Education policies 1890-1930
Copying the Fascists totalitarian examples from Germany or Italy?
Kokutai what was it? How was it encouraged and promoted by government?
Historiography:
“The emperor is the fountainhood of Japan's life and activities; to receive the emperor's great august Will as one's own is the rationale of making our historical "life" live in the present.” - Kokutai no Hongi
“That is, it can be said that in both the Occident and our country, the deadlock of individualism has led alike to a season of ideological and social confusion and crisis” - Kokutai no Hongi
The role of the Emperor
Government repression- Enactment of Peace Preservation Law
Shidehara’s diplomacy versus Tanaka’s positive policy
Shidehara’s Diplomacy:
Tanaka Giichi:
Tanaka’s Positive Policy:
Government By Assassination (1930s)
May 15 Incident of 1932:
February 26 Incident of 1936:
- In the Tokugawa period, popular education had spread rapidly, and in 1872 the government established a national system to educate the entire population
- The Meiji leaders established a public education system to help Japan catch up with the West and form a modern nation
- By the end of the Meiji period, almost everyone attended the free public schools for at least six years
- The government closely controlled the schools, making sure that in addition to skills like mathematics and reading, all students studied "moral training," which stressed the importance of their duty to the emperor, the country and their families.
- The government also introduced a national educational system and a constitution, creating an elected parliament called the Diet. They did this to provide a good environment for national growth, win the respect of the Westerners, and build support for the modern state
- When the Meiji period ended, with the death of the emperor in 1912, Japan had a highly educated population free of feudal class restrictions
- By the 1890s, schools were generating new sensibilities regarding childhood
- They taught the upper middle class a model of childhood that included children having their own space where they read children's books, played with educational toys and, especially, devoted enormous time to school homework
Copying the Fascists totalitarian examples from Germany or Italy?
- They were very ultra-nationalistic
- Japan exercised great influence in favor of military aggression
- Assassinations and threats of revolt enabled the military to dominate the civil government
- In the late 1920s, 30s and 40s the Japanese press was filled with discussions of fascism
- For the Allies there was never any question that Imperial Japan was a fascist nation cast from the same mold as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
- The reformist right wing, “kakushin uyoku”, was very fascinated in the concept of fascism. Notably, Nakano Seigo made no secret of his admiration for Mussolini and the successes of his Fascist Party
- Modern scholars often conclude that the Japanese right wing was aware of, and influenced by, the existence of Fascism in Italy
Kokutai what was it? How was it encouraged and promoted by government?
- Kokutai is a politically loaded word in the Japanese language translatable to the imperial system of government (national body)
- seen as the national essence
- Kokutai was the ideals of what the Japanese should follow by
- individuals in the state should act like individuals in a family, suppressing their own personalities and offering themselves in service to the state
- it was understood as defining the qualities that make the Japanese “Japanese”
- By the 1930s, service to the state meant pursuing and promoting Japan’s skeptical mission as leader of Asia
- In order that the Japanese know how to follow the ideals of what was expected from them, in March 1937, the government published the Kokutai no hongi (Fundamentals of Our National Polity)
- spelled out the principles of Japan’s Emperor system
- The Minister of Education commissioned a group of academics that would establish an orthodox interpretation of the ‘national essence; for the Japanese people
- 156 page pamphlet
- Over 2 million copies were distributed in Japan and the empire
- It was the government trying to articulate an official ideology for a nation on the brink of total war
- stating that the emperor was the supreme and inviolate authority in the Kazoku Kokka ( the family state)
- upheld militaristic ideas about Japan’s unique mission in Asia
- It became the principle ethics text in schools
- individualism was labelled as selfish and corrupt
- The cause of the Kokutai was the rising national thought and the social ferment of the mid 30s
Historiography:
“The emperor is the fountainhood of Japan's life and activities; to receive the emperor's great august Will as one's own is the rationale of making our historical "life" live in the present.” - Kokutai no Hongi
“That is, it can be said that in both the Occident and our country, the deadlock of individualism has led alike to a season of ideological and social confusion and crisis” - Kokutai no Hongi
The role of the Emperor
- The Emperor could be considered as one of the most important traditions and symbols in Japan
- The Meiji Government used the Emperor to add legitimacy to their government, as they were able to claim that they were ruling under the ‘Imperial Rule’
- They were able to use the emperor to maintain order and force the Japanese to passively accept their rule
- The Japanese Emperor is very powerful to the minds of the public and is considered a direct descendant of the gods
- Descended from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu
- he had a obligation to act in a moral capacity for Japan and be a source of moral authority
- The Meiji Constitution of 1889 describes the duties of the emperor as being the ‘head of the empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present constitution’
- Emperor’s part in the Meiji Government was acting as a unifying and moral force
- He was the source of a Japanese national idenity
- Meiji leaders created a civic ideology centered around the emperor
- He was also the head of the Shinto religion, Japan’s native religion
- People seldom saw the empeoror, yet they were able to carry out his order without questions, in honour to him and to the unity fo the Japanese people, which he represented
