Japanese nationalism
Japanese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts the belief that the Japanese are a monolithic nation with a single immutable culture. Over the last two centuries, it has encompassed a broad range of ideas and sentiments. It is useful to distinguish Japanese cultural nationalism from political or state nationalism, since many forms of cultural nationalism, such as those which are associated with folkloric studies, have been hostile to state-fostered nationalism.
In Meiji Japan, nationalist ideology consisted of a blend of native and imported political philosophies, initially developed by the Meiji government to promote national unity and patriotism, first in defense against colonization by Western powers, and later in a struggle to attain equality with the Great Powers.
It evolved throughout the Taishō and Shōwa periods, and it was increasingly used to justify extreme ideologies, such as fascism, militarism, racism, totalitarianism, and overseas expansionism. It has also provided a political as well as an ideological foundation for the actions and the atrocities of the Japanese military in the years leading up to and throughout World War II.
Japanese nationalism has been used as a justification for the censoring of history textbooks which results in the espousal of revisionist perspectives, which consists of the denial of Japanese imperialist atrocities, including 'comfort women' and the Nanjing Massacre.
Origins during the Meiji era (1868–1912)
During the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate, the perceived threat of foreign encroachment, especially after the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the signing of the Kanagawa Accord, led to increased prominence to the development of nationalist ideologies. Some prominent daimyō promoted the concept of fukko, while others promoted ōsei. The terms were not mutually exclusive, merging into the sonnō jōi concept, which in turn was a major driving force in starting the Meiji Restoration.The Meiji Constitution of 1889 defined allegiance to the State as the citizen's highest duty. The constitution itself contained a mix of political Western practices and traditional Japanese political ideas.
Basis of economic growth
The extreme disparity in economic and military power between Japan and the Western colonial powers was a great cause for concern for the early Meiji leadership. The motto Fukoku kyōhei symbolized Meiji period nationalistic policies to provide government support to strengthen strategic industries. Only with a strong economic base could Japan afford to build a strong, modern military along Western lines, and only with a strong economy and military could Japan force a revision of the unequal treaties, such as the Kanagawa Accords. Government policies also laid the basis of later industrialist empires known as the zaibatsu.Bushidō
As a residue of its widespread use in propaganda during the 19th century, military nationalism in Japan was often known as bushidō. The word, denoting a coherent code of beliefs and doctrines about the proper path of the samurai, or what is generically called 'warrior thought', is rarely encountered in Japanese texts which were written before the Meiji era, when the 11 volumes of the Hagakure of Yamamoto Tsunetomo, compiled in the years from 1710 to 1716 where the character combination is employed, was finally published.Constituted over a long time by house manuals on war and warriors, it gained some official backing with the establishment of the Bakufu, which sought an ideological orthodoxy in the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi tailored for military echelons that formed the basis of the new shogunal government. An important early role was played by Yamaga Sokō in theorizing a Japanese military ethos. After the abolition of the feudal system, the new military institutions of Japan were shaped along European lines, with Western instructors, and the codes themselves modeled on standard models adapted from abroad. The impeccable behavior, in terms of international criteria, displayed by the Japanese military in the Russo-Japanese War was proof that Japan finally had a modern army whose techniques, drilling, and etiquette of the war differed little from that of what prevailed among the Western imperial powers.
The Imperial Rescript for Seamen and Soldiers, presented Japan as a "sacred nation protected by the gods". An undercurrent of traditional warrior values never wholly disappeared, and as Japan slid towards a cycle of repeated crises from the mid-Taishō to early Shōwa eras, the old samurai ideals began to assume importance among more politicized officers in the Imperial Japanese Army. Sadao Araki played an important role in adopting a doctrine of seishin kyōiku as an ideological backbone for army personnel. As Minister of Education, he supported the integration of the samurai code into the national education system.
