The posts this week have been attempting to take a walk through Japan’s history from the end of the Shogunate period, into the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century, and following the flow of people, events and ideology that brought us into pre-War 1930s Japan. It is a decade during which the “manifest destiny” of Japan is evident in its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere policy. As I wrote in the previous post:
“Asian countries should come together under Japan’s leadership to be free from Western colonial powers (like Britain, France, and the U.S.). On paper, it sounded like a partnership — ‘Asians helping Asians.’ Japan said it would bring prosperity, unity, and independence to Asia. In reality, though, it mostly meant that Japan would dominate the region, control its economies, and use its resources for Japan’s benefit. So instead of being true cooperation, it was more like Japan building an empire with kinder and gentler language and imagery.”
Within Japan, the slogan “Hakko ichiu” (“the eight corners of the world under one roof”) — drawn from Shinto mythology — became the fundamental idea, asserting that Japan had a divine mission to unify the world under the emperor’s benevolence. It is a big vision and it has to start somewhere. That “somewhere” was Manchuria.
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