History of Modern Japan

The Intellectual and Political ideology of the late nineteenth century and the early
twentieth century is seen as responsible for subsequently promoting Ultra nationalism
in Japan. Discuss.

Japan, after the period of Tokugawa Shogunate's fall, i.e., the second half of the nineteenth
century, saw the emergence of the Meiji Period that transformed Japan from a feudal to a
modern nation-state. With Japan's formation into Nation-state, Nationalism, an emotionally
coloured concept in many respects that play significant roles in all phases of its activity, i.e.
political, military, economic, social and many others (Sannosuke 1971), also developed in the
general populace. Japanese Nationalism primarily took its roots from the different issues
concerning Japan, and with time its nature also transformed from moderate to ultra
(aggressive) nationalism.
One of the key causes of Tokugawa's decline was the knowledge (or threat) from the West,
and that western or foreign knowledge played an essential role in the emergence of Japanese
nationalism. Even after having the influence of the West or emerging because of knowledge
of the West, Japanese nationalism differed from Western Nationalism on several grounds.
Western nationalism took its root from ideas of the Renaissance and Reformation, including
the concept of Universal, abstract, rational individualism and many more. Unlike Western
nationalism, Japanese Nationalism didn't possess such cultural characteristics. Moreover, in
Japan, “the national consciousness developed into more of 'a concrete feeling' than 'an
abstract feeling' and excludes the main features of Western nationalism, including the love of
humanity.” (Sannosuke 1971: 50-51)
Japanese nationalism took its roots indirectly from the knowledge of the situation in China
following the opium war and more directly from the self-experience that it faced in the treaty
port system (unequal treaty) from Britain, the United States and other western countries.
Besides that foreign threat, Japan's ideology, that it considered itself and China as a land of
superior morality and the West as Barbaric, also got challenged and moreover destroyed
during the early nineteenth century. The encroachment by the west in the far east region of
Asia broke their sense of superiority and forced them to reevaluate themselves and the West's
political and military power. Thus, this fear of foreign intrusion into their land, culture, the
 History of Modern Japan

concept of world order and sense of supremacy led to the development of Nationalism of a
specific kind (aggressive as compared to Western nation-states) in Japan.

This nationalistic consciousness emerged due to external pressure, lead to the emergence of
several ideologies to make themselves more bounded by this feeling. Fukoku kyohei ('rich
country, strong military'), a motto or ideology that emerged during the Meiji Period, was most
popular among them. It connotes a kind of agenda that aims to transform the Japanese nation-
state into a prosperous nation, i.e., equal to the West, that reflects its modernisation through a
prosperous economy and strong military hold.
Besides it, the Bunmei Keika (Enlightenment and Civilization) slogan was also used during
the early years of Meiji rule characterising the Japanese national aspirations and reforms.
This slogan, mainly associated with the progressive values of Europe, i.e., Enlightenment and
civilisation, suggested to follow the same path as them (west). Thus following this ideology, a
whole range of liberal ideas were introduced to the Japanese people and were carried on by
scholars like Fukuzawa Yukichi, Ueki Emori and Nakae Chemin. Nevertheless, these new
ideas and their scholars looked upon Japanese culture and its value from a dismissive
perspective. It revolved around the idea that ‘the strength of great Western nations rested on
advancements made in the field of science and technology; accomplishments in this field
required a spirit of free inquiry among the general population’. (Sannosuke 1971) Thus, they
raised voices for learning science and technology and establishing an open democratic society
to develop their nation into a modern and wealthy nation.
Nevertheless, though the ideas and values discussed under this slogan or ideology talked
about the western rooted concepts and values, it was also associated with the greater goal of
that period, which was to develop Japan into a rich country possessing a strong military. The
demands and concerns for the learning of science and technology were accepted, and the
establishment of a democratic society was debated among the intellectuals of the period. The
Bunmei Keika thinkers believed that progress like the West could only be achieved by
following the same values and political ideas as them. However, the other group opposed the
universalists and questioned their belief arguing that the development at the cost of change in
the essence of society would lead to the fall of their distinctive Japanese identity. Miyake
Setsurei, the editor of a journal named Nihonjin, had argued that the West might be the most
advanced today, but World would flourish only if other cultures and values flourished. Thus
 History of Modern Japan

he suggested Japan to hold onto its cultural values and the essence of the society that existed
before the Meiji Period and rejected the western idea of democratisation.

Shintoism also played a significant role in the establishment of a distinct kind of nationalism.
With the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Shintoism emerged as the state religious ideology
(based on popularity and government support) of Japan. It restored the early polity structure
of Japan, i.e., the emperor being the sole authority of the state, claiming that he belongs to the
lineage or direct descendant of Amaterasu, the sun goddess. It emerged as a kind of belief
system that influenced and informed the Japanese worldview and allowed its followers to
comprehend their realities of life. With the establishment of a government based on Shinto
ideology, "through the education system and propagation of Kokutai thought, it got rooted
into the minds and living space of the general public." (Susumu 2009: 120) In education, for
example, this idea of the Emperor being a direct descendant of Amaterasu was made popular
through class practices and teachings; and through its inclusion of it in the textbooks of
subjects like History and ethics. The Education Rescript of 1890, upon its enactment, made
the Confucian dogmas as the basis of moral teachings in school. It also made sure that the
students were taught and the syllabus was framed in such a manner that it portrays the
Emperor as having some divine presence and power, thus should be looked at as God in the
eyes of the Japanese. Kokugaku (National Learning) scholars also assisted the Shintoism
followers in this process, as they were the ones who first argued that “Chinese learning
(including Buddhism) was foreign and spiritually harmful to Japanese ‘Purity’ and associated
them and their learnings with Conservatism and even Obscurantism”. (Jansen 2002: 214)
Thus, these practices done in the name of religion and education were also responsible for the
rise of nationalism of an aggressive kind. The population, after getting to know about the
threat from outside to their nation, race and most importantly, Emperor, became very
revolutionary and aggressive in nature, i.e. leading to a shift towards radical militaristic
nationalism.