Role of ''Shinto''
In developing the modern concepts of State Shintoism and emperor worship, various Japanese philosophers tried to revive or purify national beliefs by removing imported foreign ideas, borrowed primarily from Chinese philosophy. This "Restoration Shintōist Movement" began with Motoori Norinaga in the 18th century. Motoori Norinaga, and later Hirata Atsutane, based their research on the Kojiki and other classic Shintō texts which teach the superiority of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. This formed the basis for State Shinto, as the Japanese emperor claimed direct descent from Amaterasu. The emperor himself was therefore sacred, and all proclamations of the emperor had thus a religious significance.After the Meiji Restoration, the new imperial government needed to rapidly modernize the polity and economy of Japan, and the Meiji oligarchy felt that those goals could only be accomplished through a strong sense of national unity and cultural identity, with State Shinto as an essential counterweight to the imported Buddhism of the past, the Christianity and other Western philosophies of the present.
In 1890, the Imperial Rescript on Education was issued, and students were required to ritually recite its oath to "offer yourselves courageously to the State" as well as protect the Imperial family. The practice of emperor worship was further spread by distributing imperial portraits for esoteric veneration. All of these practices used to fortify national solidarity through patriotic centralized observance at shrines are said to have given pre-war Japanese nationalism a tint of mysticism and cultural introversion.
The hakko ichiu philosophy became popular during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This came to be regarded by militarists as a doctrine that the emperor was the center of the phenomenal world, lending religious impetus to ideas of Japanese territorial expansion.
Education
The principal educational emphasis from the Meiji period was on the great importance of traditional national political values, religion, and morality. The Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890 promoted a return to traditional Confucian values in the hierarchal nature of human relations, with the State superior to the Individual, and the Emperor superior to the State. The Japanese state modernized organizationally but preserved its national idiosyncrasies. The attitude reinforced from 1905 was that Japan was to be a powerful nation, equal at least to the Western powers. During the Shōwa period, the educational system was used for supporting the militarized state and preparing future soldiers.The government published official textbooks for all levels of students and reinforced that with cultural activities, seminars, etc. Emphasis on the texts such as the Kokutai-no-hongi in schools was intended to emphasize the "uniqueness of Japan" from ancient centuries. These cultural courses were supplemented with military and survival courses against foreign invasion.
Apart from indoctrination in nationalism and religion, children and school students received military drills. These were taken further by the Imperial Youth Federation; college students were trained, and some recruited, for home defense and regular military units. Young women received first aid training. All of these actions were said to be taken to ensure Japan's safety and protect against larger and more dangerous countries.
Nationalist politics
Origin of nationalist structures and parties
In 1882, the Japanese Government organized the Teiseito, one of the first nationalist parties in the country. Starting from the Russo-Japanese War, Japan adopted the moniker "Empire of Japan", acquiring a colonial empire, with the acquisition of Hokkaido, Ryukyu, Formosa, the Liaodong Peninsula and Karafuto, Joseon and the South Seas Mandate islands.The wars against China and Russia were modern wars and as a result, they demanded a nationalist expression of patriotic sentiment. From this period, the Yasukuni Shrine was converted into a focus of nationalist sentiment and it received state patronage until the end of World War II. Yasukuni was dedicated to those Japanese and those non-Japanese who had lost their lives while they were serving Japan, and it honors all Japanese and all non-Japanese who died in domestic and overseas conflicts from 1869 to 1945, it also honors civilians and civil administration in colonies and occupied territories.
Between 1926 and 1928, the central government organized the "Peace Preservation Department" and prosecuted all local Soviet-sponsored communists who proposed a socialist form of government. The Japanese Army organized the Kempeitai. Dissent was controlled by the usage of political and press repression, with the Peace Preservation Law permitting police to restrict freedom of expression and freedom to assemble.
From 1925 to 1935, the promoted nationalist ideology and sought to influence the Japanese political landscape. In spite of a relatively small overall circulation, it had wide readership among right-wing politicians and advocated the concept of the divine right of the emperor by vigorously attacking Tatsukichi Minobe's “emperor organ theory”.