The violence of Buddhism
The violence of Buddhism from the history of Christian doctrine
Martorella
July 1, 2010. The rumor that describes Buddhism as a peaceful religion and devoted to meditation is so cruel as false. Unfortunately, the history of Buddhism tells us about the exact opposite, and Japan are the most striking examples of the transgression of the principle of non-violence of those so revered Buddhist masters.
who does not believe the texts of historians, hastily judged as questionable, and then ignored, it can easily be forced to surrender using the semantics of the language. In fact, the Japanese language dictionaries contain a word that issues a final ruling, a clear and irrevocable. This word is Sohei. Sohei The word is composed of two kanji (Chinese characters) which means Buddhist monaco (so) and soldier (hei). The Sohei warrior monks were armed fighting for the interests of their monastery or religious sect. Contrary to what one might expect, the Sohei were not only defensive function, but participated actively in wars. The political influence of the monks was so strong that the leader Oda Nobunaga decided to exterminate them not to impede his rise to power. On 29 September 1571, the Enryakuji temple, the main monastery of the Tendai sect, was destroyed. The monks and civilians were killed mercilessly. In 1573 the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki allied with the warrior monks who fought against its rival. The warrior monks were always an important part in the military history of Japan, until the tax was not belligerent to the entire country unified and pacified by the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867).
What most concerns the phenomenon of militant Buddhism warrior, is the ease with which the Buddhist masters fueled bigotry and incitement to violence. A particular example is provided by the relationship between the samurai and the Shijo Kingo monaco Nichiren. Knowing the fierce and warlike character of Shijo Kingo, Nichiren took advantage of the psychology in the service of his cause: the creation of a Buddhist sect that was supposed to have hegemony in Japan, and besides the whole world. Rather than cause them to drop their weapons and change their lifestyle, Nichiren always encouraged him in his battles have gone so far as to say that it was preferable "to live a single day with honor than to die a hundred and twenty years in disgrace." A clear invitation to die for his cause.
Shijo Kingo survived, but many other followers of Nichiren died fighting for him, and the testimonials are provided by the widows of desperate letters sent to Monaco with the request for aid. The idea that Shijo Kingo had a violent temper is not a malicious criticism of his detractors, but a historical fact recognized even by his admirers (1).
episodes of violence and aggression between the rival sects of Buddhism were so widespread that the authorities decided to take serious measures. In 1279 there was a crackdown on followers of Nichiren, an event known as Atsuhara Honan (Atsuhara crisis). On that occasion, as many as 20 people were arrested and three were sentenced to death and executed. So
are undeniable violence committed in the name of Buddhism. The question is no longer wonder how many were the victims, something historically undeniable, but why it happened. The answer is simple. The doctrine of Nichiren rejected the provisional teachings (shakumon) Buddha, considered less important and worthy of respect for fundamental education (honmon). Unfortunately between the provisional teachings (shakumon) there is also the principle of non-violence. Nichiren, on the contrary, justified his faith in the religion only daimoku. The daimoku is a mantra, recited a formula repeatedly made by the title of the Lotus Sutra and preceded by the word namu means to praise, honor (from Sanskrit NAMAS). Daimoku, in fact, literally means the title, and indicate the title of the Lotus Sutra, Myoho renge kyo in Japanese. The invention of reciting the daimoku is not an original work of Nichiren, but had been formulated by Kukai (2) of the Shingon sect.
Nichiren had studied in his youth, when he was known as Zeshobo Renco (3), at the Shingon school, and therefore knew very well the esoteric practices. Although in his writings are still critical to the esoteric Buddhism, and especially invective that ridiculed the magic of the Shingon sect and Kegon (4), Nichiren did not care to check and can use them. Went so far as to support the tantric sex say that reciting the daimoku during sexual intercourse would be immediately reached enlightenment (5). The doctrine of Nichiren gradually detached itself from all forms of Buddhist teaching, eliminating any question of a doctrinal character, and relying solely on faith and the benefits derived from religious practice. The daimoku thus became a slavish imitation of nenbutsu, the mantra recited by opponents of the Jodo sect.
In fact, these forms of Japanese Buddhism, who fought very viciously among themselves, were in fact similar. Nichiren, Honen and Shinran preached the same principles: the use of mantra exasperated, leaving creed, sectarian exclusivism. The Jodo sect, for example, has always maintained that the worst of sinners would have had access to the Pure Land simply reciting the nenbutsu. This has often been interpreted as independence of the conduct of the person from grace (tariki) of Amida Buddha. According to Shinran, the sinner can be saved only by faith that is a gift of Amida. The more a man is spiritually unprepared, it has the opportunity to be saved because it is incapable of the slightest personal effort, also opposes less resistance to the saving power of Amida. This is the meaning of the paradox of Shinran who said: "Even the good go to heaven, especially the bad ones!"
