Japan
imperial expansion, defeat in WWII, postwar economic miracle
20th Century · 1914 – 2000
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. In the twentieth century it went from a rising imperial power to a defeated and occupied country, and then to one of the world's largest economies. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868 it industrialised quickly, and it won wars against China (1894 to 1895) and Russia (1904 to 1905). It took Taiwan and Korea as colonies and set up a puppet state in Manchuria in 1932.
Full war with China began in 1937 and widened into the Pacific War after the attacks of December 1941. Japan surrendered in August 1945, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet entry into the war. Allied occupation under the United States followed until 1952, and brought a new constitution and land reform. From the 1950s Japan grew at a remarkable pace, a change often called the postwar economic miracle. It became a leading maker of cars and electronics, and its growth slowed sharply after the early 1990s.
Things happened, and the rest is history
The Russo-Japanese War
EventWhat happened
In February 1904 Japan attacks the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, beginning a war over influence in Manchuria and Korea. Japan wins the land battle of Mukden in 1905 and destroys the Russian fleet at Tsushima in May 1905. The Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by the United States, ends the war in September 1905.
The rest is history
Japan gained southern Sakhalin, rights in southern Manchuria and a dominant position in Korea. It was the first time in the modern era that an Asian power defeated a European one. Many Japanese were angry that no money indemnity was paid, and riots broke out in Tokyo. Korea became a protectorate in 1905 and was annexed in 1910.
Sources
- BookConnaughton, Richard. Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear: Russia's War with Japan. London: Cassell, 2003.
- PrimaryTreaty of Portsmouth. Peace treaty between Japan and Russia, signed 5 September 1905.
Taishō democracy and the Great Kantō Earthquake
EventWhat happened
In the 1910s and 1920s Japan's political parties gain power, and in 1925 universal male suffrage is passed. On 1 September 1923 a huge earthquake strikes the Kantō plain, destroying much of Tokyo and Yokohama and killing over 100,000 people. Rumours spread afterwards, and mobs kill many Koreans and others.
The rest is history
Tokyo was rebuilt in the following years. Party governments lasted until the early 1930s, but economic depression and attacks on politicians weakened them. The assassination of Prime Minister Inukai in May 1932 is usually taken as the end of rule by party cabinets before the war.
Sources
- BookGordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
The Manchurian Incident and the puppet state
EventWhat happened
On 18 September 1931 an explosion damages the South Manchuria Railway near Mukden. Officers of Japan's Kwantung Army blame Chinese forces and seize Manchuria. In 1932 Japan sets up the state of Manchukuo under the last Qing emperor, Puyi.
The rest is history
The League of Nations' Lytton Commission found that Japan's action was not self-defence, and Japan left the League in 1933. The army acted largely without orders from Tokyo, which showed how far the military had escaped civilian control. Manchukuo lasted until 1945.
Sources
- BookDuus, Peter, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 6: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
- PrimaryReport of the Commission of Enquiry (Lytton Report). League of Nations, October 1932.
War with China from 1937
EventWhat happened
On 7 July 1937 fighting between Japanese and Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing grows into full war. Japanese forces take Shanghai and then Nanjing in December 1937, where soldiers kill very large numbers of civilians and prisoners. The war becomes a long stalemate across China.
The rest is history
Japan could not force a settlement, and the war drained its resources. To get oil and raw materials, and with Western embargoes growing, its leaders looked south. The numbers killed at Nanjing are still debated, with estimates running from tens of thousands to over 200,000, but the atrocities themselves are well documented.
Sources
- BookMitter, Rana. China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival. London: Allen Lane, 2013.
Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War
EventWhat happened
On 7 December 1941 Japanese carrier aircraft attack the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, while Japanese forces also strike Malaya, the Philippines and Hong Kong. Within months Japan occupies much of Southeast Asia. The Battle of Midway in June 1942 destroys four of its carriers.
The rest is history
The attack followed an American oil embargo and the freezing of Japanese assets in 1941. From Midway onward the initiative passed to the United States, and island by island Allied forces moved toward Japan. Cities were firebombed from 1945, including Tokyo in March.
Sources
- BookToland, John. The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945. New York: Random House, 1970.
