A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (58 page)

Many pointed to western influence as the real source of corruption, lumping together as western evils such things as parliamentary institutions,
big business, individualism, and the relatively liberal urban lifestyle.
¹⁸
There was growing dissatisfaction with what exactly Japan had achieved by its adoption of western economic and political systems, especially when these had clearly failed to stop the great depression in the west. By contrast, the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the Fascists in Italy was a sign that perhaps a less democratic approach would be more effective, and that even some western nations themselves had started to realise this.

As discontent and intolerance towards democracy mounted, there were increased calls from the military for a policy of territorial expansion as a solution to Japan’s woes. Eyes turned to China. As the politicians dithered, the military took matters into their own hands.

In June 1928 extreme elements in Japan’s Kwantung Army deliberately blew up a train near Mukden, killing the warlord Chang Tso-lin (Zhang Zuolin, 1873–1928). The plotters blamed Chinese bandits, hoping to use this as justification for initiating Japanese military action in the area. Moderates in the army stopped the situation from escalating, but the plotters received only token punishment. Hirohito rebuked Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi (1864–1929) for failing to take firm action, causing him to resign, but he himself took no action against the plotters either.

Tanaka was followed as prime minister by Hamaguchi Osachi (1870–1931). He too was soon facing a crisis. At the London Naval Conference of 1930, which was intended to update the Washington Conference agreement on naval limitations, he failed to achieve any significant improvement to Japan’s ratio. This caused widespread outrage back in Japan. Hamaguchi was shot by a fanatical right-wing youth, eventually dying of his wounds. A few years later Japan withdrew from all agreements on naval limitations.

In September 1931 came the Manchurian Incident. It was a virtual repeat of the tactic used by the Kwantung Army in 1928. Once again a railway near Mukden was blown up by Japanese troops, and once again the Chinese were blamed, in the hope that this would provoke a crisis enabling Japan’s military position to be strengthened. It was carried out by a group of middle-ranking officers, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Ishiwara Kanji (1889–1949), but this time it had the tacit approval of high figures in the military command.
¹⁹

This time moderates did not prevail. Unlike the case in 1928, Japanese military intervention followed swiftly, in fact within hours. The government was powerless to stop it. The
Minseit
cabinet, led by Hamaguchi’s successor Wakatsuki Reijir
(1866–1949), resigned a few months later over their inability to resolve the crisis. Wakatsuki was followed by the
Seiy
kai
’s aged Inukai Tsuyoshi (1855–1932), who tried to control the military but was assassinated by ultra-right naval officers after just a few months in office. Inukai was the last party Prime Minister till after the Second World War.

Hirohito was said to be alarmed by the army’s actions in Manchuria and was urged to intervene by his brother Prince Chichibu (1902–53), but refused to do so.
²⁰
To what extent he actually approved or disapproved of the army’s actions may never be clearly established, but his lack of action and his public silence led the public at large to conclude that he supported the army’s actions in Manchuria.

Japanese military intervention in Manchuria soon led to the establishment of the Republic of Manchukuo (Mansh
koku) by the Kwantung Army in March 1932. This army-created nation was formally recognised by Japan’s government in September that year, and redesignated the Empire of Manchukuo in March 1934. Its emperor was China’s famous ‘last emperor’, the puppet ruler Pu’i (Puyi, 1906–67).

The Manchurian Incident brought a reaction from the League of Nations. A commission headed by Britain’s Lord Lytton went to Manchuria early in 1932 to investigate. Based on its report, in February 1933 the General Assembly of the League of Nations condemned Japan’s actions. Japan promptly withdrew from the League.

The military was now virtually unchecked, with opposition cowed. The ‘thought police’ were active, and assassinations of those with the wrong thoughts were commonplace. The emperor himself seemed to present no obstacle to the military’s plans for expansion. Indeed, the military took it upon themselves to protect him from ‘evil advisers’ with the wrong ideas, advisers who were too western and liberal in their outlook. Among the many casualties was Minobe Tatsukichi, whose views on constitutionalism earned him a charge of treason. Many of his writings were also withdrawn.

The general movement to restore Japan to proper health was often referred to as a call for a ‘Sh
wa Restoration’, though this term meant different things to different people. During the early and mid-1930s in particular there were a number of assassinations and even attempted coups in the cause of this restoration.

The best-known attempted coup, the ‘February 26th Incident’ or ‘26–2–36 Incident’, took place in the early hours of 26 February 1936.
Some 1,400 troops led by junior officers stormed several government buildings, killing and wounding a number of leading political figures and imperial advisers. Their aim was to install a military government more sympathetic to their ultranationalistic ideas. However, there was by no means full support for them, and the top levels of the military were divided over their action. A decisive factor in the eventual outcome was, to the surprise of many, Hirohito. The rebels had declared themselves absolutely loyal to the emperor and had their cause severely weakened when Hirohito, outraged at the attacks on his advisers, refused to have anything to do with them and insisted they be brought to trial as traitors. He also denied them the right to commit ritual suicide. The rebel leaders hoped the trial might provide a forum for their views, but even this was denied them, for it was conducted in secret. Nineteen were eventually executed and 70 others imprisoned. However, none of the senior officers who had openly shown sympathy were convicted.

The February 26th Incident was a rare case of firm intervention by Hirohito, and of the military being curbed. In general, the first 10 years of Hirohito’s Sh
wa had seen the military gain control of the nation at the expense of parliamentary government. Their aggressive anti-western, anti-liberal mood, shared by many members of the public, did not make an auspicious start to the era of Illustrious Peace.

5.3   The Ideologies Behind Expansionism

Among those executed for complicity in the February 26th Incident was the radical nationalist Kita Ikki (1883–1937), a leading thinker in the Sh
wa Restoration movement. He wanted a military coup to rid Japan of its incompetent government leaders so as to restore the emperor to a direct relationship with his people. He saw the emperor as absolute but, interestingly, not as divine – which may have been his undoing. In any event, Kita believed the emperor should suspend the constitution, and free himself from the corrupting influence of politicians and businessmen in order to guide the fair redistribution of national land and assets. Kita also saw Japan as having a special destiny as the liberator of Asian nations under the yoke of western imperialism. Once Japan was restored to health and vitality, then it could lead a united and free Asia.