- Japanese fascism
The general term "Japanese fascism" has been used to refer to Japanese nationalist thinking, its ideological foundation and the outlines of its political implementation. Another possible use of the term is to refer to Japanese right-wing (
far right ) thinking in general. It can also be associated with the assertion of continuity between the older Japanese polity, from the 3rd centuryYamato kingdom times up to theMeiji period , with the "Showa nationalism " (from the 1920s until August 1945)--despite the internal peace of theEdo period that separates the feudal times from the era of modernisation.The use of the term "
fascism " in relation toJapan is contentious and disputed. Japanese fascism was not an insurgent political movement, but an admixture of conservative and quasi-fascist ideas used by the Japanese politicalelite .Bases of Japanese nationalism
Japan esenationalism is in fact quite different from European fascism, yet in parts its development can be seen as comparable. Elements of it have been discussed under the label of Asiatic Fascism or Japanese Fascism.The Yamato Empire had the concept of the state as led by a powerful singular leader (Emperor). In feudal times, the military
caste , which included the "bushi" and thesamurai , were organized as a single headquarters-like structure, theShogunate , which represented the required civil and political power. In this period, the Shogunate constituted the basic social composition, power structures and the foundation of law. It can be divided into three stages:*
Kamakura Period (1185-1333)
*Muromachi Period (1338-1573)
*Tokugawa Period (1603-1867)After the
Meiji Restoration and the birth of theEmpire of Japan , the result seems similar to what has been described above, yet it developed under different circumstances.This time, there was a leader, who had sufficient power to expand the state, to provide for a homogeneous national education, religion and leverage the pride of the population in local and national history. This developed into Emperor worship centered around Amaterasu-Omikami. The contribution of ideologues such as
Kita Ikki ,Nakano Seigo and others, when combined with theright wing organizations and Nationalist societies, led to the development of the Japanese version of a centralized state.The Japanese people were motivated by a revival of ancient ideals and customs. These nostalgic elements of
Samurai feudalism, culture, costumes and myths were put in the service of the national belief of Japan's divine mission to control the rest of the Asian continent.Militarism
"Main article :
Militarism-Socialism in Showa Japan "The desire of the military leaders to maintain political power, as well as the national goal of territorial expansion, resulted in both a significant expansion of Japan's military capacity and the repression of those who opposed that policy. This constellation allowed for the concept of the emperor to be translated into modern times.
The special relation of
militarist s and the central civil government with the Imperial Family supported the important position of the Emperor as Head of State with political powers, and the relationship with the nationalist right-wing movements. However, Japanese political thought had relatively little contact with European political thinking until the 20th century. European fascist ideas did not attract attention in Japan until very late, after the creation of the Axis Alliance in the 1930s.Under this ascendancy of the military, the country developed a very hierarchical, aristocratic economic system with significant state involvement. During the
Meiji Restoration , there had been a surge in the creation ofmonopolies . This was in part due to state intervention, as the monopolies served to allow Japan to become a world economic power. The state itself owned some of the monopolies, and others were owned by thezaibatsu . The monopolies managed the central core of the economy, with other aspects being controlled by the government ministry appropriate to the activity, including the National Central Bank and the Imperial family. This economic arrangement was in many ways similar to the corporatist models of European fascists.During the same period, certain thinkers with ideals similar to those from
