Showa Era Japan: Great Depression, WW II & Recovery 14

Collapse of Taisho Democracy Late 1920s: Government by Assassination Liberals systematically eliminated Military asserts great authority Withhold military cabinet ministers to topple cabinets Work with Zaibatsu to boost military budgets and military hardware acquisition Build alliance with Bureaucrats to get favorable policies

Showa Emperor: Hirohito New Emperor New policies: reemphasize national myth of Imperial Deity Military and Zaibatsu focus on Colonial Expansion

Mukden Incident: 1931 Japan dominates in Manchuria (since 1905) Military wants complete control Moderates in Diet prefer to leave some Manchurian autonomy Military Stages Mukden incident Sabotage Japanese railroad Launch full-scale war to preserve order Fiat accompli: Diet forced to ratify military aggression Japan’s effective beginning of WWII Japan’s Diet Building

Marco Polo Bridge: 1937 Japan Joins Axis powers in WWII Military favors full-scale attack on China Moderates in Diet want to hold off and avoid war with US Military stages skirmish across Marco Polo Bridge In Hot Pursuit – invade China Capture Beijing Present Diet with fiat accompli Official beginning of WWII for Japan and China

WWII Rape of Nanjing (Nanking) Dec. 1937 – Jan 1938 Japanese military atrocities Bataan Death March Experimentation POW Torture, etc. Undisciplined military?? Shinto and situational ethics???

WWII Japan allied with Germany and Italy Japan as “Liberators of Asia” Nazi sympathy? Japanese as Arian? Japan threatened by whom? What? US Oil and Scrap metal embargo: 1940 Japan as “Liberators of Asia” “Greater East Asian Co Prosperity Sphere” Domestic War Sentiment?

WW II Pearl Harbor Surprise Attack Wipe out US Pacific Fleet in Harbor Does Japan expect victory? “We have only wakened a sleeping giant”

WW II Severe & fanatical fighters Japanese Cities devastated Firebombing of Tokyo Defeat but not Surrender Kamikaze: Divine Winds Reprise Act of Desperation

WWII: Unconditional Surrender US insists on Complete Surrender Japanese cannot conceive of it Hiroshima … Nagasaki “We must endure the unendurable.” Emperor Hirohito

Democratization Demilitarization Decentralization Postwar Occupation McArthur and SCAP: (Supreme Commander of Allied Powers) Democratization Demilitarization Decentralization

Postwar Occupation 1945-47 3 Ds: REALLY Break up of Zaibatsu Decentralize education Introduce Socialists & Communists Support labor movements Dissolve military Impose Land Reform

War Crimes Trial of Premier Tojo Hideki Postwar Occupation Purges Most Elected Officials All Military Leaders Zaibatsu Leaders War Crimes Trials for major officials Emperor NOT tried War Crimes Trial of Premier Tojo Hideki

Prime Minister Yoshida @ UC Berkeley, 1951 Postwar Occupation Bureaucrats Survive Purges – US leadership is unaware of their major power Bureaucracy stays largely intact Bureaucrats play major postwar role Example: Yoshida Shigeru Ministry of Finance Good English Runs for Diet Eventually becomes PM Prime Minister Yoshida @ UC Berkeley, 1951

Constitution (1946, Ratified 1947) Japanese versions too much like Meiji Constitution MacArthur commissions US Military staff to write a constitution Borrows heavily from British Popular sovereignty Diet (two-house parliament) expresses people’s sovereignty Emperor as the symbol of Japanese nation, NOT divine Judicial independence with power of Judicial Review Universal adult suffrage Equal Rights??? Women’s roles?

Odd Electoral System Constitution creates a deliberately complex system for elections Multi-member districts with single, non-transferable vote Intent: to be sure no one party can win a majority Designed to prevent the Diet from being too effective or powerful

1947 Peace Constitution Peace Clause (Article IX) Proposed by PM Shidehara Kijuro Initially rejected by MacArthur as unrealistic Finally accepted and incorporated into Japan’s Postwar Constitution .

