#6 Japan; Imperial Japan

 

 

 

The Empire of Japan, 大日本帝國 "Great Japanese Empire", was the historical Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration. In 1868 started Japan's rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei  富國強兵 "Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Armed forces". It all led to its emergence as a world power and began the establishment of a colonial empire. Economic and political turmoil in the 1920s led to the rise of militarism, which prevailed and  culminated in Japan's membership in the Axis alliance, as well as, the conquest of a large part of the Asia-Pacific region. At the height of its power in 1942, the Empire ruled over a land area spanning 7,400,000 square kilometres (2,857,000 sq mi), making it one of the largest maritime empires in history.

The military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Pacific War made Japan almost unstoppable and indestructible, moreover, the Empire gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered, the overwhelming genocide. After suffering many defeats and following the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Manchuria, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Empire was forced to surrender to the Allies on August 15, 1945. A period of occupation by the Allies and a new constitution wouldn't be possible to implement without American involvement in 1947, which officially dissolved the Empire. Occupation and reconstruction continued till 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the "State of Japan" or simply rendered "Japan" in English. The Emperors during this time are now known in Japan by their names, which coincide with those era names: Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito), Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito), and Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito)

上諭—"The Emperor's words" parts of constitution

The constitution recognized the need for change and modernization after removal of the shogunate:

We, the Successor to the prosperous Throne of Our Predecessors, do humbly and solemnly swear to the Imperial Founder of Our House and to Our other Imperial Ancestors that, in pursuance of a great policy co-extensive with the Heavens and with the Earth, We shall maintain and secure from decline the ancient form of government. ... In consideration of the progressive tendency of the course of human affairs and in parallel with the advance of civilization, We deem it expedient, in order to give clearness and distinctness to the instructions bequeathed by the Imperial Founder of Our House and by Our other Imperial Ancestors, to establish fundamental laws. ...

Imperial Japan was founded, de jure, after the 1889 signing of Constitution of the Empire of Japan. The constitution formalized much of the Empire's political structure and gave many responsibilities and powers to the Emperor.

Article 4. The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution.

Article 6. The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders them to be promulgated and executed.

Article 11. The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and Navy

Japan participated in World War I from 1914 to 1918 in an alliance with Entente Powers and played an important role in securing the sea lanes in the West Pacific and Indian Oceans against the Imperial German Navy. Politically, Japan seized the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in China, and to gain recognition as a great power in postwar world. Japan entered World War I in 1914, seizing the opportunity of Germany's distraction with the European War to expand its sphere of influence in China and the Pacific. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914. Japanese and allied British Empire forces soon moved to occupy Tsingtao fortress, the German East Asia Squadron base, German-leased territories in China's Shandong Province as well as the Marianas, Caroline, and Marshall Islands in the Pacific, which were part of German New Guinea. The smooth invasion in the German territory of the Kiautschou Bay concession, the Siege of Tsingtao were successful. The German colonial troops surrendered on November 7, 1915. Japan then gained the German holdings. While the United Kingdom was heavily involved in the war in Europe, Japan dispatched a Naval fleet to the Mediterranean Sea to aid allied shipping against German U-boat attacks. Japan wanted to consolidate its position in China by presenting the Twenty-One Demands to China in January 1915. In the face of slow negotiations with the Chinese government, widespread anti-Japanese sentiment in China, and international condemnation, Japan withdrew the final group of demands, all treaties were signed in May 1915. In 1919, Japan proposed a clause on racial equality to be included in the League of Nations covenant at the Paris Peace Conference. The clause was rejected by several Western countries and was not forwarded for larger discussion at the full meeting of the conference. The rejection was an important factor in the upcoming years, it turn Japan away from cooperation with West and towards nationalistic policies. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance ended in 1923. Japan's military was taking advantage of the great distances and Germany's preoccupation with the war in Europe, seized German possessions in the Pacific and East Asia. Foreign Minister Katō Takaaki and Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu wanted to use the opportunity to expand Japanese influence in China. They enlisted Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), then in exile in Japan, but they had little success. The Imperial Japanese Navy, an autonomous bureaucratic institution made its own decision to undertake expansion in the Pacific. It captured Germany's Micronesian territories north of the equator, and ruled the islands until 1921. The operation gave the Navy an opportunity to enlarge its budget, to double the Army incomes and expand the fleet. The Navy thus gained significant political influence over national and international affairs. In 1932, Park Chun-kum was elected to the House of Representatives in the Japanese general election as a first colonial people. In 1935, democracy was introduced in Taiwan and in response to Taiwanese public opinion, local assemblies were established. In 1942, 38 colonial people were elected to local assemblies of the Japanese homeland. With little resistance, Japan invaded and conquered Manchuria in 1931. Japan claimed that this invasion was a liberation of the Manchus from the Chinese, although the majority of the population were Han Chinese as a result of the large scale settlement of Chinese in Manchuria in the 19th century. Japan then established a puppet regime called Manchukuo, and installed the former Emperor of China, Puyi, as the official head of state. Jehol, a Chinese territory bordering Manchuria, was also taken in 1933. This puppet regime had to carry on a protracted pacification campaign against the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies in Manchuria. In 1936, Japan created a similar Mongolian puppet state in Inner Mongolia named Mengjiang, it was also predominantly Chinese as a result of recent Han immigration to the area. Japanese, Koreans, and Taiwanese were banned from immigration to North America and Australia. Manchukuo opened the immigration of Asians, and the Japanese population subsequently grew more than 850,000.

 

 

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