In the later period, this traditionalism emphasised its focus beyond the boundaries of Japan,
and Japanese values started to be viewed as Asian values and vice versa. The establishment
of Japanese power in East Asian countries and regions like Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto,
Manchuria and many other small islands was viewed by the Japanese as fulfilling two
purposes. The expansion of the Japanese power and boundary beyond their island with itself
 History of Modern Japan

brought reputation, economic advantage and a kind of security to them and their name;
besides it, this phenomenon was also anticipated to defend Asia's Soul from the Western
Knowledge and to establish a civilised lifestyle and culture under their protective umbrella.
Japanese expansionist policy initially started through their victory over China in 1894-95. It
gave international respect to Japan that it had never received before, and more importantly, it
made them realise that “civilisation is not a monopoly of the white man and Japan too had a
character suitable for great achievements in the world”. (Beasley 1987: 46-47) Scholars like
Tukotomi Sohō, writing about the expansion of Japanese power, justified its expansion
activities. He, agreeing with Herbert Spencer's thesis, called that “an industrial society was
one which by its nature renounced war and aggression”. (Beasley 1987: 46) This, in the early
twentieth century, transformed into and got strengthened through the ideology of Pan
Asianism.

Pan Asianism developed in Japan “in the discursive space between national identities and
possibilities for transnational cooperation; was originally directed against Western influence
and colonialism.” (Saaler 2006: 3) Its root, like all other significant activities of Japan, was
linked to the threat from militarily superior and aggressive expansionists, i.e., the West. To
counter that threat, the Japanese, inspired by their communal identity as Asiatics, believed
that working together would be helpful to secure their race and culture from westernisation.
The early writings that raised voice for Pan Asianism, in the process of making of Asian
identity, were critical to Modernisation and advocated ideas such as 'return to Asia', i.e., to its
culture and values, 'Asia is one' (coined by Okakura in 1903) many more. To bring
Civilization to the East Asian countries and ascertaining its domination in the Asian region
was under this phenomenon.
However, by the late Meiji period and the period following it, i.e., the Taisho Period (1912-
1926), “Pan Asianism developed from a vague feeling of Asianness into a clear concept of
regional integration, for which regional solidarity and identity, however defined, were
deemed necessary bases.” (Saaler 2006: 9) With time Pan Asianism saw a shift in its
characteristics, i.e., from cultural ideology or institution to political one; and in the political
one, it put itself in the centre. This shift marked the rise of a kind of Japanese colonialism.
Under the Showa government, i.e. “by the 1930s, it had become a powerful, though diverse,
movement and a strong political force.” (Saaler 2006: 14) Majority of Japanese newspapers
and journals (e.g. Chōya Shimbun, Taiyo, Ajia Jiron, etc.), which initially hesitated in the
 History of Modern Japan

early Pan Asianism period, continuously published the articles related to Pan Asianist writers,
thus helping in the faster diffusion of its ideas. This diffusion of ideas at such a vast scale led
to the creation of the idea of pan-Asianism, which functioned as a tool for legitimising
Japanese claims for their expansionist and colonial activities. It furthermore facilitated the
establishment of newer kinds of Pan Asian propaganda and made people blind in the name of
the nation and nationalism. For example, many Japanese soldiers who fought the war in the
South Asia region for Japan believed that “they were fighting for a greater cause- Pan Asian
cause, i.e., for the liberation of Asian people.” (Saaler 2006: 15)

The coalition of Japanese distinct identity, race, culture, philosophy, beliefs, ideology etc.,
with the continuous threat posed by West and Western culture to their civilisation and the
experiences from the unequal treaties in the late nineteenth and twentieth-century led to the
creation of Nationalism of unusual kind in Japan that was aggressive or ultra-nationalist in
nature.
Started emerging from the Meiji period onwards, later to the Taisho period, it was in the
Showa period that Japanese nationalism reached its most aggressive form, i.e., Ultra
nationalism. However, it wasn’t that Ultra nationalism emerged instantly in the Showa
period; it was gradually developing from the Meiji period onwards through certain political
ideologies and writings of certain intellectuals. It was in the Showa period that the fruits of
the tree of their intellectual and political ideology were reaped, leading to Japan emerging as
the main power in the Asia region, even possessing certain colonies in the East Asian and
South-East Asian regions.
 History of Modern Japan

References:

● Sannosuke. Matsumoto, “The Significance of Nationalism in Modern Japanese

Thought: Some Theoretical Problems”, In The Journal of Asian Studies, Nov. 1971,
Vol. 31, No. 1 (Nov. 1971), pp. 49-56.
● Duara. Prasenjit, “The Discourse of Civilization and Pan-Asianism”, In Journal of
World History, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring, 2001), pp. 99-130.
● Beasley. W.G., “Japanese Imperialism: 1894-1945”, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987.
● Susumu. Shimazono, “State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of
Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji”, In Japanese
Journal of Religious Studies, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 1, Helen Hardacre and the Study of
Japanese Religion (2009), pp. 93-124.
● Jansen. Marius B., “The Making of Modern Japan”, 2002, The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England.
● Saaler. Sven, Koschmann. J. Victor, “Pan-Asianism in Modern Japanese History
Colonialism, Regionalism and Borders”, 2006, Routledge.