- BookPrange, Gordon W. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.
The atomic bombs and surrender
EventWhat happened
On 6 August 1945 the United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and on 9 August another on Nagasaki. On 8 August the Soviet Union declares war and invades Manchuria. On 15 August Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender by radio, and the formal signing takes place on 2 September aboard USS Missouri.
The rest is history
Historians debate how much the bombs, as against the Soviet entry, drove the decision to surrender. Hundreds of thousands of people died or were injured by the bombs, including later deaths from radiation. The surrender led to Allied occupation and the end of the empire.
Sources
- BookHasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
- PrimaryInstrument of Surrender. Signed aboard USS Missouri, Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945.
The Allied Occupation and the 1947 constitution
EventWhat happened
From 1945 to 1952 Japan is occupied by Allied forces, led by the American General Douglas MacArthur. The occupation breaks up large landholdings, legalises unions and extends the vote to women. A new constitution takes effect in May 1947. It makes the emperor a symbol of the state and, in Article 9, renounces war as a sovereign right.
The rest is history
The occupation worked through the existing Japanese government. As the Cold War grew, American policy turned from reform to economic recovery. The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 restored Japan's sovereignty in April 1952, alongside a security treaty with the United States. The constitution has never been amended.
Sources
- BookDower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.
The Korean War boom and high growth
EventWhat happened
When the Korean War begins in 1950, the United States buys large amounts of supplies from Japanese firms. The government's industrial policy, led by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, backs steel, shipbuilding and later cars and electronics. Income doubling was announced as a goal in 1960. In 1964 Tokyo hosts the Olympic Games and the first Shinkansen line opens.
The rest is history
The economy grew at around 10 percent a year through much of the 1960s. By 1968 Japan had the second largest economy in the capitalist world. Growth slowed after the 1973 oil shock, and a property and stock bubble burst in the early 1990s, leading to years of slow growth.
Sources
- BookJohnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982.
The emperor's divinity and the surrender broadcast
Popular beliefThe legend
It is often said that the Japanese people worshipped their emperor as a living god and that the surrender broadcast shattered this belief overnight. In the story, no ordinary person had ever heard his voice before.
The rest is history
State Shinto did teach that the emperor descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu. But the 15 August 1945 broadcast, which was in formal court language many listeners struggled to follow, did not use the word surrender. The emperor's New Year rescript of 1 January 1946 denied that he was a living god, though scholars note it stressed ties of trust rather than a break. Hirohito remained on the throne until his death in 1989.
Sources
- BookBix, Herbert P. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.
The kamikaze divine wind
Popular beliefThe legend
Late in the war, young pilots fly planes into American ships. The popular story says they all went eagerly and willingly, inspired by the old tale of the divine wind (kamikaze) that destroyed Mongol fleets in 1274 and 1281.
The rest is history
The name did come from the typhoons said to have scattered the Mongol invasions. Special attack units began in October 1944 in the Philippines, and thousands of pilots died in them. Studies of diaries and letters show many were pressured or ordered, and many held doubts. Some were university students conscripted into the forces.
Sources
- BookOhnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
Japan's miracle came from copying
Popular beliefThe legend
A common saying of the 1960s and 1970s holds that Japan made only cheap imitations of Western goods and grew rich by copying.
The rest is history
Early postwar exports were often low-cost, and Japanese firms did license foreign technology. But companies such as Toyota, Sony and Honda developed their own methods, including lean production and miniaturised electronics. The Sony transistor radio of 1955 and Toyota's production system are well-known examples. By the 1980s Japan led the world in several fields.
Sources
- BookVogel, Ezra F. Japan as Number One: Lessons for America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.
Hiroshima's survivors and the rebuilt city
Popular beliefThe legend
It is often said that nothing would grow in Hiroshima for 75 years after the bomb, and that the city could not be lived in.
The rest is history
Plants began sprouting in the ruins within months, and people returned to the city quickly. Radiation levels fell to low levels fairly soon after the blast. Hiroshima was rebuilt, and the Peace Memorial Park was designed from 1949. The Genbaku Dome, a ruin left standing, was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Sources
- BookHersey, John. Hiroshima. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.