A movement was on foot, however, which in the end swept away the weak machinery of representative government and launched Japan on its biggest gamble for empire. Who were the men behind this drive? To follow the rise of military-fascist dictatorship in Japan it is necessary to understand the unique position which the armed forces occupy in the government and in, the minds and hearts of the people.
Before the rise of modem Japan, the nobles and their fighting men samurai formed the ruling class. After the old system of warrior clans was abolished and universal conscription was introduced. The honor of bearing arms, which had always been regarded as a mark of the superior man, was extended to the entire nation. The mingling of emperor worship with the glorification of war, plus continued victories over half a century, have given the army and navy a popular prestige that will be hard to destroy.
An unusual feature of the Japanese government which the militarists have used in their rise to power is the make-up of the cabinet. The posts of war and navy minister can be held only by a general and an admiral on the active list. So the army or the navy can prevent the formation of any cabinet that is not acceptable to them merely by refusing to fill these positions.
Another dangerous feature is the division of control over civil and military affairs. The emperor is nominal commander in chief of the armed forces, and on military matters he receives advice only from high-ranking officers. The ministers of war and the navy have direct access to the emperor and do not have to approach him through the prime minister. The modern Japanese army admired and imitated the German.
Its officers regard themselves as heirs of the old samurai. The majority of them are poor, proud of their service, and fanatically devoted to the emperor. Dangerously ignorant of the world outside Japan, they dislike foreigners and regard prosperous Japanese businessmen and politicians who have absorbed Western culture with a mixture of envy and suspicion. By there was serious discontent in the armed forces.
The world-wide depression hit Japan hard, causing much privation among the poor farmers from whose ranks the army was largely recruited. There were many failures of small businesses and serious unemployment among industrial and white-collar workers. Army officers were alarmed at the spread of Western political ideas, especially communism. Their faith in the government was shaken by the evidence of bribery, graft, and corruption in the chief political parties, and by deals between politicians and big business to the disadvantage of the mass of the people.
Like the Nazis, the Japanese military fascists claimed to be friends of the common man. To pull Japan out of the depths of the depression a vigorous program of social, economic, and political reform was needed. But the big landowners and industrialists were not prepared to accept changes which threatened their interests. The worst of these superpatriots worked with the army fanatics to organize numerous assassinations, after The victims were leading statesmen, bankers, industrialists, and even generals and admirals who advocated a moderate policy.
Discontent and revolutionary unrest were seething within the army like a volcano preparing to erupt. On September 18, the top blew off in Manchuria. Commanders of troops guarding the South Manchurian Railway faked a piece of railway sabotage as an excuse to occupy the chief Manchurian cities.
This was done without the consent of the cabinet then in office, which resigned as a result. In a government headed by Admiral Saito approved the seizure of Manchuria by formally recognizing Manchukuo, a dummy empire set up by the army. The militarists followed up their gains by the occupation of a large slice of north China in , forcing the Chinese government to sign a humiliating truce. In February , Japan quit the League of Nations, burning its most important bridge with the outside world.
In February , after two years of deceptive quiet, the army volcano erupted again, this time in a mutiny almost within the shadow of the imperial palace. Only about 1, troops, led by their captains and lieutenants, were involved. But there is good reason to suspect that some of the highest ranking generals were in sympathy with the mutineers.
The fascist-minded young officers were not in rebellion against their military superiors, but against the government. They had prepared a long death list of prominent men whose principles and actions they disapproved. Actually they succeeded in assassinating only three high officials.
The chief result was greater power for the supreme command. The outbreak of a large-scale war, in China rallied the people to the support of the militarists. All opposition to the war was suppressed. The army took over the conduct of affairs in China, allowing the politicians little or no say.
The state, which had always exercised strong controls over industry, trade, education, religion, and the press, tightened its grip. On September 27, , Japan concluded a military alliance with Germany and Italy. By the beginning of , for all practical purposes the army and the state were one. Even big business, since an uneasy partner in the wartime economy, could no longer offer effective opposition to the fascists in uniform.
The author of another article in the same issue calls out the names of boys one by one, urging them to face the new era with dignity and without losing the Japanese spirit.
He concludes by advising the boys to cherish the Japanese language, behave themselves with discretion, and participate in the construction of a new Japan so that Western people would marvel at the strength of Japan. The article about the opening of a new era never mentions the Japanese defeat in war. Instead, it says that although they may seem to have lost the battle they are never defeated.
What they need is to set a new goal for victory. This approach actually eliminates a chance to register Japanese regret for the war. The editor writes:. The pen feels too heavy for me who is reporting on this news.
This reporter was standing to attention in front of the radio of the editorial department and listened to the Emperor deign to speak. You fought well to the end.
Everyone clearly acknowledges this. They are deeply impressed. Whatever you think about the bitter end to this war—this reporter falls into deep reflection upon this matter, finding no time to wipe the tears that run down. If only I could, I would just want to encourage each of you by patting you on the shoulder. I think this issue of Shonen Kurabu will be a memorial to your soul in your life. Here we can see the attitude of the Japanese toward defeat.
