DOCSLIB.ORG

Rebellion and Defiance in the Japanese Army, 1860-1931

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rebellion and Defiance in the Japanese Army, 1860-1931 Culture of Disobedience: Rebellion and Defiance in the Japanese Army, 1860-1931 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Orbach, Dan. 2015. Culture of Disobedience: Rebellion and Defiance in the Japanese Army, 1860-1931. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467476 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Culture of Disobedience: Rebellion and Defiance in the Japanese Army, 1860-1931 A dissertation presented by Dan Orbach to The History Department, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts May 15th, 2015 © 2015 Dan Orbach All rights reserved Dissertation Advisor: Professor Andrew D. Gordon Dan Orbach Culture of Disobedience: Rebellion and Defiance in the Japanese Army, 1860-1931 Abstract Imperial Japanese soldiers were notorious for following their superiors to certain death. Their enemies in the Pacific War perceived their obedience as blind, and derided them as “cattle”. Yet the Japanese Army was arguably one of the most disobedient armies in the world. Officers repeatedly staged coups d’états, violent insurrections and political assassinations, while their associates defied orders given by both the government and high command, launched independent military operations against other countries, and in two notorious cases conspired to assassinate foreign leaders. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain the culture of disobedience in the Japanese armed forces. It was a culture created by a series of seemingly innocent decisions, each reasonable in its own right, which led to a gradual weakening of the Japanese government’s control over its army and navy. The consequences were dire, as the armed forces dragged the government into more and more of China in the 1930s, and finally into the Pacific War. This dissertation sheds light on the underground culture of disobedience that became increasingly dominant in the Japanese armed forces, until it made the Pacific War possible. Using primary sources in five languages, it follows the Army’s culture of disobedience from its inception. By analyzing more than ten important incidents from 1860 to iii 1931, it shows how some basic “bugs” programmed into the Japanese system in the 1870s, born out of genuine attempts to cope with a chaotic and shifting reality, contributed to the development of military disobedience. The culture of disobedience became increasingly entrenched, making it difficult for the Japanese civilian and military leadership to cope with disobedient officers without paying a significant political price. However, every time the government failed to address the problem, it became more acute. Finally, disobedient military officers were able to significantly influence foreign policy, pushing Japan further towards international aggression, limitless expansion, and conflict with China, Britain and the United States. iv Contents Acknowledgments vii List of Abbreviations x Note on Names and Dates xv Introduction 1 Part I: The World of Yesterday: 1858–1868 Chapter 1: Men of High Aspirations: The Origins of Japanese Military Disobedience 24 Part II: Age of Chaos: 1868–1878 Chapter 2: Jewel in the Palace: The New Political Order 62 Chapter 3: “By not stopping”: Military Defiance and the Taiwan Expedition 80 Chapter 4: Fatal Optimism: Rebels and Assassins in the 1870s 112 Part III: Age of Military Independence: 1878–1913 Chapter 5: The Gold-Eating Monster: Tōsui-ken and the Road to Military Independence 164 Chapter 6: Three Puffs on a Cigarette: Miura Gorō and the Assassination of Queen Min 205 Chapter 7: Coup D’état in Three Acts: The Taishō Political Crisis 267 Part IV: Entering the Dark Valley, 1928–1931 Chapter 8: The King of Manchuria: Kōmoto Daisaku and the Assassination of Zhang Zuolin 327 Chapter 9: Cherry Blossom: From Defiance to Rebellion 391 Conclusion: The Dreadful and the Trivial 455 v Bibliography 474 vi Acknowledgments This dissertation could not have been written but for the generous help of family members, friends, teachers and colleagues, to whom I owe endless gratitude. My deep thanks to my dear family, and especially my mother Lily Orbach, who advised and encouraged me so much. Next, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my sensei, the teachers, professors and academic advisors who guided me through the arduous journey of this dissertation. Prof. Irit Averbuh from Tel Aviv University opened my first window into Japanese history. Prof. Andrew Gordon, my main thesis adviser, carefully read each chapter and offered extensive comments and guidance. I especially thank him for his endless patience and help in shaping my haphazard ideas into a coherent argument. I am as grateful to my dissertation committee members. Prof. David Howell gave me penetrating criticism, a wakeup call which helped me trim redundant material and hone my argument. Prof. Cathal Nolan's wise comments, support and insights on the larger context of global military history were invaluable. Prof. Niall Ferguson helped with his sharp feedback, and also through his teaching, instruction and original ideas on military affairs, political dynamics and the philosophy of history. When I first went to Japan for archival research, I encountered a tremendous linguistic problem. Many primary sources, especially documents from the nineteenth century, were almost inaccessible to me. Though I had a working knowledge