The fundamental problem of Japanese Buddhism in these forms and meanings, is to have a high tendency towards amorality. A characteristic feature of the Japanese native religion, Shinto, a religion is to be aesthetic, almost alien to the moral and disinterested. Often the goods are identified with the pleasure and beauty. This happens even when Japanese Buddhism practice focuses on obtaining material benefits. In fact, Japanese Buddhism mingled and fused irreversibly with Shinto beliefs, enough to remain unaffected. This is called syncretism shinbutsu Konko or shinbutsu shugo, but is also indicated by the name of ryobu Shinto.
thinkers such as Nichiren, Honen and Shinran did not notice even to be determined by the cultural trends of their times, even said on the contrary, to detach themselves and be original. None of this would be a danger, even if interesting and unique aspects would not be spoiled by a creed that abandonment is to eliminate all critical voice. The idea of \u200b\u200beliminating the duality of good and evil (zen aku ropes) and to challenge the doctrinal rigidity, is a lively and fruitful development of the Japanese philosophy of Buddhism and in fact inherited from Shintoism. But ignoring the devastating impact that religious fanaticism can have, as we have seen so far, represents the greatest danger to society, whether Western or Eastern Europe.
Those who believe in Buddhism must also firmly reject blind obedience to a faith that instead of enlightenment and wisdom produces dullness and closing. When asked to "replace the faith in the wisdom" is implicitly to give up claims to enlightenment and the Buddha, what a true Buddhist will never accept.
Notes 1. Daisaku Ikeda speaks of a "tendency to anger." See Daisaku Ikeda, The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 2005, p.188.
2. See Sutra Lotus, translated by Luciana Meazza, introduction by Francesco Sferra, Rizzoli, Milano, 2006, p.22.
3. Nichiren, whose real name at birth was Zennichimaro was initiated for religious life at a young age and was ordained in 1237 under the name of Monaco to Kiyosumidera Zeshobo Renco. He then went all'Enryakuji to deepen the study of Tendai thought, and then in Koya, where he studied Shingon theories.
4. The Shingon sect, founded by Kukai Monaco, is inspired by the Vajrayana Buddhism and Tantric address, making extensive use of mantras and mandalas, and in particular of magic rituals. The sect Kegon, floral ornament that school is a school that is based on the teaching of Mahayana sutra Avatamsaka. The central theme of the sect Kegon is the unity and interdependence of all things and all events.
5. The Gosho is located in this statement is called earthly desires are enlightenment. See Nichiren Daishonin, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol.4, Italian Institute of Buddhist Soka Gakkai, Florence, 2000, p.145.
Bibliography
Arena, Leonardo Vittorio, Samurai. The rise and fall of a great warrior caste, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 2002.
Arena, Leonardo Vittorio, The spirit of Japan. The philosophy of the Rising Sun from its origins to the present day, Rizzoli, Milano, 2008.
Filoramo, John (ed.), Dictionary of Religions, Einaudi, Torino, 1993.
Forzani, Joseph, The flowers of the vacuum. Introduction to Japanese philosophy, Boringhieri Bollati, Torino, 2006.
Henshall, Kenneth, History of Japan, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 2005.
Komatsu, Hosho, Nichiren Shonin zenshu, Shunjusha, Tokyo, 1998.
Moore, George Foot, History of Religions, Laterza, Bari, 1963.
Sansom, George Bailey, Japan. A Short Cultural History, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1978.
Sansom, George Bailey, A History of Japan to 1334, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1958.
Yampolsky, Philip, Selected Writings of Nichiren, Columbia University Press, New York, 1990.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
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Aikokushin
Aikokushin, love of country
Outlines of the history of Japanese nationalist politics of Christian Martorella
May 7, 2008. Japanese patriotic spirit (aikokushin) is well known for the tragic repercussions caused by the exploitation and nationalist propaganda of the authoritarian regime established by the military in the twentieth century. Clarify and understand how this happened is the task of historians. The provision of further studies and research is therefore welcome and useful to provide new perspectives. This contribution is part of the long debate about the origins of totalitarianism, and intends to distinguish the cultural aspects of the ideological matrix. Japan, unlike Germany and Italy, has never had a clear ideological basis of policy, and despite This has created a totalitarian regime by exploiting the cultural characteristics of the Japanese people. But the exploitation of nationalistic Japanese culture can not be interpreted as an equivalence. The Japanese culture is not fully comparable to an authoritarian regime. They are not to have generated the cultural totalitarianism, but the story states, their institutional and political, then international relations.