1947 Peace Constitution Peace Clause (Article IX) ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

Postwar Japan Cold War and “Containment” 1947 Reverse Course 1947 Joseph Dodge George Kennan: Mr. X in Daedalus Reverse Course 1947 Reforms halted No more decentralization Stop breaking up Zaibatsu Dodge Line Detroit Banker leads in an anti-inflation campaign Leads initially to short term recession

Yoshida Doctrine Japan must focus on economic growth Japan must avoid international conflict Yoshida Shigeru Rely on US for security Follow US lead in international relations Focus all energy on economic development

Japan: Neo-mercantilism Yoshida Doctrine details: Focus on Growth Grow through export, export, export Protect domestic industry Focus on market share and growth, not consumer satisfaction

Japan’s Economic Model Export-led Growth Protect domestic firms at first Demand that they export Provide government assistance to direct investment and to support export Brilliantly successful for Japan (& later Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, & now China) Standard (not Japanese) 1940s development model Import Substitution Protect domestic industries, produce for domestic market Import only raw materials and capital goods Fails miserably: leads to debt and weak domestic industries that never “grow up”

Bureaucracy’s role in economic planning Administrative Guidance Control of import licenses Control of capital allocation Encourage collaborative R&D Amakudari (descent from heaven) Chalmers Johnson’s Classic Study of bureaucracy in Japanese economic development

Japanese Business Model Post “Ford” industrial model Dr. W. Edwards Deming: Focus primarily on QUALITY Use statistical analysis to measure and improve quality Dr. W. Edwards Deming Empower shop floor workers to control and guarantee quality First presented ideas to US Automakers but was rejected Took his ideas to Japanese industrial leaders and they adopted them, leading them to become the world’s leaders in QUALITY

Japan gets a Kick Start Chinese Revolution 1949 Korean War: 1950 Stimulates US interest in supporting Japanese development and security Solidifies US security relationship Korean War: 1950 McArthur requests Japanese troops to help UN effort in Korea Japan citing Article IX, declines to send troops Japan serves as Command center, R&R site, and local procurement center – reaps profits from the war

The LDP and Japan’s 1955 Political System 1955: Liberal Party and Democratic Party merge to form the Liberal Democratic Party -- LDP Both were actually conservative, pro-business parties Single-party dominance Manage to manipulate the unwieldy electoral system to create one-party dominant system Develop system of personal politics Elections based on personal networks and pork-barrel politics Classic “party machine” system, like Tammany Hall in US History Supported by a broad consensus that the Yoshida plan and the LDP governance is working Serve interests of Kiretsu (former Zaibatsu) Protects interest of conservative farmers to keep their vote

Bureaucratic Governance? Division of roles in Postwar Japan: Politicians Reign, Bureaucrats Rule Similar to emperors who reigned with shoguns who ruled … LDP sets broad guidelines through Diet Bureaucracies make it work Bureaucracies propose major adjustments LDP officials provide democratic legitimacy and get back in return discretionary funds to provide benefits to their constituents

Indecisive Diet Weak Prime Minister Government by consensus Behind-the-scenes compromise with minor parties Negotiate until minor parties agree to abstain To force a bill through over minority parties’ strong objections is “dictatorial” and “undemocratic” Consensus takes a long time & allows only incremental change

Major Post-war Japanese Political Consensus NO military involvements The military route nearly destroyed us No one suffered as much as Japan in WWII Militarism only leads to trouble Japan must NOT have a military Maintain a “self defense force” No “power projection capability” – no offensive weapons, only defensive technologies SDF limited to 1% of GDP – that makes it the 5th largest military force in the world

Major Post-war Japanese Political Consensus Nuclear weapons are always evil Japan is the only victim of atomic bombs It must never happen again – especially not at Japan’s instigation No NUKES on our soil or in our harbors The Yoshida Doctrine WORKED Focus on economic growth without engaging in security politics pays off Japan must avoid military involvement

Challenges to Japan’s Post-war Political Consensus China is newly assertive in military matters and may pose a real threat North Korea claims to have NUKES and has launched test missiles across Japan US is far less interested in defending Japan than it used to be Changes in the world economy have undermined Japan’s economic model Too many countries are playing Japan’s game and have lower-cost labor – hence, very slow growth since 1991 The Yoshida model may have run its course