of modern Japanese, these old texts were written in archaic language and often in an illegible scribble. Therefore, I owe boundless gratitude to the friends and teachers who helped me to master the primary documents. Prof. Nojima-Kato Yōko, the vii noted military historian from Tokyo University, was the first to help me to find my way in the maze of primary and secondary sources. Her graduate student, Dandō Mitsuki, graciously initiated me into the complicated but fascinating world of nineteenth-century Japanese, helped me to decipher difficult handwriting and introduced me to numerous subtleties of the mentality of the time. Udagawa Aya and Yoshie Hirokazu helped me to solve difficult linguistic problems too. I would also like to thank scholars who helped me with specific chapters. Prof. Ogawara Masamichi, an expert in Japanese religious and military history, was my first guide to the world of the shishi. Prof. Reinier Hesselink generously scanned original documents from his own collection for me, which contributed greatly to my research on the same subject. Without their help, it is hard to conceive the first chapter of this dissertation, which served as the basis for much of the rest. Prof. Sven Saaler, an expert on Pan-Asianism and the history of the modern Japanese Army, gave me precious clues and ideas on the Taishō political crisis. Prof. Cemil Aydin helped to shed some light on Hashimoto Kingorō, the leader of the Sakura-kai, and his Turkish connections. My friends Konrad Lawson, D. Colin Jaundrill, Jeremy Yellen, Birgit Tremml, Yoshie Hirokazu, Tina Li, Jolyon Thomas, Wai-Yee Chong, John Lee, Reut Harari and Andrew Levidis, gave tremendously helpful support and advice. I am grateful for their insights and ideas, which helped me to sharpen and enrich my own arguments. Dr. Tatiana Simbirtseva helped me to obtain Russian primary sources on the assassination of Queen Min, and Vera Baranova graciously assisted me in deciphering the handwriting in several Russian documents. viii I would also like to thank the staff members of the various archives, libraries and institutions who helped me in my day-to-day research; first and foremost Kuniko McVey, and the other staff members of Harvard Yenching Library, Widener Memorial Library and Lamont Library. I also owe gratitude to numerous archivists, librarians and staff members of Tokyo University Library, The National Diet Library (especially the special collections), The National Institute for Defense Studies, The Archive of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, The National Archives in Tokyo, The National Archives in Kew, United Kingdom, The National Archives in Washington DC and many others places and institutions. Finally, I would also like to thank the academic foundations and institutions which generously supplied me with grants and research fellowships: The Reiscahuer Institute for Japanese Studies, The Asia Center and the Davis Center for Russian and Euroasian Studies (all in Harvard University), as well as the Japan Foundation. All of the people and institutions mentioned above have a share in the merits of this dissertation. The responsibility for any faults or errors, however, is exclusively my own. ix List of Abbreviations AVPRF - Arhiv Vneshneii Politiki Rossiskei Federatsii (Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation) AVPRI - Arhiv Vneshnei Politiki Rossiskoi Imperi (Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire) BNA – British National Archives CKS – Chōsen Kōshō Shiryō CMJP-NAA (China-Manchuria-Japanese Policy, National Archives of Australia) DC-NDL – Digitized Contents: National Diet Library DES – A Diplomat in Japan: Diaries of Ernest Satow DKN – Den Kenjirō Nikki DKT – Diary
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Japan Between the Wars
    JAPAN BETWEEN THE WARS The Meiji era was not followed by as neat and logical a periodi- zation. The Emperor Meiji (his era name was conflated with his person posthumously) symbolized the changes of his period so perfectly that at his death in July 1912 there was a clear sense that an era had come to an end. His successor, who was assigned the era name Taisho¯ (Great Righteousness), was never well, and demonstrated such embarrassing indications of mental illness that his son Hirohito succeeded him as regent in 1922 and re- mained in that office until his father’s death in 1926, when the era name was changed to Sho¯wa. The 1920s are often referred to as the “Taisho¯ period,” but the Taisho¯ emperor was in nominal charge only until 1922; he was unimportant in life and his death was irrelevant. Far better, then, to consider the quarter century between the Russo-Japanese War and the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident of 1931 as the next era of modern Japanese history. There is overlap at both ends, with Meiji and with the resur- gence of the military, but the years in question mark important developments in every aspect of Japanese life. They are also years of irony and paradox. Japan achieved success in joining the Great Powers and reached imperial status just as the territo- rial grabs that distinguished nineteenth-century imperialism came to an end, and its image changed with dramatic swiftness from that of newly founded empire to stubborn advocate of imperial privilege. Its military and naval might approached world standards just as those standards were about to change, and not long before the disaster of World War I produced revul- sion from armament and substituted enthusiasm for arms limi- tations.