status as transcendental abstract entities is a Western creation of the nineteenth century (although its theoretical formulation in the seventeenth century by Thomas Hobbes). The theory of this magnitude is carried on by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Unfortunately, the history match saw the birth of the nation-state with the huge growth of military power and the brutal exploitation of colonialism. Hegel, by contrast, had developed a wonderfully admirable synthesis between individual rights and the organization of society in the political area of \u200b\u200bthe state, which actually implement the powers and human aspirations. Unfortunately, the nineteenth century, following the twentieth century, the doctrine of Hegel stravolsero making the state an abstract entity in the service of economic and political forces brutal, cruel and unscrupulous. Japan followed the Western democracies by imitating the institutions and laws with the reform of Meiji (Meiji ishin), 1867. The introduction of such rapid
Democracy is not, however, coincided with a strengthening of the liberal forces (parties, unions, political movements, etc..) that were subjected to a gradual weakening. In particular, they were very serious attacks of liberal politicians who cruelly murdered could not conduct its business. The fanatics of the extreme right had the ability to easily create a climate of instability by encouraging subversion and coup attempts. Every time the state showed its weakness, they fomented the popular dissatisfaction by invoking the patriotic spirit (aikokushin). The destabilization process was very slow and gradual, as there were fervent supporters of the strengths of democracy (Politicians, businessmen, teachers, students, journalists, workers, etc.).. Unfortunately, the extremists of hard blows inflicted to the institutions. In 1921, he killed the Prime Minister Takashi Hara at Tokyo Station. It was a brutal and merciless attack. On 14 November 1930 he was attacked Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi, who died the following year as a result of their injuries. On May 15, 1932 was assassinated in his residence the Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai. In the same year were killed on the Finance Minister and head of the Rikken mins (Constitutional Democratic Party), Inoue Junnosuke, and the Director of Mitsui, Dan Takuma. In 1936, during an attempted coup, were killed, the Ministry of Finance Korekiyo Takahashi and Admiral Saito Makoto.
One particular aspect is fundamental to understanding the complex situation of Japanese militarism in the twentieth century is the bloody infighting in the Army. In fact, the military in the '30s were divided into two opposing factions: Kodoha and Toseiha. After the failure of the attempted coup of February 26, 1936, the faction Kodoha fell into disrepair and knew the political decline. The Kodoha sharply criticized the excessive power of economic cliques who held a monopoly, then disliked the zaibatsu, and capitalism. The decline of Kodoha allowed an easier way of strengthening ties between the military and the zaibatsu, eliminating the friction elements. The Toseiha (faction control) did not intend to change the structure of the state, but seize it to conduct a war of conquest. Therefore favored a reorganization of the army units based on mechanization and technical specialization. In contrast, Kodoha (via Imperial faction) aimed at restoring traditional spiritual values, and hence the change of the company through a reorganization of the state. The Kodoha considered a priority the reorganization of the state before any military intervention, the Soviet Union and considered the natural enemy of Japan and its expansionist aims. The soldiers who were leading the Kodoha Araki Sadao and Masaki Jinzaburo. The supremacy of Toseiha also meant an approach to the politics of Nazi Germany, as in the case of Yamashita Tomobumi. Military attache at the Japanese embassy in Austria, Yamashita was called in 1938 for a courtesy visit to Berlin, where he sympathized with Adolf Hitler, as a result of maintaining close links with Nazism. The Japanese armed forces had not a single political vision, there was also a political party reference and objectives were different and conflicting. Unfortunately, the supremacy of the ruinous Toseiha marked the turning point of Japanese politics that first supported the Nazi Germany, and besides, she was dragged into the war against the United States in 1941. However, not all agreed with these choices were described as patriotic by those interested only in military power to benefit their side.
The extremists claimed to be patriots always (aikokusha), but it is evident that their love for the country was disingenuous, having wanted to destabilize the state. They were not patriots because they had come to desire the destruction of the Japanese state, when videre threatened their interests. Even the fanatics and tried to dismiss his Majesty the Emperor Hirohito, when he decided to declare the yield of the country. Lieutenant Colonel Masahiko Takeshita was the creator and organizer of the attempted coup against Emperor Hirohito. On August 14, 1945 there was an eruption of the General Staff officers in the Royal Palace in Tokyo. Major Kenji Hatanaka killed General Takeshi Mori, commander of the imperial guards, loyal to the emperor and in favor of surrender.
