depression on the horizon, this would be the death knell for parliamentary democracy in Japan. After World War I , the Western Powers, influenced by Wilsonian ideology, attempted an effort at general disarmament. At the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922,
6789-531: The tankers taking oil to Japan were sunk by American submarines, so Japan's oil shortage became increasingly acute. Japan sponsored an Indonesian nationalist movement under Sukarno . Sukarno finally came to power in the late 1940s after several years of battling the Dutch. With the defeat of the Empire of Japan , the Allied Powers dissolved it and placed the territories under occupation. The Soviet Union
6882-523: The war progresses, there is some prospect of success. With the Emperor's approval, Imperial General Headquarters launched the Greater East Asia War . It began with a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Japan declared war to the United States, Dutch and British. This marked the start of the Pacific War theatre of World War II . For
6975-505: The wartime techno-fascism into entrepreneurial management skills. The Japanese government established puppet regimes in Manchuria and China; they were dismantled at the end of the war. The Army operated ruthless governments in most of the conquered areas but paid more favorable attention to the Dutch East Indies. The main goal was to obtain oil. The Dutch sabotaged their oil wells but the Japanese were able to reopen them. However most of
7068-529: The winter of 1945 were probably around 100,000. Japan launched multiple attacks in East Asia. In 1937, the Japanese Army invaded and captured most of the coastal Chinese cities such as Shanghai. On 22 September 1940, the Japanese invasion of French Indochina began. Japan took over French Indochina ( Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia ), British Malaya ( Brunei , Malaysia and Singapore ) as well as
7161-421: The world compares to the divine nature (shinsei) of the imperial house and likewise the majesty of our national polity ( kokutai ). Here is one great reason for Japan's superiority." The Anti-Comintern Pact brought Nazi ideologues to Japan who attempted but ultimately failed to inject Nazi-style anti-Semitic arguments into mainstream public discussion. Where the government presented the popular image of Jews, it
7254-567: The world." Imperial Japanese Army General Kiichiro Higuchi and Colonel Norihiro Yasue allowed 20,000 Jews to enter Manchukuo in 1938. Higuchi and Yasue were well regarded for their actions and were subsequently invited to the independence ceremonies of the State of Israel. Diplomat Chiune Sugihara wrote travel visas for over 6,000 Lithuanian Jews to flee the German occupation and travel to Japan. In 1985, Israel honored him as Righteous Among
7347-402: Was a financial panic in 1927, during the first year of the reign of Emperor Hirohito. It was a precursor of the Great Depression . It brought down the government of Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō and led to the domination of the zaibatsu over the Japanese banking industry . From 1928 to 1932, a domestic crisis could no longer be avoided. As the left was vigorously put down by the state,
7440-511: Was also popular with smugglers; prior to the 1928 cancellation of the American ban on the export of commercial airplanes, Kwangchow Wan was also used as a stop for Cantonese smugglers transporting military aircraft purchased in Manila to China, and US records mention at least one drug smuggler who picked up opium and Chinese emigrants to be smuggled into the United States from there. As an adjunct of French Indochina, Kwangchow Wan generally endured
7533-420: Was far ahead of China in this respect, and was also in command of the world's third largest navy with 2,700 watercraft at its disposal. By the end of July 1937, the Japanese had slaughtered the elite 29th Army at Kupeikou and soon captured Beijing . From there, the Japanese advanced down south through the major railway lines (Peiping-Suiyan, Peiping-Hankow, and Tientsin-Pukow). These were easily conquered by
7626-615: Was in southern China (see Sino-French War ) . The French actually had cordial relations with the Japanese: French military advisors were sent to train the Imperial Japanese Army and a number of Japanese ships were built in French shipyards. However, France did not wish to be diplomatically isolated, as it had been previously, especially given the growing power of Germany. Germany had two reasons to support Russia. Firstly, it desired to draw Russia's attention to
7719-483: Was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor . Emperor Shōwa was both the longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor as well as the longest-reigning monarch in the world at the time. On 7 January 1989, Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father, Emperor Shōwa, which marked the start of the Heisei era . Emperor Hirohito
7812-666: Was made responsible for North Korea , and annexed the Kuril Islands and the southern portion of the island of Sakhalin . The United States took responsibility for the rest of Japan's possessions in Oceania and took over South Korea . China, meanwhile, plunged back into its civil war , with the Communists in control by 1949. General Douglas MacArthur , from the US, was put in charge of the Allied Occupation of Japan as
7905-422: Was not so much to persecute but to strengthen domestic ideological uniformity. The anti-Semitic policies of Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Germany were refused when foreign minister of Japan Yōsuke Matsuoka stated that: "Nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to
7998-535: Was one of the causes of the subsequent Russo-Japanese War . Per the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki , Japan was awarded the Liaodong Peninsula including the harbor city of Port Arthur , which it had conquered from China . Immediately after the terms of the treaty became public, Russia —with its own designs and sphere of influence in China—expressed concern about the Japanese acquisition of
8091-496: Was replaced by the war cabinet of General Hideki Tojo (1884–1948), who demanded war. Tōjō had his way and the attack was made on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, as well as British and Dutch strong points. The main American battle fleet was disabled, and in the next 90 days Japan made remarkable advances including the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Malaya and Singapore. The quagmire in China did not stall imperial ambitions for
8184-620: Was restored. Old left-wing organizations such as the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party reasserted themselves. The first post-war general election was held in 1946, and for the first time, women were allowed to vote . Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan The Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan , officially the Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan , was a territory on
8277-471: Was served by total of 33 prime ministers , beginning with Wakatsuki Reijiro and ending with Noboru Takeshita . The two kanji characters in Shōwa ( 昭和 ) were from a passage of the Chinese Book of Documents : 百姓昭明，協和萬邦 (Translated: "[T]he people (of his domain), ... all became brightly intelligent. (Finally), he united and harmonized the myriad states.") From this same quotation, Japan also adopted
8370-507: Was shot on November 14, 1930, by an ultranationalist and died in 1931. By this time, the civilian government had lost control of the populace. A New York Times correspondent called Japan a country ruled by "government by assassination". The army, moving independently of the proper government of Japan, took the opportunity to invade Manchuria in the summer of 1931. Since the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Japan had maintained
8463-573: Was swiftly countered by the United States . Thanks to back-room dealing and other intrigues, though, Japan walked away with a 5:4 advantage in heavy cruisers, but this small gesture would not satisfy the populace of Japan, which was gradually falling under the spell of the various ultra-nationalist groups spawning throughout the country. As a result of his failings regarding the London Naval Treaty, Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi
8556-428: Was to assassinate the government and promote a "Shōwa Restoration". Prime Minister Okada survived the attempted coup by hiding in a storage shed in his house, but the coup only ended when the Emperor personally ordered an end to the bloodshed. Within the state, the idea of a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere began to foment. The nationalists believed that the "ABCD powers" (Americans, British, Chinese, Dutch) were
8649-520: Was under the leadership of Mao Zedong , and the Nationalist government of China, the Kuomintang (KMT), which was under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek . The years of 1937–38 were a time of rapid and remarkable success by the Japanese, who had a number of advantages over the Chinese army. While the Japanese army possessed a smaller force of armour and artillery than many Western powers, it
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