    [Show full text]
  • America's Withdrawal from Siberia and Japan-US Relations
    The Japanese Journal of American Studies, No. 24 (2013) America’s Withdrawal from Siberia and Japan-US Relations Shusuke TAKAHARA* INTRODUCTION Japan-US relations after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) were gradually strained over the Open Door in Manchuria, the naval arms race in the Pacific, and Japanese immigration into the United States. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan emerged as a regional power and proceeded to expand its interests in East Asia and the Pacific. The United States also emerged as an East Asian power in the late nineteenth century and turned its interest to having an Open Door in China and defending the Western Pacific. During World War I the relationship of the two countries deteriorated due to Japanese expansion into mainland China (Japan’s Twenty-One Demands on China in 1915). As the Lansing-Ishii agreement (1917) indicated, their joint war effort against Germany did little to diminish friction between Japan and the United States. After World War I, however, the Wilson administration began to shift its policy toward Copyright © 2013 Shusuke Takahara. All rights reserved. This work may be used, with this notice included, for noncommercial purposes. No copies of this work may be distributed, electronically or otherwise, in whole or in part, without permission from the author. *Associate Professor, Kyoto Sangyo University 87 88 SHUSUKE TAKAHARA Japan from maintaining the status-quo to warning against Japanese acts. Wilson hoped to curb Japanese expansion in East Asia and the Pacific without isolating it by cooperating in the establishment of a new Chinese consortium and a joint expedition to Siberia, as well as in founding the League of Nations.
    [Show full text]
  • Donald Trump Shoots the Match1 Sharon Mazer
    Donald Trump Shoots the Match1 Sharon Mazer The day I realized it can be smart to be shallow was, for me, a deep experience. —Donald J. Trump (2004; in Remnick 2017:19) I don’t care if it’s real or not. Kill him! Kill him! 2 He’s currently President of the USA, but a scant 10 years ago, Donald Trump stepped into the squared circle, facing off against WWE owner and quintessential heel Mr. McMahon3 in the “Battle of the Billionaires” (WrestleMania XXIII). The stakes were high. The loser would have his head shaved by the winner. (Spoiler alert: Trump won.) Both Trump and McMahon kept their suits on—oversized, with exceptionally long ties—in a way that made their heads appear to hover, disproportionately small, over their bulky (Trump) and bulked up (McMahon) bodies. As avatars of capitalist, patriarchal power, they left the heavy lifting to the gleamingly exposed, hypermasculinist bodies of their pro-wrestler surrogates. McMahon performed an expert heel turn: a craven villain, egging the audience to taunt him as a clueless, elitist frontman as he did the job of casting Trump as an (unlikely) babyface, the crowd’s champion. For his part, Trump seemed more mark than smart. Where McMahon and the other wrestlers were working around him, like ham actors in an outsized play, Trump was shooting the match: that is, not so much acting naturally as neglecting to act at all. He soaked up the cheers, stalked the ring, took a fall, threw a sucker punch, and claimed victory as if he (and he alone) had fought the good fight (WWE 2013b).