These criminal actions were facilitated by the consensus that the extreme right was able to create. The turning point was in fact made from the exploitation of nationalist sentiment and sincere patriotism. The intellectuals were skilled in drawing far-right political doctrines and plans of action involving the population. Often, their ideas were not lacking in originality and were sophisticated and accurate. The propaganda was then able to obscure the common sense and the reasons for the Liberals. The best-known political activist of the extreme right was Kita Ikki, a tireless agitator and dangerous subversive, wrote a book that would clearly indicate what action to take. The work was titled Plan for the reconstruction of Japan (Nihon kaiza Hoan Taiko, 1919) and supported the need to eliminate Parliament, suspended the Constitution, implement land reform against the landowners to expropriate the wealth of the upper class and eradicate capitalism. To achieve this we must pursue a policy of military power, invading areas with mineral and oil resources, conquering Manchuria, northern China and Siberia. Kita Ikki stated that the revolt of the poor against the rich was a restoration of justice. The cultural matrix in which they drew on, however, was quite another, and it was common to Many Japanese intellectuals. It was the rural (nohonshugi), an ideological movement that put the company at the center of the farming community, with its spirit of self-government. The military regimes did the foundation of the rural to the social model of the imperial system. The farming community, aimed at maintaining social harmony, should represent the ideal model to which all of Japanese society was inspired by and conformed, so a society without contradictions and conflicts and antagonisms, therefore (and also absent of dialectic between the social partners) . Another concept that had approached the rural familism (kazokushugi), also borrowed from the tradition. Among the disciples of Kita Ikki, deserves a Okawa Shumei, philosopher and scholar of religions that advocated the need for a return to ancient traditions of Japan. So in 1925 he founded the Society of Heaven and Earth (Gyochisha), and participated in the constitutions of other patriotic organizations. Other thinkers like Gondo Seikyo Kosaburo Tachibana and expressed the orientation of the "fraternal communitarianism." These intellectuals, Okawa Shumei, Tachibana Kosaburo, Gondo Seikyo, which must be added also Nissho Inoue, became promoters of a real revolt against the Western model in the name of culture and the Japanese spirit. Unfortunately
subversives and terrorists forcefully inserted themselves into this debate, taking advantage of the situation and directing the discontent and protest. In fact, the criticism of the Western model did not imply the choice of violent action, and the imperialist and colonialist policy was pursued by those foreign nations have so much hate. The solutions proposed by the right-wing extremists too looked like they wanted to solve the problem: the Japanese state would become a colonialist and imperialist authoritarian regime that would fight with the weapons of Western colonialism.
The transformation of the Japanese state was gradually and many took advantage of favorable conditions and characteristics of authoritarianism. One such condition was the conception of the individual as an instrument of the state and the exploitation of patriotism. This exploitation humans was possible thanks to the mobilization and militarization of the country. Using the justification of the war against countries that afflicted Japan, made it the undisputed transformation process in the totalitarian regime. Dell'accerchiamento syndrome and the threat of Western colonialism was an argument so strong that even today reappeared in many historical books by Japanese authors as an explanation of the military of the Empire of the Rising Sun. But we must re-establish the correct causal relationship between events. The existence of Western colonialism in Asia is only one factor, an element, which is contrasted with Japanese nationalists. The authoritarian regime was created through the gradual weakening of institutions democratic by the right-wing extremists. The credit and the blame of what happened was due to the dynamics of relations between political forces. Dell'accerchiamento syndrome of Western colonialism functioned as a propaganda tool, as well as the exploitation of patriotism, nationalism and cultural identity. The system features extensive use of Japanese civilization, especially the spirit of the group (shudan ishiki), an issue deeply rooted in Japanese mentality. Unfortunately, all the faculties appreciable and commendable team spirit (shudan ishiki) become degenerate when the despicable conformism. He was the educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi to indicate conformity as evil and dangerous trap for freedom in Japanese society. The rampant conformism threatened the ability to critique the proposals of alternative perspectives, reflection, reasoning and not emotional. Finally favored blind obedience and inhuman cruelty that crushed the individual, the ignorant and superstitious credulity. The group conformity (dantaishugi) is a social evil that affects all forms of democracy, and therefore the clue and the beginning of the establishment of a totalitarian regime.
The most important and striking historical fact, however, was the militarization of society. Unlike Germany and Italy, Japan did not develop an ideology based on a party, but suffered violent penetration of the army in parliamentary institutions and government, in every aspect of social life, from family to school, to work in the industry. The ideology that said it was militarism (gunkokushugi) in a totalitarian form never seen before. In fact, the Japanese militarism of the twentieth century should not be at all confused with the warrior aristocracy of earlier times. The samurai were a small aristocratic class separate from the others, with specific obligations and duties, and subject and subject to political power. The Japanese army since 1873, was instead an army conscripts and conscription was mandatory. There was a total mobilization of society to the service Army. The army had become a political assimilante and engaging which requires any institution (family, school, industry). All citizens were soldiers, and everyone had to make a contribution to the cause that was the military build-up of the country. In this system, however, was not clearly demarcated the boundary between the different powers, indeed it was all very confusing and unstable. In theory it was the absolute power of the emperor, but in reality, the Constitution prevented him from taking the initiative. The power of government was often in the hands of soldiers taking major decisions without consulting the emperor and the Parliament. Specifically, power was managed so despotic, as in a barracks, with small and large abuses. The rivalry between the military were strong, often at the expense of cooperation. The dialogue was absent, poor communication, and prevailed commands, exhortations, blame and slogans.
propaganda was thriving and takes advantage of known artistic sensibility of the Japanese people. Many writers praised the heroism and dedication of the Japanese soldiers at war, though the feat and the value in this case were true even if the field of rhetoric. The captain told in the autobiographical novel Sakurai Tadeyoshi Nikudan (human bullets) the siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. The reputation of the companies of Japanese soldiers came to Europe, so that even a Italian writer and foreign correspondent, Luigi Barzini, brought back and narrated the heroic deeds. Many are the poems of remembrance, as the song in honor of Shirakami Genjiro, a bugler sounded the charge that even if mortally wounded. The sacrifices of the Japanese people at war were not only excited by the patriots and the propaganda of the extreme right, some left-wing writers, and so-called puroretaria Bungaku (proletarian literature) dedicated themselves to self-denial of citizens who simply loved his country. In this sense, the patriotism was not an issue of the exclusive prerogative of the right.
