INTERVIEW/ Yoko Kato: Hard lessons from East Asia's painful change
11/16/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The following are excerpts from an interview with Yoko Kato, an associate professor of history at the University of Tokyo, about the 10 biggest incidents in modern and contemporary history in East Asia. This is part of a series to complement the "Impact of History--150 years in East Asia."
* * *
The 10 biggest incidents I chose are:
1. Russian Revolution in 1917 and Siberian Intervention (1918-1922)
2. Japan's defeat in the Pacific War in 1945
3. Open Door Notes by the United States in 1899 and 1900
4. March 1st Movement in 1919 and corruption of party politics
5. Manchurian Incident in 1931 to the Second Sino-Japanese War
6. Joint Communique of the Japanese and Chinese governments in 1972
7. Vietnam War
8. Long Chinese revolution
9. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
10. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Writer Saburo Shiroyama said, "The Constitution was the only thing Japan gained from World War II." Through war, Japan acquired what other countries gained, for example, through revolutions, while involving neighboring countries in the ravages of war.
So I would like to focus on the features of wars fought by Japan.
The Russian Revolution and the Siberian Intervention had a relatively great impact. After the Russo-Japanese War, an area from northeastern China to Mongolia was segregated according to Japanese and Russian influences. However, the arrangement crumbled following the Russian Revolution, and the Imperial Japanese Army was dispatched on the tailwind of British and French endorsements.
The United States jointly sent troops and limited the area in which Japan could send troops to the coast. The chiefs of staff signed an agreement with China under which Japanese forces could be under the control of a Chinese army commander to, in effect, act freely in all areas of Manchuria. At that time, Prime Minister Takashi Hara organized the first politically controlled Cabinet and limited the size of the armed forces and regions of operation. But the military created tactical loopholes. That is where Japan's dual diplomacy began.
A secret army agency was also established at this time to undertake various operations and conspiracies. The Imperial Japanese Army's unique tactic of starting wars using conspiracies without following proper procedures and establishing local puppet governments to effectively control regions also originated here.
I would put the defeat in the Pacific War as second on my list. This led to the transformation of Japan's fundamental national character, or the society's basic order and governing principles.
Japan's defeat in the war meant liberation for the rest of Asia, but it also brought confusion. Because it came unexpectedly early, there was no time for pro-independence forces to join together to rebuild Korea. This consequently had a significant influence on the nation's division. In China, the Kuomintang government was not able to prepare itself to fight the Communist Party, which took control of the country through civil war.
The Open Door Notes in 1899 and 1900 issued by the United States, which were expedients of the late-forming empire, supported subject peoples and helped form the subsequent tide. That is a tactic the United States maintains to this day to side with controlled peoples to pursue its own interests.
The March 1st Movement in Korea was a great opportunity for Japanese political parties to show strength of leadership instead of military might, but the chance was squandered. Political parties fought over the post of governors-general of Korea when military rule should be changed in Korea, inviting criticism of their partisan interests. While the military was disgraced, political parties could not win public confidence either, giving the military new breathing room.
Most of the interests that Japan had in southern Manchuria before the Manchurian Incident were treaty rights the government gained through wars. Private Japanese citizens could not go to the continent on their own, visiting only with the protection of the nation and its military.
This promoted xenophobia among Japanese. Furthermore, even though there were treaty disparities between Japan and China, they were hidden from the public, and this in effect escalated the situation from the Manchurian Incident to the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The United States convinced China to sign the Joint Communique of the Japanese and Chinese governments. It has become known that the United States was seriously concerned about nuclear armament in Japan at that time and tried to work together with China to keep Japan in check.
Japan continued offering bases to the United States while viewing the Vietnam War through the eyes of Vietnamese "victims." What Japan should have done was to review the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War from the "invaders" standpoint.
I would consider the period from the Xinhai Revolution until the establishment of the People's Republic of China as a long Chinese revolution. That period saw the United Front of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, victory in the war against Japan, and other events.
I would also add the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War to the end of my list. Japan became the last nation to fuel the imperialist wars, triggering the collapse of the Qing dynasty in China and the Russian dynasty.