Shogunate times developed the early basis of Japaneseexpansionism and Pan-Asianist theories. Such thought later was developed by experts, such asSaneshige Komaki [... "Nippon Chiseigaku Sengen (A manifesto of Japanese Geopolitics) written in 1940 by Saneshige Komaki, a professor of Kyoto Imperial University and one of the representatives of the Kyoto school, [as] an example of the merging of geopolitics into Japanese traditional ultranationalism." ( [http://www.nuim.ie/staff/dpringle/igu/takagi.pdf This PDF] , by Akihiko Takagi.)] : the "Hakko Ichiu ",Yen Block , andAmau doctrine s.Sadao Araki and other local thinkers established this connection of the ancient and contemporary nationalists with local and Europeanfascist ideas, to conform to the local bases for (Japanese fascism), leading to the later surge in Japanese nationalism (Showa nationalism) Ideology.Some of the distinctive features of this policy were exported. The
puppet state s (Manchukuo ,Mengjiang , or theWang Jingwei Government ) were later organized on comparablemilitarist-socialist doctrinal lines. (In the case ofWang Chingwei 's state, he himself had some German influences--prior to the Japanese invasion ofChina , meeting with German leaders and picking up some fascist ideas already during hisKuomingtang administration rule. These, he combined with Japanese militarist thinking. ) Japanese agents also supported local and nationalist elements inSoutheast asia andWhite Russian residents inManchukuo before war broke out.Political purposes of Japanese fascists
One particular concept exploited by the ultranationalists and local fascists was a decree ascribed to the mythical first
emperor of Japan , EmperorJimmu , in 660BCE : the policy ofhakko ichiu (八紘一宇, all eight corners of the world under one roof). While Emperor Jimmu's policy would really only have applied toJapan ,China andKorea , it was used by the imperialists who supported official state Shinto to guide Japan in its dealings with the entire world--it was the belief that all of the world should be brought under the imperial rule of the divine Emperors, a sort of religious manifest destiny.While various leaders tried it over the centuries, it was a goal that was to color Japanese thinking through
World War II .The bases of the modern form of
hakko ichiu were to develop after 1868 and would take the following form:# Japan is the center of the
world , with its ruler, theTenno (Emperor), a divine being, who derives his divinity from ancestral descent from the greatAmaterasu -Omikami, the Goddess of theSun herself.
# TheKami (Japan's gods and goddesses) have Japan under their special protection. Thus, the people and soil ofDai Nippon and all its institutions are superior to all others.
# All of these attributes are fundamental to theKodoshugisha (Imperial Way) and give Japan a divine mission to bring all nations under one roof, so that all humanity can share the advantage of being ruled by theTenno .The concept of the divine Emperors was another belief that was twisted to fit the later goals of the ultranationalists and local fascists. It was an integral part of the Japanese religious structure that the
Tenno was divine, descended directly from the line of Ama-Terasu (or Amaterasu, the Sun Kami or Goddess).The final idea that was modified in modern times was the concept of Bushido.
Bushido was thewarrior code and laws offeudal Japan , that while having cultural surface differences, was at its heart not that different from the code ofchivalry or any other similar system in other cultures. In later years, the code of Bushido found a resurgence in belief following theMeiji Restoration . At first, this allowed Japan to field what was considered one of the most professional and humanemilitaries in the world, one respected by friend and foe alike. Eventually, however, this belief would become a combination ofpropaganda andfanaticism that would lead to the brutality carried out in theSecond Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s and World War II.It was the third concept, especially, that would chart Japan's course towards several wars that would culminate with World War II.