The militarization of the country was a disaster, so to be shown as a very strong expression: kurai Tanima (the dark abyss, about the era from 1931 to 1945, that the invasion of Manchuria in the Pacific War). The element of discrimination remained, however, the conception of the state since the idea more widely regarded as the public servants of the nation. Even if one accepts this view, is easily recognized as the military have betrayed their country by promoting personal interests, occupying every seat of power, plundering the resources of the nation. So the history books should explain more clearly and in detail the manner in which the General Hideki Tojo, Yamashita Tomobumi, Hisao Tani and many others, used the powers given to make money, exploit and plunder. The justification the war served in the military too much to hide their thefts, rapes and abuse. This was the greatest betrayal of the country.
Bibliography
Barzini, Luigi, Japan in arms, Treves, Milan, 1906.
Bergamini, David Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, Morrow, New York, 1971.
Brown, Delmer, Nationalism in Japan. An Introductory Historical Analysis, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1955.
Chang, Iris, The Rape of Nanking, Corbaccio, Milan, 2000.
De Palma, Daniela, contemporary Japan. Politics and society, Carocci, Roma, 2008.
Frattolillo, Oliviero, Japan and the West: From the symposium on the cultural revolt of post-modernity, L'Orientale Editrice, Napoli, 2006.
Mairion Harries and Harries, Soldiers of the Sun, Random House, New York, 1991.
Henshall, Kenneth, History of Japan, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 2005.
Herzog, Peter, Japan's Pseudo Democracy, New York University Press, New York, 1993.
Maruyama, Masao, The roots of expansionism, Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino, 1990.
Ohnuki Tierney, Emiko, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms, University of Chicago, Chicago, 2001.
Sugiyama, Takie, Japanese Patterns of Behaviour, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1976.
Toland, John, The Eclipse of the Rising Sun, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 1971.
Aikokushin, love of country
Outlines of the history of Japanese nationalist politics of Christian Martorella
May 7, 2008. Japanese patriotic spirit (aikokushin) is well known for the tragic repercussions caused by the exploitation and nationalist propaganda of the authoritarian regime established by the military in the twentieth century. Clarify and understand how this happened is the task of historians. The provision of further studies and research is therefore welcome and useful to provide new perspectives. This contribution is part of the long debate about the origins of totalitarianism, and intends to distinguish the cultural aspects of the ideological matrix. Japan, unlike Germany and Italy, has never had a clear ideological basis of policy, and despite This has created a totalitarian regime by exploiting the cultural characteristics of the Japanese people. But the exploitation of nationalistic Japanese culture can not be interpreted as an equivalence. The Japanese culture is not fully comparable to an authoritarian regime. They are not to have generated the cultural totalitarianism, but the story states, their institutional and political, then international relations.
status as transcendental abstract entities is a Western creation of the nineteenth century (although its theoretical formulation in the seventeenth century by Thomas Hobbes). The theory of this magnitude is carried on by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Unfortunately, the history match saw the birth of the nation-state with the huge growth of military power and the brutal exploitation of colonialism. Hegel, by contrast, had developed a wonderfully admirable synthesis between individual rights and the organization of society in the political area of \u200b\u200bthe state, which actually implement the powers and human aspirations. Unfortunately, the nineteenth century, following the twentieth century, the doctrine of Hegel stravolsero making the state an abstract entity in the service of economic and political forces brutal, cruel and unscrupulous. Japan followed the Western democracies by imitating the institutions and laws with the reform of Meiji (Meiji ishin), 1867. The introduction of such rapid
Democracy is not, however, coincided with a strengthening of the liberal forces (parties, unions, political movements, etc..) that were subjected to a gradual weakening. In particular, they were very serious attacks of liberal politicians who cruelly murdered could not conduct its business. The fanatics of the extreme right had the ability to easily create a climate of instability by encouraging subversion and coup attempts. Every time the state showed its weakness, they fomented the popular dissatisfaction by invoking the patriotic spirit (aikokushin). The destabilization process was very slow and gradual, as there were fervent supporters of the strengths of democracy (Politicians, businessmen, teachers, students, journalists, workers, etc.).. Unfortunately, the extremists of hard blows inflicted to the institutions. In 1921, he killed the Prime Minister Takashi Hara at Tokyo Station. It was a brutal and merciless attack. On 14 November 1930 he was attacked Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi, who died the following year as a result of their injuries. On May 15, 1932 was assassinated in his residence the Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai. In the same year were killed on the Finance Minister and head of the Rikken mins (Constitutional Democratic Party), Inoue Junnosuke, and the Director of Mitsui, Dan Takuma. In 1936, during an attempted coup, were killed, the Ministry of Finance Korekiyo Takahashi and Admiral Saito Makoto.
