8.7: Scientific Racism - Japan

Japan on the Eve of the Great Depression 

Germany and Japan had very distinctive responses to the Great Depression compared to the democratic reformers.  Both countries adopted fascist regimes which promoted scientific racism and nationalist expansion.  Democratic forces were weakened in Germany and Japan from the Great Depression, because they could not reduce poverty and unemployment. The new regimes that were then established reduced poverty and unemployment through massive public spending with an emphasis on arms production. Japan in the 1920s was gradually adopting a more liberal political system and continuing its path toward economic modernization. It also built the world’s third-largest navy and by the 1920s, Japan dominated the textile market.  During this time, Japan had a constitutional monarchy, with political parties, trade unions, a legislature, and a “divine” emperor.  There was by the 1920s an emergent class of professional women who were energized by political rights earned by other women in the West. Some calls were made to give women voting and office-holding rights in local elections, but they failed to pass. Women were not allowed to join political parties, but they could attend and sponsor political discussion meetings.

There was instability in Japan due to the intentionally vague language of the Meiji Constitution as to who exercised executive authority. The prime minister represented the majority party in the Diet but did not control the cabinet, military, bureaucracy, or the judiciary.  The emperor chose all ministers and officers in the military, who reported to him but did not take orders from him. Only officers could serve as ministers of the army or navy. Overall, democratization was accompanied by new repressive measures. In 1925 universal male suffrage was passed. However, the Diet also passed a law that outlawed any organization that sought to alter the form of government or the system of private ownership.

Similar to Nazi Germany, the Japanese government in the 1920s championed nationalist indoctrination. Japanese youth groups were established to promote loyalty to the nation and the emperor. Education emphasized racist nationalism, and Japanese students were taught that different societies were arranged in a hierarchic order by degree of "civilization.” Japan was the most civilized while other Asians lived in less civilized societies.  Many educated Japanese went abroad to Germany to study where they learned about German militarism and racism. Just as the Germans wanted to settle in Eastern Europe, more Japanese saw the northern Chinese region of Manchuria as an “empty” space for Japanese settlement.

In international affairs, the civilian government supported the West in its effort to decrease the militarization of the Pacific and East Asia. The Japanese government agreed to maintain a smaller navy than either the U.S. or Great Britain in the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. This treaty was used by nationalists to discredit the civilian politicians much like the Treaty of Versailles was used to discredit the Weimar Coalition.  Similar to the German military, Japan had an authoritarian, ultra-nationalist officer corps who were upset with the civilian government for negotiating the treaty. They wanted Japan to dominate East Asia, eventually replacing European rule and influence. “Asia for the Asians” was a motto they would use as they turned their attention to more regions that needed “liberating”.  The Japanese nationalists rejected Western values as inferior and criticized Western society as conflict-ridden. These nationalists wanted to create a new social order based on notions of class harmony. More and more, China was targeted as a major area for Japanese expansion.

The Rise of Fascism in Japan

Japan was hard hit by the Great Depression because its economy depended on a few exports to the West to pay for essential imports. The protectionism of many countries in the wake of the international financial crisis harmed the export-dependent Japanese economy as well. With the Great Depression, exports dropped by half, real wages fell steeply, unemployment soared, and poverty became widespread. The civilians who headed the Japanese government lost legitimacy by their failure to resolve these problems. Also, fascists in the military saw the civilian leaders as easily bullied by the US and Britain.  Overall, during the 1930s the military gained power at the expense of the civilian leaders in the Diet.  Army officers formed right-wing extremist groups which sought to take control of the government by assassinating civilian leaders who became intimidated and scared. Military leaders replaced civilian politicians in government cabinets.

Ultra-nationalists in the military began advocating an extension of the Japanese Empire, following the example of the British in India. In 1931, the Japanese army unilaterally took over the region of Manchuria from China. The civilian Japanese government was not in a position to act, because the Diet had no power over the actions of the military.  Both the USA and Great Britain supported Chinese independence and condemned the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. More and more Japan was isolated on the world stage in the early 1930s.  Then, Japan united with Germany in an Anti-Comintern Treaty (1935) in opposition to the Soviet Union and communism. The ideology of Japanese militarists was similar to the Nazis in its racism. They believed that it was the destiny of the Japanese people to dominate East Asia just as Hitler claimed a similar mantle for his pure “Aryans” in Europe.  In figure 8.7.1, Japanese Ambassador Viscount Kintomo Mushakoji and Hitler's foreign affairs adviser Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Anti-Comintern in 1936. Why would Japan reach out to Nazi Germany?