- However the Emperor did not have as much power as seemed, and was a glorified figurehead used to create a sense of identity and power to the people of Japan
- He was expected to accept the advice of the group that haf overthrown the shogun, and through this a small group was able to controla dn establish the new political system
- The political crisis faced by the Emperor Taisho in 1912 is also demonstrative of the fact that power on a political level did not lie with the emperor
- This was when a politician, Katsura Taro was accused of having too much influence over the emperor and of a lack of commitment to the constitutoinal government as laid out by the Maiji Constitution
- Donald Keene says ‘It’s hard to assess the extent to which the emperor undertook and suggested himself, since he had a heavy reliance on his ministers of state
- “While the Emepror - a youth of 16 at the time of the Restoration - had supreme authority accroding to the Constitution, it was understood by tradition and by the Meiji leaders that he would not exercise these powers on his own initiative” - Mary L. Hanneman
Government repression- Enactment of Peace Preservation Law
- Passed in Japan in 1925
- Used as a mechanism for the Imperial family to entrench itsel against a growing left wing
- forbade conspiracy or revolut against the Kokutai (the national essence of Japan)
- It effectively criminalized socialism, communism and other ideologies which threatened Japan’s emperor-centerd social order
- It was enacted in 1925 to coincide with the introduction of universal male suffrage
- Fear of a broader electorate, left-wing power and the growing social change engendered by the influx of Western popular culture together led to the passage of the Peace Presevation Law
- It was used to keep control of the Japanese population under the idea of the freedom they had due to the introduction of universal male suffrage
- It satisfyed authorities’ desires to create a docile and pliant population
- There was little public outcry that surrounded the enactment of the law, nor the first time it was used in early 1926 when applied to a student’s association that had pledged to study Marxism
- Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan said the Peace Peservation Law was the ‘central pillar of the system if ideological contorl established in the prewar period and served as the framework for the creation of special techniques for handling ‘thought criminals
Shidehara’s diplomacy versus Tanaka’s positive policy
- Kijuro Shidehara:
- Know for being the Foreign Minister for Japan during the 1920s
- Was the 44th Prime Minister of Japan from October 1945 to may 1956
- Firm eliever in pacifism in Japan not matter the circumstances
Shidehara’s Diplomacy:
- The term Shidehara’s Diplomacy is to describe Japan’s liberal and peaceful foreign policies during the 1920s
- Shidehara wanted to maintain a non military expansionist and non-interventionist policy in China and form good international relationships with powerhouses such as Great Britain and USA
- Due to Shidehara’s peaceful policies in China, the military grew disgruntled because their idea of nationalist expansionism was to conquer the rest of China. Because of the discontent in the military, Prime Minister Wakatsuke and his administration collapsed in 1927.
- When Shidehara returned in 1929 for a second term as Foreign Minister, he continued his non-intervention policies in China and tried to restore relations with Chiang Kai Shek and the KMT
- When Shidehara took over as interim Prime Minister in 1931, the Japanese Army invaded and occupied Manchuria in the Manchurian Incident without authorization from Shidehara and the government, this eventually ended Shidehara’s non-interventionist policy towards China and ended his career as foreign minister
Tanaka Giichi:
- Tanaka was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, politician and Prime Minister of Japan from April 1928 to July 1929
- Tanaka’s long serving military role gave him his more militarized views and therefore his perception of foreign affairs were more brash and he was more inclined to use violence compared to Shidehara
Tanaka’s Positive Policy:
- Tanaka was completely different to Shidehara’s views on foreign policies. Shidehara prefered to not use military force in conflicts involving civilians, while Tanaka thought it would be easier to just use military force to evacuate people
- Tanaka didn’t have as much respect for Chiang Kai Shek like Shidehara did, Tanaka wanted to stop China’s unification and therefore he sent troops to intervene by blocking Chiang Kai Shek’s Northern Expedition
Government By Assassination (1930s)
May 15 Incident of 1932:
- Was an attempted coup in Japan to get rid of the ruling party, and instead shed heavy focus on ultra nationalist ideologies
- A group of of naval and army officers assassinated Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi.
- The assassins were popular because the assassination was seen as a patriotic and nationalistic act of heroism.
- The popular support and the light sentences for the assassins strengthened the power of Japanese militarism whereas the democracy and rule of law (due to unfair light sentences) in Japan were becoming weaker and weaker.
February 26 Incident of 1936:
- Another attempted coup in Japan by a group of young Imperial Japanese Army officers
- Had the goal of purging (getting rid of, suppressing) the government and the military leadership of rivals and political opponents
- The officers succeeded in assassinating several government officials, including 2 former Prime Ministers. However, they failed to assassinate acting Prime Minister Keisuke Okada and therefore could not seize complete control of the Imperial Palace
- Rebels surrendered on 29 February (started on 26th of Feb) due to the overwhelming oppositions and the army’s threat looming against them.
- However, unlike the coup of 1932, the assassins of the 1936 coup faced harsh consequences and many were executed for mutiny. Their radical ideologies of total war and military expansion were not popular, the period of “government by assassination” came to a close after the trials of the assassins and the Japanese military increased its control over the civilian government(militarism)