The roots of Japanese Militarism can be found in the Meiji Restoration (late 1860s). In brief, the Restoration ended the rule of the Shoguns which had dominated Japan for centuries. The leaders of the Meiji Restoration started to reform the system of the country, acting in the name of Japan’s emperor with the goal to restore the emperor’s powers and position – in government and in the identity of Japan. But, the leaders also kept to themselves a number of powers. Even after the Meiji Restoration a small group had the real power and ruled in the name of the emperor. While the governmental form was a constitutional monarchy with the Emperor as leader of the nation, the real power lay in the hands of the military.

Japan rapidly industrialized and modernized its military in response to Western colonial ambitions in the Western Pacific and Asia region. While the process and history is far more complex than this article can describe, it is ironic that Japan’s ambitions – apart from leadership of the Asiatic sphere – was to establish colonies of its own. Japan lacked natural resources (oil, rubber, iron), making it vulnerable to embargoes by western powers and so expansion into Asia was seen as essential for economic security, survival, and growth as Japan took its place among world powers. At the same time rising population in the Japanese home islands led to calls for “living space” for its people. Colonies were viewed as necessary to settle Japanese farmers and laborers – or simply as sources to supply natural resources, including food. One result was the development of an ideology of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” which promoted pan-Asian unity under Japanese leadership. This became the justification for imperial rule as a way to liberate Asia from Western colonialism, though the result would be a different form of colonialism.

Lots of writing and research. The previous post outlined the moral landscape I want to explore, but I also have an additional objective. As we approach the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with the unconditional surrender of the nation of Japan and as the last of our WWII veterans pass from this life, I hope this series can remind or teach readers about the long-ago events that still shape modern life.

While this series assumes that atomic weapons were not available for the prosecution of the end of the war in the Pacific, the discussion around the topic and critique of the use of the first atomic bomb offers areas worth considering. Some of those arguments for not using atomic weapons were: Japan knew they were defeated and were ready for peace, naval blockade would have been sufficient, the demand for unconditional surrender was unnecessary, worries about post-WWII communism were premature, estimates of allied invasion-related deaths were inflated, and several other arguments. They are ideas worth exploring in this series.

Starting tomorrow I begin posting a series about the the Pacific campaigns of World War II. Given my naval service background, operating on submarines out of Pearl Harbor, my interest is perhaps natural. As we approach the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, I thought it good to honor the men and women who fought a brutal war in the far reaches of the Western Pacific in places mostly no longer remembered. Places like Biak, Tarawa, Peleliu, in addition to the larger conflicts such as Midway, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. It is good to remember the human cost of the war: not just the lives lost, but wounds brought home.

I will post at 7:00 am during the week. The series is… actually I am not sure how long it is… I am still researching, musing and writing.

Image credit: various photographs from Naval Aviation Museum, National World War II Museum, and US Navy Archives.