One particular aspect is fundamental to understanding the complex situation of Japanese militarism in the twentieth century is the bloody infighting in the Army. In fact, the military in the '30s were divided into two opposing factions: Kodoha and Toseiha. After the failure of the attempted coup of February 26, 1936, the faction Kodoha fell into disrepair and knew the political decline. The Kodoha sharply criticized the excessive power of economic cliques who held a monopoly, then disliked the zaibatsu, and capitalism. The decline of Kodoha allowed an easier way of strengthening ties between the military and the zaibatsu, eliminating the friction elements. The Toseiha (faction control) did not intend to change the structure of the state, but seize it to conduct a war of conquest. Therefore favored a reorganization of the army units based on mechanization and technical specialization. In contrast, Kodoha (via Imperial faction) aimed at restoring traditional spiritual values, and hence the change of the company through a reorganization of the state. The Kodoha considered a priority the reorganization of the state before any military intervention, the Soviet Union and considered the natural enemy of Japan and its expansionist aims. The soldiers who were leading the Kodoha Araki Sadao and Masaki Jinzaburo. The supremacy of Toseiha also meant an approach to the politics of Nazi Germany, as in the case of Yamashita Tomobumi. Military attache at the Japanese embassy in Austria, Yamashita was called in 1938 for a courtesy visit to Berlin, where he sympathized with Adolf Hitler, as a result of maintaining close links with Nazism. The Japanese armed forces had not a single political vision, there was also a political party reference and objectives were different and conflicting. Unfortunately, the supremacy of the ruinous Toseiha marked the turning point of Japanese politics that first supported the Nazi Germany, and besides, she was dragged into the war against the United States in 1941. However, not all agreed with these choices were described as patriotic by those interested only in military power to benefit their side.
The extremists claimed to be patriots always (aikokusha), but it is evident that their love for the country was disingenuous, having wanted to destabilize the state. They were not patriots because they had come to desire the destruction of the Japanese state, when videre threatened their interests. Even the fanatics and tried to dismiss his Majesty the Emperor Hirohito, when he decided to declare the yield of the country. Lieutenant Colonel Masahiko Takeshita was the creator and organizer of the attempted coup against Emperor Hirohito. On August 14, 1945 there was an eruption of the General Staff officers in the Royal Palace in Tokyo. Major Kenji Hatanaka killed General Takeshi Mori, commander of the imperial guards, loyal to the emperor and in favor of surrender.
These criminal actions were facilitated by the consensus that the extreme right was able to create. The turning point was in fact made from the exploitation of nationalist sentiment and sincere patriotism. The intellectuals were skilled in drawing far-right political doctrines and plans of action involving the population. Often, their ideas were not lacking in originality and were sophisticated and accurate. The propaganda was then able to obscure the common sense and the reasons for the Liberals. The best-known political activist of the extreme right was Kita Ikki, a tireless agitator and dangerous subversive, wrote a book that would clearly indicate what action to take. The work was titled Plan for the reconstruction of Japan (Nihon kaiza Hoan Taiko, 1919) and supported the need to eliminate Parliament, suspended the Constitution, implement land reform against the landowners to expropriate the wealth of the upper class and eradicate capitalism. To achieve this we must pursue a policy of military power, invading areas with mineral and oil resources, conquering Manchuria, northern China and Siberia. Kita Ikki stated that the revolt of the poor against the rich was a restoration of justice. The cultural matrix in which they drew on, however, was quite another, and it was common to Many Japanese intellectuals. It was the rural (nohonshugi), an ideological movement that put the company at the center of the farming community, with its spirit of self-government. The military regimes did the foundation of the rural to the social model of the imperial system. The farming community, aimed at maintaining social harmony, should represent the ideal model to which all of Japanese society was inspired by and conformed, so a society without contradictions and conflicts and antagonisms, therefore (and also absent of dialectic between the social partners) . Another concept that had approached the rural familism (kazokushugi), also borrowed from the tradition. Among the disciples of Kita Ikki, deserves a Okawa Shumei, philosopher and scholar of religions that advocated the need for a return to ancient traditions of Japan. So in 1925 he founded the Society of Heaven and Earth (Gyochisha), and participated in the constitutions of other patriotic organizations. Other thinkers like Gondo Seikyo Kosaburo Tachibana and expressed the orientation of the "fraternal communitarianism." These intellectuals, Okawa Shumei, Tachibana Kosaburo, Gondo Seikyo, which must be added also Nissho Inoue, became promoters of a real revolt against the Western model in the name of culture and the Japanese spirit. Unfortunately
subversives and terrorists forcefully inserted themselves into this debate, taking advantage of the situation and directing the discontent and protest. In fact, the criticism of the Western model did not imply the choice of violent action, and the imperialist and colonialist policy was pursued by those foreign nations have so much hate. The solutions proposed by the right-wing extremists too looked like they wanted to solve the problem: the Japanese state would become a colonialist and imperialist authoritarian regime that would fight with the weapons of Western colonialism.