The fascist Control Faction of the army assumed control of the government by the mid 1930s. These fascists were committed to total war and a military dictatorship. Japan also withdrew from naval limitations and built up its army.  The Japanese fascists wanted to create a totalitarian state through thought control and secret police terror.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Anti-Comintern Pact Signed 1936, Imperial War Museums, in the Public Domain

Similar to Germany, the Japanese government went on a spending spree and the economy improved. Japan got out of the Great Depression through a massive public works program and rearmament. Japan also became a major producer of heavy industry after the government put in place high protective tariffs.  In contrast to Latin America, Japan used its own technology and resources for economic modernization. The country already had an industrial base with light industry and the government had already made serious investments in human capital by expanding its education system. Toyota and Nissan became the major auto producers while Ford and GM had to close their operations in Japan.

Primary Sources: Illusions of the White Race (1921), by Okuma Shigenobu

Ōkuma Shigenobu (1838-1922) was a prominent Japanese politician in the early 1900s who was increasingly critical of the racism espoused by the West and believed that Japan should serve as a leader in East Asia.

Discussion Questions

• What is Okuma’s criticism of the West?
• How is Japan distinctive in Asia?

The Renaissance during the Middle Ages stimulated the progress of the material civilization in Europe and helped the Europeans to grow richer and stronger than the Asiatic races who kept on slumbering in their old civilization. Being seized by an insatiable, aggressive desire, the Europeans took full advantage of their lethargy and swooped down on India and other parts of Asia. They either conquered the Asiatic people by force, or dominated them by dint of superior economic organization, or cheated them out of their territories. The ascendance of the white races is due to the fact that they came into the possession of material civilization a little earlier than their non-white brothers.

 The whites are obsessed with the mistaken theory that they are superior to all other races.

This is the most serious obstacle in the way of the realization of racial equality. Now the Japanese, the Chinese, the Mongolian, the Turks, the Indians, the Afghans, the Persians, the Arabs, the Malayans, the American aborigines, and the African peoples are all non-white. They are all held in contempt by the whites. And it is the common belief among the whites that the darker the skin, the more inferior is the race. It is based neither upon science, nor upon any positive experience. It is mere superstition backed by historical prejudices.

The whites are of the conviction that they are too superior a people to be governed by their non-white fellows. Therefore, they demand the privilege of extraterritoriality in the countries of the Asiatic races. They establish their own courts and trample under foot the laws and courts of Asiatic countries …Of all the non-white countries, Japan had taken the lead in adopting the best parts of European civilization — including its military side. She codified her laws, and reformed her police and judicial systems, her military and naval forces, thus placing herself almost on an equal footing with that of the European countries. Therefore, the Europeans were compelled to withdraw their extraterritorial rights from Japan …

Some whites regard the development of Japan as an unjustifiable encroachment upon their own rights. They either instigate a non-white race against Japan or plan to organize a league of the white nations to perpetuate a white supremacy in the world. Be it remembered, however, that no unjust and unreasonable agitation against this country will ever succeed, as God never sides with an unjust cause.

It is, of course, true that there are still peoples in this world who are so backward in civilization that they cannot at once be admitted into the international family on an equal footing. But it will never do to give discriminatory treatment to them. What is needed by them is proper guidance and direction. And when they have reached a certain stage of civilization, they should be given an equal place and rank in the comity of the nations. Although most Asiatic nations are fully peers of European nations, yet they are discriminated against because of the color of the skin. The root of it lies in the perverted feeling of racial superiority entertained by the whites. If things are allowed to proceed in the present way, there is every likelihood that the peace of the world will be endangered. It, therefore, behooves all well wishers of mankind to exert their utmost to remove this gross injustice immediately.

What Japan Thinks, edited by K. K. Kawakami, Macmillan, in the Public Domain

Review Questions

• What were some similarities and differences between the governments of Japan and Germany during the 1930s?
• How did Japan and Germany envision a new society based on racist principles?