* * *
Yoko Kato is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo. She mainly studies Japanese military history and foreign relations of the 1930s. She is the author of "Senso no Ronri" (logic of war), "Senso no Nihon Kin gendaishi" (Japanese modern history of wars), among other books.(IHT/Asahi: November 16,2007)
11/16/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The following are excerpts from an interview with Yoko Kato, an associate professor of history at the University of Tokyo, about the 10 biggest incidents in modern and contemporary history in East Asia. This is part of a series to complement the "Impact of History--150 years in East Asia."
* * *
The 10 biggest incidents I chose are:
1. Russian Revolution in 1917 and Siberian Intervention (1918-1922)
2. Japan's defeat in the Pacific War in 1945
3. Open Door Notes by the United States in 1899 and 1900
4. March 1st Movement in 1919 and corruption of party politics
5. Manchurian Incident in 1931 to the Second Sino-Japanese War
6. Joint Communique of the Japanese and Chinese governments in 1972
7. Vietnam War
8. Long Chinese revolution
9. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
10. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Writer Saburo Shiroyama said, "The Constitution was the only thing Japan gained from World War II." Through war, Japan acquired what other countries gained, for example, through revolutions, while involving neighboring countries in the ravages of war.
So I would like to focus on the features of wars fought by Japan.
The Russian Revolution and the Siberian Intervention had a relatively great impact. After the Russo-Japanese War, an area from northeastern China to Mongolia was segregated according to Japanese and Russian influences. However, the arrangement crumbled following the Russian Revolution, and the Imperial Japanese Army was dispatched on the tailwind of British and French endorsements.
The United States jointly sent troops and limited the area in which Japan could send troops to the coast. The chiefs of staff signed an agreement with China under which Japanese forces could be under the control of a Chinese army commander to, in effect, act freely in all areas of Manchuria. At that time, Prime Minister Takashi Hara organized the first politically controlled Cabinet and limited the size of the armed forces and regions of operation. But the military created tactical loopholes. That is where Japan's dual diplomacy began.
A secret army agency was also established at this time to undertake various operations and conspiracies. The Imperial Japanese Army's unique tactic of starting wars using conspiracies without following proper procedures and establishing local puppet governments to effectively control regions also originated here.
I would put the defeat in the Pacific War as second on my list. This led to the transformation of Japan's fundamental national character, or the society's basic order and governing principles.
Japan's defeat in the war meant liberation for the rest of Asia, but it also brought confusion. Because it came unexpectedly early, there was no time for pro-independence forces to join together to rebuild Korea. This consequently had a significant influence on the nation's division. In China, the Kuomintang government was not able to prepare itself to fight the Communist Party, which took control of the country through civil war.
The Open Door Notes in 1899 and 1900 issued by the United States, which were expedients of the late-forming empire, supported subject peoples and helped form the subsequent tide. That is a tactic the United States maintains to this day to side with controlled peoples to pursue its own interests.
The March 1st Movement in Korea was a great opportunity for Japanese political parties to show strength of leadership instead of military might, but the chance was squandered. Political parties fought over the post of governors-general of Korea when military rule should be changed in Korea, inviting criticism of their partisan interests. While the military was disgraced, political parties could not win public confidence either, giving the military new breathing room.
Most of the interests that Japan had in southern Manchuria before the Manchurian Incident were treaty rights the government gained through wars. Private Japanese citizens could not go to the continent on their own, visiting only with the protection of the nation and its military.
This promoted xenophobia among Japanese. Furthermore, even though there were treaty disparities between Japan and China, they were hidden from the public, and this in effect escalated the situation from the Manchurian Incident to the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The United States convinced China to sign the Joint Communique of the Japanese and Chinese governments. It has become known that the United States was seriously concerned about nuclear armament in Japan at that time and tried to work together with China to keep Japan in check.
Japan continued offering bases to the United States while viewing the Vietnam War through the eyes of Vietnamese "victims." What Japan should have done was to review the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War from the "invaders" standpoint.
I would consider the period from the Xinhai Revolution until the establishment of the People's Republic of China as a long Chinese revolution. That period saw the United Front of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, victory in the war against Japan, and other events.
I would also add the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War to the end of my list. Japan became the last nation to fuel the imperialist wars, triggering the collapse of the Qing dynasty in China and the Russian dynasty.
* * *
Yoko Kato is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo. She mainly studies Japanese military history and foreign relations of the 1930s. She is the author of "Senso no Ronri" (logic of war), "Senso no Nihon Kin gendaishi" (Japanese modern history of wars), among other books.(IHT/Asahi: November 16,2007)