The transformation of the Japanese state was gradually and many took advantage of favorable conditions and characteristics of authoritarianism. One such condition was the conception of the individual as an instrument of the state and the exploitation of patriotism. This exploitation humans was possible thanks to the mobilization and militarization of the country. Using the justification of the war against countries that afflicted Japan, made it the undisputed transformation process in the totalitarian regime. Dell'accerchiamento syndrome and the threat of Western colonialism was an argument so strong that even today reappeared in many historical books by Japanese authors as an explanation of the military of the Empire of the Rising Sun. But we must re-establish the correct causal relationship between events. The existence of Western colonialism in Asia is only one factor, an element, which is contrasted with Japanese nationalists. The authoritarian regime was created through the gradual weakening of institutions democratic by the right-wing extremists. The credit and the blame of what happened was due to the dynamics of relations between political forces. Dell'accerchiamento syndrome of Western colonialism functioned as a propaganda tool, as well as the exploitation of patriotism, nationalism and cultural identity. The system features extensive use of Japanese civilization, especially the spirit of the group (shudan ishiki), an issue deeply rooted in Japanese mentality. Unfortunately, all the faculties appreciable and commendable team spirit (shudan ishiki) become degenerate when the despicable conformism. He was the educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi to indicate conformity as evil and dangerous trap for freedom in Japanese society. The rampant conformism threatened the ability to critique the proposals of alternative perspectives, reflection, reasoning and not emotional. Finally favored blind obedience and inhuman cruelty that crushed the individual, the ignorant and superstitious credulity. The group conformity (dantaishugi) is a social evil that affects all forms of democracy, and therefore the clue and the beginning of the establishment of a totalitarian regime.
The most important and striking historical fact, however, was the militarization of society. Unlike Germany and Italy, Japan did not develop an ideology based on a party, but suffered violent penetration of the army in parliamentary institutions and government, in every aspect of social life, from family to school, to work in the industry. The ideology that said it was militarism (gunkokushugi) in a totalitarian form never seen before. In fact, the Japanese militarism of the twentieth century should not be at all confused with the warrior aristocracy of earlier times. The samurai were a small aristocratic class separate from the others, with specific obligations and duties, and subject and subject to political power. The Japanese army since 1873, was instead an army conscripts and conscription was mandatory. There was a total mobilization of society to the service Army. The army had become a political assimilante and engaging which requires any institution (family, school, industry). All citizens were soldiers, and everyone had to make a contribution to the cause that was the military build-up of the country. In this system, however, was not clearly demarcated the boundary between the different powers, indeed it was all very confusing and unstable. In theory it was the absolute power of the emperor, but in reality, the Constitution prevented him from taking the initiative. The power of government was often in the hands of soldiers taking major decisions without consulting the emperor and the Parliament. Specifically, power was managed so despotic, as in a barracks, with small and large abuses. The rivalry between the military were strong, often at the expense of cooperation. The dialogue was absent, poor communication, and prevailed commands, exhortations, blame and slogans.
propaganda was thriving and takes advantage of known artistic sensibility of the Japanese people. Many writers praised the heroism and dedication of the Japanese soldiers at war, though the feat and the value in this case were true even if the field of rhetoric. The captain told in the autobiographical novel Sakurai Tadeyoshi Nikudan (human bullets) the siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. The reputation of the companies of Japanese soldiers came to Europe, so that even a Italian writer and foreign correspondent, Luigi Barzini, brought back and narrated the heroic deeds. Many are the poems of remembrance, as the song in honor of Shirakami Genjiro, a bugler sounded the charge that even if mortally wounded. The sacrifices of the Japanese people at war were not only excited by the patriots and the propaganda of the extreme right, some left-wing writers, and so-called puroretaria Bungaku (proletarian literature) dedicated themselves to self-denial of citizens who simply loved his country. In this sense, the patriotism was not an issue of the exclusive prerogative of the right.
The militarization of the country was a disaster, so to be shown as a very strong expression: kurai Tanima (the dark abyss, about the era from 1931 to 1945, that the invasion of Manchuria in the Pacific War). The element of discrimination remained, however, the conception of the state since the idea more widely regarded as the public servants of the nation. Even if one accepts this view, is easily recognized as the military have betrayed their country by promoting personal interests, occupying every seat of power, plundering the resources of the nation. So the history books should explain more clearly and in detail the manner in which the General Hideki Tojo, Yamashita Tomobumi, Hisao Tani and many others, used the powers given to make money, exploit and plunder. The justification the war served in the military too much to hide their thefts, rapes and abuse. This was the greatest betrayal of the country.
Bibliography
Barzini, Luigi, Japan in arms, Treves, Milan, 1906.
Bergamini, David Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, Morrow, New York, 1971.
Brown, Delmer, Nationalism in Japan. An Introductory Historical Analysis, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1955.
Chang, Iris, The Rape of Nanking, Corbaccio, Milan, 2000.
De Palma, Daniela, contemporary Japan. Politics and society, Carocci, Roma, 2008.