For the pitiful Japanese, who followed the right path all along but were forced to surrender, the rhetoric naturally shifts to an appeal to not lose the Japanese spirit among the ruins, but to become subjects for the construction of a new era. This reflected the public consciousness of the time. Bombed by atomic weapons and under the jurisdiction of GHQ, the Japanese regarded themselves as victims.
The wartime atrocities they committed on other peoples mostly took place outside the Japanese archipelago, and the Japanese public had to suffer economic hardship and the death of family members caused by the war.
Hence the war meant pain for most Japanese people. From October, the size of the magazine expanded to 50 pages. The colored cover featured a boy with a gentle expression, wearing a straw hat against a background of rice Fig. The images of boys on the covers of following issues were so peaceful that readers may have wondered when the war was.
The emphasis never strayed from the pride of the Japanese. You should be proud of being Japanese. For instance, some people are said to scramble to pick up caramel and chocolate sprinkled on the ground by the occupying forces as they pass by.
That is very shameful behavior. It is important to have pride as a Japanese person. Needless to say, the foundation of Japan is the best in the world. It is said that the US troops are pleased that the Japanese people are obedient to the words of His Majesty the Emperor and peacefully accepted the US military.
We must continue to take pride in being a boy of this great nation and strive not to undermine its pride Shonen Kurabu October , p. Overcoming difficulties and becoming a good Japanese citizen became a constant topic for the magazine. The intention of the magazine itself, that young children should not despair and feel guilty, is understandable. Yet, what had been forced upon the children before the defeat?
The magazine had treated the boys not as children to be protected by adults, but as independent individuals who must be capable of fulfilling the war mission Seo, a , pp. They were supposed to take responsibility for this even at the expense of their own lives. Immediately after the defeat, however, all mention of war responsibility disappeared. The magazine stopped mentioning war and began to treat the readers as innocent children.
The magazine had been completely transformed, without a trace of the articles on war which had plastered the pages of the issues before the ceasefire. After the end of the war, conservative politicians, fronted by Shigeru Yoshida, seized power. A similar tendency is found in Shonen Kurabu. Immediately after the defeat, the greatest change in Shonen Kurabu was an increase in the description of the US forces with whom the Japanese had to cooperate, and an increase of articles written in the Roman alphabet.
Japanese pronunciation was added to anything written in English along with a glossary Shonen Kurabu February , pp. The language of the enemy had now become a medium of cooperation. From the period immediately after the truce and until the economic boom that came out of the Korean War in around , the magazine industry of Japan was taking some time to breathe, and the circulation of Shonen Kurabu was small. There was even a notice in the May issue that all of the magazines published by Kodansha were to be reduced in size and issued bi-monthly due to the shortage of printing paper Shonen Kurabu May , p.
Even at such a time, the people who kept Shonen Kurabu going were the same writers, painters and cartoonists who had been active before the defeat. Katsuichi Kabashima, who had enthralled many children with his fine pen drawings of weapons and dynamic war scenes, now changed the theme of his drawings to nature Shonen Kurabu May , Figs. Also, the November issue of the magazine resumed serialization of the comic strip by Keizo Shimada.
Before the defeat he had been the author of Dankichi's Adventure , which depicted colonial exploitation Kato, b , p. The cartoon had previously depicted Japanese people teaching culture to the ignorant indigenous people of the Southern nations.
After the war, all too easily, battles turned into sports, pictures of weapons into pictures of nature, and colonization into mere adventure. Along with the Korean War and the change of the American policy on the Far East, the pacifism that was the national policy of Japan after the end of the war collapsed, and the Japanese government turned to the expansion of armaments. This atmosphere is also visible in Shonen Kurabu.
The March issue opened with a story of a war between aliens and Japan, which signaled a reappearance of the pictures of boy warriors and weapons. Pictures took up more space than the text in the story, which was about boys fighting against an alien named Phobos who attacked Japan Shonen Kurabu March , pp. In this way, war and children were brought close to each other again. All the protagonists of the stories were boy warriors fighting for Japan. At times, the opponent of the Japanese boy warrior was depicted in vague terms as an alien or enemy , but some stories blatantly included anecdotes of Japanese soldiers who had been famous for their bravery and heroism in the Pacific War.
The bonus for the October issue was a model of a new rifle with a cover image of a boy pilot. The issue itself was full of war stories. The November issue of the same year featured a group of boy reporters, consisting of magazine readers, visiting the Japan Self-Defense Force and taking pictures of soldiers working hard to defend their country. The photographs showed tanks, helicopters, cannons, and warships.
The December issue also included airplane pictorials, warship photos, and pictures of Japanese Soldiers. The magazine published in still contained stories of boy warriors.
Only the stage of the battle had changed, and the truth of the war became blurred under the theme of the righteous Japanese boy. Of the war stories printed in Shonen Kurabu , there was never one in which the Japanese war was not righteous.
Shonen Kurabu before the defeat conveyed a message that Japanese should aim to take part in war to achieve imperialism. After the defeat, the magazine consistently encouraged the people to maintain Japanese self-esteem, avoiding mention of war or defeat. Shonen Kurabu , which had tried to inculcate the ethic of Japanese honor since the war, discontinued publication in , due to changes in the commercial environment such as the introduction of television.
