Japanese Empire

Japan has a long and storied history known as the Land of the Rising Sun. One of the remarkable aspects of Japanese history is how it went from being an isolated country that still resembled a medieval feudal state in 1868 to an industrial and military powerhouse that challenged the world's great empires in less than 70 years. But what were the origins of the Japanese Empire? How did it rise so quickly? And how did its ambition lead to its downfall?

Japanese Empire History

The Japanese Empire's history began in the 1860s due to a complete 180-degree change in Japanese policy.

Pre-Imperial Edo Period

The period preceding the Japanese Empire's history is known as the Edo Period. During this period that began in 1603, the Tokugawa family ruled as the military dictators known as shoguns from the city of Edo (which was later renamed Tokyo by the Japanese emperor).

An emperor of Japan existed, but it was more of a figurehead position.

Edo Period Japan operated as a feudal state and practiced a largely isolationist foreign policy. By the late 1600s, foreign trade was only allowed at Nagasaki. Europeans were forbidden to set foot anywhere else in Japan.

Fig 1 - Illustration of Perry's fleet.

Empire of Japan

In the 1860s, some lords rebelled against the shogun's rule.

In its place, Emperor Meiji was declared Japan's supreme ruler in what is called the Meiji Restoration, although the real power lay with the lords who had led the war effort. However, the emperor was presented as a powerful and unifying symbol of the transformation Japan was about to undergo.

Modernization

Chief among the goals of the new oligarchy ruling Japan was modernizing the country's economy, industry, and military. They wanted to emulate the West, hired many Western advisers, and adopted Western clothing and styles.

Fig 2 - Emperor Meiji. Note his western style of dress and haircut.

Expansion and Rise of the Japanese Empire

Japan vastly expanded its army and navy.

Military officials believed that Japan needed overseas territories to truly rival its Western counterparts, setting the stage for the expansion of the Japanese Empire.

First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

In 1894, Japan went to war with China to support Korean independence. China was no match for its modernized military and tactics.

The Japanese Empire acquired the island of Taiwan and a dominant status over Korea. They also acquired privileges in the Manchuria region in China.

This war also made it clear that Japan was now the preeminent Asian power.

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

In 1904, the Japanese declared war against Russia over tensions in Korea and Manchuria. They were highly successful against the Russians, shocking many Western observers and showing that Japan could now compete with the European empires.

The war's outcome assured Japanese domination of Manchuria and Korea, which it annexed as part of the Japanese Empire in 1910.

Fig 3 - Illustration of a battle during the Russo-Japanese War.

World War One

Japan participated in World War One on the Allied side and sent representatives to the Paris Peace Conference. It joined the League of Nations as one of the Council members, a sign it was now considered a major world power.

Japanese Empire Ideology and Government

Although Japan adopted many Western customs, it maintained many of its own, including a religious ideology closely linked to nationalism. The government was organized as a monarchy with limited democracy, but the real political power in Japan was an oligarchy of military leaders.

Japanese Empire Religion

The Meiji Constitution allowed religious freedom, and the Japanese Empire's religion consisted of a mix of Buddhism, Christianity, and Shintoism.

State Shintoism

The Shinto religion originated in ancient Japan and experienced a high degree of syncretism with Buddhism.

However, after the Meiji Restoration, the ruling class purged Buddhist influence from Shinto and established it as a pseudo-state religion. They encouraged the idea that the emperor was a supreme being or kami.

State Shinto was closely associated with nationalism, devotion to the emperor, and support for the empire's expansion.

Japanese Empire Political Structure

The Meiji Constitution technically gave the emperor near absolutist power while also creating a parliament known as the Imperial Diet with some limited democracy.

In reality, the emperor served more as a figurehead than exercising real political power.

Taisho Democracy

There was an expansion of democracy under Emperor Taisho in the 1910s and 1920s. Democratic reforms were adopted that allowed all men over 25 to vote, quadrupling the number of people able to vote. Japan was also active in the League of Nations and international diplomacy.