    [Show full text]
  • Mother of the Nation: Femininity, Modernity, and Class in the Image of Empress Teimei
    Mother of the Nation: Femininity, Modernity, and Class in the Image of Empress Teimei By ©2016 Alison Miller Submitted to the graduate degree program in the History of Art and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. Maki Kaneko ________________________________ Dr. Sherry Fowler ________________________________ Dr. David Cateforis ________________________________ Dr. John Pultz ________________________________ Dr. Akiko Takeyama Date Defended: April 15, 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Alison Miller certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Mother of the Nation: Femininity, Modernity, and Class in the Image of Empress Teimei ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. Maki Kaneko Date approved: April 15, 2016 ii Abstract This dissertation examines the political significance of the image of the Japanese Empress Teimei (1884-1951) with a focus on issues of gender and class. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Japanese society underwent significant changes in a short amount of time. After the intense modernizations of the late nineteenth century, the start of the twentieth century witnessed an increase in overseas militarism, turbulent domestic politics, an evolving middle class, and the expansion of roles for women to play outside the home. As such, the early decades of the twentieth century in Japan were a crucial period for the formation of modern ideas about femininity and womanhood. Before, during, and after the rule of her husband Emperor Taishō (1879-1926; r. 1912-1926), Empress Teimei held a highly public role, and was frequently seen in a variety of visual media.
    [Show full text]
  • Record of the Istanbul Process 16/18 for Combating Intolerance And
    2019 JAPAN SUMMARY REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS EVENT SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 3 PLENARY SESSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 7 LAUNCHING THE 2019 G20 INTERFAITH FORUM.......................................................................... 7 FORMAL FORUM INAUGURATION – WORKING FOR PEACE, PEOPLE, AND PLANET: CHALLENGES TO THE G20 ............................................................................................................... 14 WHY WE CAN HOPE: PEACE, PEOPLE, AND PLANET ................................................................. 14 ACTION AGENDAS: TESTING IDEAS WITH EXPERIENCE FROM FIELD REALITIES ........... 15 IDEAS TO ACTION .............................................................................................................................. 26 TOWARDS 2020 .................................................................................................................................... 35 CLOSING PLENARY ............................................................................................................................ 42 PEACE WORKING SESSIONS ................................................................................................................ 53 FROM VILE TO VIOLENCE: FREEDOM OF RELIGION & BELIEF & PEACEBUILDING ......... 53 THE DIPLOMACY OF RELIGIOUS PEACEBUILDING ..................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Alcock and Harris. Foreign Diplomacy in Bakumatsu Japan Author(S): John Mcmaster Reviewed Work(S): Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol
    Alcock and Harris. Foreign Diplomacy in Bakumatsu Japan Author(s): John McMaster Reviewed work(s): Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 22, No. 3/4 (1967), pp. 305-367 Published by: Sophia University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2383072 . Accessed: 07/10/2012 12:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Sophia University is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Monumenta Nipponica. http://www.jstor.org Alcock and Harris FOREIGN DIPLOMACY IN BAKUMATSU JAPAN by JOHN MCMASTER T W ENTY-ONE timesthe guns shattered the noonday quiet of Edo Bay. As they roared, thered-ball flag ofJapan was hoisted to join what Japanese called the flowery flag of theAmericans. It wasJuly 29th, the year was i858and the warship was acknowl- edgingthat a commercialtreatyhadjust been signed on board. The roar, the smoke and the shudderthroughout the wooden ship was appropriate. The proximatecause of the treaty hadbeen cannon. Although theJapanese then had no ship to match the "Powhattan," the solitaryvessel was notas importantas thenews she had brought from Shanghai. Other foreignvessels were on theway to Japan, not alone but in fleets.A Britishsquadron was to be followedby a French,both fresh from forcing treaties upon China.