Later, a collected edition of previous articles appeared on the market. Between and , Kodansha published a collection of Shonen Kurabu which gathered together long and short stories, poems, some talks and information pieces.
The editions of the magazine between and were reproduced from to Some adventure novels and comic strips published at that time were reproduced from to in 42 books.
In , small-format adventure novels republished. In addition, reminiscences and reflections on the past, written by former readers, were also printed. Most of them are pleasant memories of childhood, overlooking the unpleasant details about where the exciting war stories had directed them. In April , the magazine, Modern , discussed the process of producing Shonen Kurabu , the private lives of the well-known writers, and the influence of the comic strips and appendixes. In the early modern period and in democratic society, the Japanese public has always lived alongside popular devices that allowed them to avoid a straightforward encounter with the reality of their war.
What Shonen Kurabu aspired at its foundation in was to inspire its readers to lead an immaculate life, cultivate esthetic enjoyment, dream big dreams, be courageous and faithfully uphold justice. However, this shifted into propaganda for victory in war, in line with national objectives. The magazine quickly gained popularity with aggressive sales marketing.
The editors connected children all around the country through inviting reader participation, and closely communicated with schools through personal visits, playing movies and public contributions.
It also supported teachers and parents by providing extra materials for textbooks in the form of supplements, and added adventure and fun to them, bringing a great interest to children.
Japanese attitudes toward war continue to contribute to the formation of the positive view of the Pacific war. This is not only a problem of what the existing right wingers believe, but contributes to the beliefs of the general population, the generations who never experienced the war, affecting their understanding of history. It results in the growth of more rightwing online groups like Netouyo.
Unchallenged exposure to such views endangers the positive understanding of history which children need to have. This study examined how Japanese understanding about the war developed through Shonen Kurabu over time; but the proper understanding of history is not only an issue for the Japanese.
We need to watch out for the tendency to connect war to a sense of pleasure. In its own time, Shonen Kurabu promoted the beautification of war, and the absence of reflection or regret. The editors of the magazine also consisted of people who had studied in Japan Seo, b , p.
Giordano, Ralph. The Second Fault. Kiyohiko Nagai. Tokyo: Hakusuisha. Han, Hyunjung. Hujisawa, Houe. Bulletin of the Faculty of Education , 46 , 1— Google Scholar. Iwahashi, Ikuro. Shonen Kurabu and Readers. Tokyo: Zo-nsha. Jaspers, Karl. The Question of Guilt. Die Schuldfrage. Humio Hashimoto. Tokyo: Heibonsha Library. Karatani, Kojin.
And relatively few think of Americans as hardworking and honest. China looms large in the minds of both Americans and Japanese in their consideration of the U. Six-in-ten Americans believe that the rise of China as a military and economic power makes relations between Japan and the U. At the same time, a majority of Americans see Japan as a status quo economic power, neither rising nor declining.
More Americans, especially young Americans, think it is important to have strong economic ties with China than believe it is important to have such ties with Japan. These are among the main findings of Pew Research Center nationwide phone surveys conducted in the United States among 1, adults from February 12 to February 15, , and in Japan among 1, adults from January 30 to February 12, Since the s, U.
No single event in the recent relationship dominates public memory in either Japan or the U. And different incidents feature most prominently in American and Japanese consciousness. For Americans, the most significant periods in the U. For Japanese, the most important aspect of the relationship is the ongoing U.
One-in-five cite the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, possibly a reflection of the fact that 24, U. Notably, there is no significant generation gap among Japanese in their memories of the war.
Even among the demographic groups in the U. Similarly, during that period, Democrats were often more critical of Japanese trade policy than were Republicans. Americans, in surveys with similar wording, have consistently approved of this first and only use of nuclear weapons in war and have thought it was justified. The Japanese have not.
Not surprisingly, there is a large generation gap among Americans in attitudes toward the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite this lingering disagreement over the justification for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, few Americans or Japanese believe Japan owes an apology for its actions during WWII. And three-quarters of Japanese share a similar degree of trust of the U.
There is a gender gap in how both publics see each other. Also in the U. But there is no significant partisan difference among Americans in their trust of Japan. Looking ahead, Americans generally support keeping the U. When asked whether they would prefer that the U.
The future of U. Japan is currently the fourth-largest trading partner of the U. And Tokyo and Washington are in the process of negotiating deeper trade and investment bonds between the two nations as part of a broader effort with 10 other countries on both sides of the Pacific to create a Trans-Pacific Partnership TPP. Nevertheless, Americans are somewhat divided when it comes to whether the U. In particular, young Americans believe it is more important to have a strong economic relationship with China: About six-in-ten ages 18 to 29 hold this view.
Less than half as many people 65 years of age and older agree. At the same time, twice as many older Americans as younger ones believe a strong economic relationship with Japan is a priority. Roughly half of non-white Americans prefer a strong relationship with China, while more than a third of whites make China a priority.
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