However, this more liberal period would be short-lived.

Rise of Militarism and Showa Period

Emperor Taisho died in 1926, and rule passed to his son Hirohito, also known as the Showa Emperor.

The first years of his reign were marked by a conservative backlash to left-wing political movements and an economic crisis in 1927. The onset of the Great Depression only made things worse.

Increasingly, Japan turned towards militarism and totalitarianism to address the crises; throughout the 1930s, the Japanese military came to exert more and more influence and control in Japanese politics.

Fig 4 - Emperor Hirohito marches with military officers in military garb.

Road to World War Two

The domination of Japanese politics by the military eventually led to the outbreak of World War Two in the Pacific.

Expansion into China

Many Japanese military and business leaders wanted to expand to gain natural resources, as the island had few resources of its own.

Manchurian Crisis

In 1931, an explosion on the Japanese-owned railroad in Manchuria became a pretext for an invasion and annexation of Manchuria by China.

The League of Nations condemned the invasion, prompting Japan to withdraw from the League and pursue continued military buildup outside the international diplomatic system.

Second Sino-Japanese War

Japan invaded the rest of China in 1937, leading to the Japanese occupation of much of central and eastern China. Resistance forces prevented Japan from controlling rural territories, but it controlled major cities.

Fig 5- Japanese troops enter the Forbidden Palace in Beijing.

Confrontation with the US

The US grew increasingly critical of Japan after reports of atrocities during the Second Sino-Japanese War, especially during the Nanjing Massacre, sometimes called the Rape of Nanjing, where Japanese soldiers killed tens of thousands of civilians.

Tensions had already flared earlier when the US heavily restricted Japanese immigration.

More importantly, though, each saw the other as a threat to their economic and strategic interests in the Pacific.

Fig 6 - Civilian bodies after the Massacre of Nanjing.

Occupation of French Indochina and Oil Embargo

Japan invaded French-held Indochina (modern-day Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) in 1940.

The US responded by banning the sale of scrap metal to Japan and closing the Panama Canal to Japanese ships. On August 1, 1941, the US placed an oil embargo on Japan.

More than 80% of Japan's oil came from the US, so the Japanese looked to the South Pacific to secure oil reserves from Dutch-held Indonesia.

Pearl Harbor

Seeing war with the US as inevitable, the Japanese planned a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, designed to cripple the US Navy. As the attack occurred on December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched simultaneous invasions of US and British-held colonies in the South Pacific.

Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere

By early 1942, the Japanese had occupied most of the South Pacific.

They called their new Japanese Empire the Great East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and attempted to promote it as a way for Asian unity and strength against the west. However, the occupations in other countries often involved the mistreatment of local populations by the Japanese.

Defeat and End of the Japanese Empire

Despite the early success of the Japanese war effort after Pearl Harbor, they eventually were defeated.

The rebuilt US Navy also achieved naval supremacy after the Battle of the Midway in mid-1942. The occupation of China also proved increasingly costly.

By 1945, US bombers could strike Japan. The US dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered.

Fig 7 - Ruins of a Buddhist shrine in Nagasaki after the dropping of the atomic bombs.

The Emperor after WW2

The US established an occupation government until 1947.

A new constitution was created, and the country transitioned to democracy. Still, the US chose to maintain Emperor Hirohito as a symbol the Japanese people could rally around behind the new government.

Legacy and Japanese Empire Achievements

The Japanese Empire is often remembered for its militarism, atrocities committed in China, and its ultimate defeat with the atomic bombs.

However, the modernization effort after the Meiji Restoration was a monumental Japanese Empire achievement. In less than 50 years, the country grew from an agrarian feudal society to one that successfully defeated Russia in a war in 1905. In just 74 years, from 1867 to 1941, it became an industrial powerhouse that successfully challenged France, Britain, and the US in the Pacific.

Despite its defeat in the war, this modernization program laid the foundations for Japan's more peaceful prosperity after WW2.