    [Show full text]
  • Tactics Are for Losers
    Tactics are for Losers Military Education, The Decline of Rational Debate and the Failure of Strategic Thinking in the Imperial Japanese Navy: 1920-1941 A submission for the 2019 CN Essay Competition For Entry in the OPEN and DEFENCE Divisions The period of intense mechanisation and modernisation that affected all of the world’s navies during the latter half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century had possibly its greatest impact in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Having been shocked into self- consciousness concerning their own vulnerability to modern firepower by the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry’s ‘Black Fleet’ at Edo bay on 8 July 1853, the state of Japan launched itself onto a trajectory of rapid modernisation. Between 1863 and 1920, the Japanese state transformed itself from a forgotten backwater of the medieval world to one of the world’s great technological and industrialised powers. The spearhead of this meteoric rise from obscurity to great power status in just over a half-century was undoubtedly the Imperial Japanese Navy, which by 1923 was universally recognised during the Washington Naval Conference as the world’s third largest and most powerful maritime force.1 Yet, despite the giant technological leaps forward made by the Imperial Japanese Navy during this period, the story of Japan’s and the IJN’s rise to great power status ends in 1945 much as it began during the Perry expedition; with an impotent government being forced to bend to the will of the United States and her allies while a fleet of foreign warships rested at anchor in Tokyo Bay.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Reexaminating TERAUCHI Masatake's Character
    February 2019 Issue Reexaminating TERAUCHI Masatake's Character - As a “Statesman”- KANNO Naoki, Cheif, Military Archives, Center for Military History Introduction What comes to mind when you think of TERAUCHI Masatake (1852 - 1919)? For example, at the beginning of the Terauchi Cabinet (October 1616 - September 1918), it was ridiculed as being both anachronistic and a non-constitutional cabinet. Using NISHIHARA Kamezo, also known as Terauchi's private secretary, he provided funds of up to 110 million yen to the Duan Qirui government in northern China (the Nishihara Loans). The so-called Rice Riots broke out in his final year, and Siberian Intervention began. Terauchi was also called a protégé of YAMAGATA Aritomo, the leading authority on Army soldiers from former Choshu domain (Choshu-han). On the other hand, what about the succeeding Hara Cabinet (September 1918 - November 1921)? Exactly 100 years ago, HARA Takashi had already started the cabinet that consists of all political party members, except for the three Ministers of the Army, Navy, and Foreign Affairs. After the World War I, a full-on party politics was developed in Japan as global diplomatic trends drastically changed. Compared to Hara, Terauchi has not been evaluated. After Chinese-Japanese relations deteriorated following the Twenty-One Demands in 1915, the aforementioned Nishihara Loans, implemented for recovery, were over-extended to the only northern part of China, the Duan Qirui government only for a limited time. Then, ultimately, the Loans did not lead an improvement in relationships. Thus it can be said that, until recently, Terauchi's character has been almost entirely neglected by academia.
    [Show full text]
  • Copper in the Early Modern Sino-Japanese Trade Monies, Markets, and Finance in East Asia, 1600–1900
    Copper in the Early Modern Sino-Japanese Trade Monies, Markets, and Finance in East Asia, 1600–1900 Edited by Hans Ulrich Vogel VOLUME 7 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/mmf Copper in the Early Modern Sino-Japanese Trade Edited by Keiko Nagase-Reimer LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: From “Scroll with views of the Dutch Factory and Chinese Quarter in Nagasaki 唐館図 蘭館図絵巻” drawn by Ishizaki Yūshi 石崎融思. Courtesy of Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture 長崎歴史文化博物館. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Nagase-Reimer, Keiko. Title: Copper in the early modern Sino-Japanese trade / edited by Keiko Nagase-Reimer. Description: Leiden : Brill, 2016. | Series: Monies, markets, and finance in East Asia, 1600-1900, ISSN 2210-2876 ; volume 7 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015029107| ISBN 9789004299450 (hardback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9789004304512 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Copper industry and trade—Japan—History. | Copper industry and trade—China—History. | Japan—Commerce—China—History. | China--Commerce—Japan—History. | Japan—Economic conditions—1600–1868. Classification: LCC HD9539.C7 J323 2016 | DDC 382/.4566930952—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015029107 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 2210-2876 isbn 978-90-04-29945-0 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30451-2 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing.
    [Show full text]
  • Against All Odds? the Red-Green Victory Norpoth, Helmut; Gschwend, Thomas
    www.ssoar.info Against all odds? The red-green victory Norpoth, Helmut; Gschwend, Thomas Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: SSG Sozialwissenschaften, USB Köln Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Norpoth, H., & Gschwend, T. (2003). Against all odds? The red-green victory. German Politics and Society, 21(1), 15-34. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-258148 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Deposit-Lizenz (Keine This document is made available under Deposit Licence (No Weiterverbreitung - keine Bearbeitung) zur Verfügung gestellt. Redistribution - no modifications). We grant a non-exclusive, non- Gewährt wird ein nicht exklusives, nicht übertragbares, transferable, individual and limited right to using this document. persönliches und beschränktes Recht auf Nutzung dieses This document is solely intended for your personal, non- Dokuments. Dieses Dokument ist ausschließlich für commercial use. All of the copies of this documents must retain den persönlichen, nicht-kommerziellen Gebrauch bestimmt. all copyright information and other information regarding legal Auf sämtlichen Kopien dieses Dokuments müssen alle protection. You are not allowed to alter this document in any Urheberrechtshinweise und sonstigen Hinweise auf gesetzlichen way, to copy it for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the Schutz beibehalten werden. Sie dürfen dieses Dokument document in public, to perform, distribute or otherwise use the nicht in irgendeiner Weise abändern, noch dürfen Sie document in public. dieses Dokument für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke By using this particular document, you accept the above-stated vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, aufführen, vertreiben oder conditions of use. anderweitig nutzen. Mit der Verwendung dieses Dokuments erkennen Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen an.