By 1882, Japan was a formidable regional force, with a revamped infrastructure and reorganized military. By 1890, this had grown even more and Japan began looking at playing the game of colonial power under a growing belief in a modern form of
hakko ichiu , one supported by thesecret societies and many in themilitary andgovernment (often these forces were all one in the same). Thewestern powers were all around thePacific andAsia , a point that was taken to heart by the Japanese.Inspired by
Great Britain , with whom it had developed a close relationship, Japan decided to begin building its own empire. The first step was settling theKorea n question. The other questions wereLiaotung land,North Lands , Formosa, andSouth Sea s areas.In the
background , this was also the time of the rise of thesecret societies , many of which hadsymbiotic ties to theoligarchs and the Zaibatsus. The Chōshū and Satsuma also came to dominate the military establishment of Japan, with the Chosu controlling the Japanese Army and the Satsuma the Japanese Navy.Later, such concepts blended with fascist thought and developed the concept of the
Military Shogunate .In principle, some theorists proposed
Shōwa Restoration , the plan of giving directdictatorial powers to the Emperor (due to his divine attributes) for leading the future overseas actions in mainland Asia. This was the purpose behind theFebruary 26 Incident and other similar uprisings in Japan. Later, however, these previously mentioned thinkers decided to organize their own political clique based on previous radical, militaristic movements in the 1930s; this was the origin of theKodoha party and their political desire to take direct control of all thepolitical power in the country from the moderate and democratic political voices.Following the formation of this "political clique", there was a new current of thought among militarists, industrialists and landowners that emphasized a desire to return to the ancient
Shogunate system, but in the form of a modern military dictatorship with new structures. It was organized with the Japanese Navy and Japanese Army acting asClans under command of a supreme military native dictator (theShogun ) controlling the country. In this government, the Emperor was covertly reduced in his functions and used as a figurehead for political or religious use under the control of the militarists.All these political theorists also added European fascist elements to conform their movement to one similar to European style dictatorships, where there exists one leader very similar to the
Führer orIl Duce . This centralizes allpolitical andmilitary power to as single leader conducting the nation against enemy countries and conducting the "inner ideological revolution" against reactionaries and decadents. It also attacks the old structures of the upper classes to allow the lower classes, which represent the majority of the militarists and their followers (farmers, fishers, industrial workers, etc), to ascend the social ladder and receivesocial justice , satisfy the public's needs, and raise amilitary to maintain control of the nation.See also
*
Japanese militarism
*Japanese war crimes
*Imperial Rescript on Education
*Double Leaf Society
*Kazushige Ugaki
*Tosei-Ha
*Koda-Ha
*Hideki Tojo
*Imperial Way Faction
*Japanese military-political doctrines in the Showa period
*Japanese political and military nationalist organizations
*List of Japanese nationalist movements and parties
*Empire of Japan (internal politics 1914-1944)
*Eugenics in Showa Japan
*Yasukuni Jinja
*NSJAP (National Socialists Japanese workers Party)References
*Bix, Herbert. (1982) "Rethinking Emperor-System Fascism" "Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars". v. 14, pp. 20-32.
*Dore, Ronald, and Tsutomu Ōuchi. (1971) "Rural Origins of Japanese Fascism. " in "Dilemmas of Growth in Prewar Japan", ed. James Morley. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 181-210. ISBN 0-691-03074-X
*Duus, Peter and Daniel I. Okimoto. (1979) "Fascism and the History of Prewar Japan: the Failure of a Concept, " "Journal of Asian Studies", vol. 39, no. 1 , pp. 65-76.
*Fletcher, William Miles. (1982) "The Search for a New Order: Intellectuals and Fascism in Prewar Japan". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1514-4
*Maruyama, Masao. (1963) "The Ideology and Dynamics of Japanese Fascism" in "Thought and Behavior in Modern Japanese Politics", ed. Ivan Morris. Oxford. pp. 25-83.
*McGormack, Gavan. (1982) "Nineteen-Thirties Japan: Fascism?" "Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars" v. 14 pp. 2-19.
*Morris, Ivan. ed. (1963) "Japan 1931-1945: Militarism, Fascism, Japanism?" Boston: Heath.
*Tanin, O. and E. Yohan. (1973) "Militarism and Fascism in Japan". Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-5478-2Notes
External links
* http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/bds1.htm About Japanese Nationalist groups, Kempeitai, Kwantung Army, Group 371 and other relationed topics)
* http://home.modemss.brisnet.org.au/~dunn/sigint/japsecretsocieties.htm(info about Japanese secret societies)
* [http://ls.berkeley.edu/art-hum/framing/vol5/tansman.html Article] on Alan Tansman's forthcoming book, "The Aesthetics of Japanese Fascism".
* [http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/2006/Tu.html The Fascist Next Door? Nishitani Keiji and the "Chuokoron" Discussions in Perspective] , Discussion Paper by Xiaofei Tu in the "electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies ", 27 July 2006.
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