    [Show full text]
  • Yalın Akçevin History of Modern Japan 1 Between Empire And
    Yalın Akçevin History of Modern Japan Between Empire and Democracy: Japan’s Taishō Experience Beginning under the reign of the Taishō emperor, with the cabinet of the first commoner Prime Minister Hara Takashi in 1918, the Empire of Japan experienced a period of democratic and liberal ascendancy until 1932, when Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated on May 15 by young naval officers wherewith a definitive slide towards militarism took hold. Looking at the rise and fall of this section of the Taishō Democracy period, which lasted for fourteen years between 1918 and 1932, I would argue that the rise and decline of democracy and liberalism in Imperial Japan coincided with the fall and rise of an aggressive empire building campaign in Asia. Furthermore, despite being a “failure” in the practice of democracy and liberalism, the experience of the Taishō Democracy does not show that democracy and liberalism have been – and/or still are – incompatible with and are fundamentally alien to Japan. What the Japanese experience in this period rather shows is that democracy in this period rested on shaky grounds with a weak defense, which allowed it to be washed aside by more aggressive forces bent on imposing their will on Imperial Japan. Looking into the rise of democratic and liberal political trends in 1918, one thing that can be seen definitively is that these developments came at a time when the peacetime empire of Japan reached its greatest extent, the pursuit of empire calmed down, and equality with the West was thought to be achieved. Japan was a victorious Allied power and a party to the Paris Peace Conference that would follow in 1919, the empire stretched from Korea to “South Seas” in Micronesia, and there was a noticeable lack of immediate enemies to the empire with the West in alliance, Russia in turmoil, and China crippled as it had been for the past half century.
    [Show full text]
  • A Naturalist Lost – CP Thunberg's Disciple Johan Arnold
    九州大学学術情報リポジトリ Kyushu University Institutional Repository A naturalist lost – C. P. Thunberg’s disciple Johan Arnold Stützer (1763–1821) in the East Indies Wolfgang, Michel Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University : Professor emeritus http://hdl.handle.net/2324/1563681 出版情報：Japanese collections in European museums : reports from the Toyota-Foundation- Symposium Königswinter 2003. 3, pp.147-162, 2015-03-01. Bier'sche Verlagsanstalt バージョン： 権利関係： A NATURALIST LOST - C. P. THUNBERG'S DISCIPLE JOHAN ARNOLD STUTZER (1763-1821) IN THE EAST INDIES Wolfgang MICHEL, Fukuoka Johan Arnold Stiitzer was one of two disciples man barber surgeon, Martin Christian Wilhelm of the renowned Swedish scholar Carl Peter Stiitzer (1727- 1806). Martin Stiitzer had im­ Thunberg who traveled overseas as an employ­ migrated from Oranienburg (Prussia) to Stock­ ee of the Dutch East India Company to lay the holm during the 17 50s. After traveling to the foundations of an academic career. Following West Indies in 1757 and undertaking further in the footsteps of his famous teacher, he even studies including an examination to become managed to work as a surgeon at the Dutch trad­ a surgeon in 1760, he married Anna Maria ing post ofDejima in Nagasaki. However, after Soem (?- 1766), whose father, Christian Soem years of rapidly changing circumstances and ( 1694-1775), was also a barber surgeon. 1 twists and turns, this promising young naturalist Surgeons were educated and organized settled down to serve the British in Ceylon with­ in guilds and, like his father-in-law, Martin out ever returning to Europe. While most of the Stiitzer took part in the fight for recognition objects collected by Westerners in Japan ended and reputation.
    [Show full text]