Frattolillo, Oliviero, Japan and the West: From the symposium on the cultural revolt of post-modernity, L'Orientale Editrice, Napoli, 2006.
Mairion Harries and Harries, Soldiers of the Sun, Random House, New York, 1991.
Henshall, Kenneth, History of Japan, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 2005.
Herzog, Peter, Japan's Pseudo Democracy, New York University Press, New York, 1993.
Maruyama, Masao, The roots of expansionism, Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino, 1990.
Ohnuki Tierney, Emiko, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms, University of Chicago, Chicago, 2001.
Sugiyama, Takie, Japanese Patterns of Behaviour, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1976.
Toland, John, The Eclipse of the Rising Sun, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 1971.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Optimal Muscle Percentage
World War
World War
The commitment of the Empire of the Rising Sun
of Christian Martorella
1. Background and considerations of historiography
February 17, 2008. The intervention of Japan in the First World War, Japanese Daiichiji sekai Taisen, is little mentioned in Western history books. This is because politically inconvenient. In fact it is very easy to condemn the Japanese militarism when it sided with the opponents and defeated, while it is difficult to accuse him when he allied with the Western democratic nations and is victorious. In fact, the military power of the Rising Sun was supported and encouraged by the European powers as opposed to rival nations such as Germany and Russia, and instead became a trap when it threatens Western interests in the Far East. This is evident with the First World War, when Japan had sided with Britain and France. In short, it was an instrumental use, without taking any account of the spread of civil rights, and not adequately supported in the Japanese attacked fragile democracy from extremists. Western history books it is said that Japan was an authoritarian country that became democratic only after the defeat of the Second World War (1) in 1945. Curiously, this same country was an ally of Western powers in World War I, which is already in 1914. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Empire of the Rising Sun became a formidable military power with the support of the West between the admiration and praise of many admirers, as well as several material aid (2). In Japan there was nothing corrupt, but it was the mentality of who believe in the strength of armies and colonialism as the spread of civilization. This essay is to meet the meticulous and detailed description of certain events of World War ignored by the press. Each will then draw the appropriate conclusions freely seeking to know the story so complete and incomplete.
2. The political and military involvement
involvement of Japan in World War I was fast enough. Here is the chronology of events. Because of the attack in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28. On 1 August 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. On August 3 Germany declares war on France August 4 Britain declared war on Germany and Austria on August 12. Japan, at the instigation of Britain, declared war on Germany August 23, 1914, just three weeks after the start of hostilities. Japan's intervention was sought by Britain, even if reluctant, fearing the rise to power of Japan. Besides the role of Japan in the Pacific Ocean was crucial. The most powerful fleet in the Pacific Ocean was Japanese. Only the Japanese could block German ships in the vicinity of the settlements and stop the German attack and the threat to India and Indochina. Britain had already signed many treaties of alliance with Japan. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1902 was renewed in 1905, and besides in 1911. Japan guaranteed the security of India, British possession, the expansionist intentions of Germany and Russia. But the agreements between Britain and Japan disturbed American power. The United States wanted to expand their influence in Asia, also had serious internal political problems with the Japanese immigrants. Being an excellent workforce capable of starting up businesses, the Japanese immigrants disturb the local U.S. citizens and their selfish interests. He went so far as to enact local laws aberrant against the Japanese. The Japanese children were excluded from schools under the pretext of lack of classrooms. Webb voted with the Act in the state of California in 1913, prohibited Japanese nationals to own land. These bullying they increased immeasurably the sense of inferiority and the desire to redeem the Japanese determined to confront the same battlefield of the West: the development of military power.
3. The use of the navy
In 1914 the Imperial Japanese Navy (Dainihon Kaigun Teikoku) was the most powerful naval force in this Pacific Ocean, more than even the U.S. and British contingents (3). It was composed of 22 battleships, two battle cruisers, 15 armored cruisers, 19 protected cruisers, 50 destroyers, 40 destroyers and 13 submarines. Units (4) the most important were the battleships Kawachi, Settsu, Fuso, and Yamashiro Ise, the cruiser Kongo, Hiei, Haruna, Kirishima, Kurama, Izumo, Iwate and Ibuki, the light cruisers Chikuma, Hirado, Yahagi and Tone , destroyers Umikaze, Yamakaze, Sakura, Tachibana, Urakaze. During the period 1914-1918 were set and construction of new warships, the most powerful and innovative. They were the battleships Nagato and Mutsu, cruisers Tatsuta, Kuma, Tama and Yubari, the destroyer Kaba, Kaede, Katsura, Kashiwa, Kusunoki, Matsu Sakaki, Sugi and Ume. All these ships were important and valuable, so much so that some of them also participated in the Second World War. The battleship Fuso and Yamashiro, built respectively in the arsenals of Kure and Yokosuka in 1912 and 1913, ships were harmonious lines, with the arms broken down into two groups and the side armor protection with a maximum of 305 mm. Both sank in the Battle of Surigao Strait October 25, 1944. The cruisers Kongo, Haruna, Hiei and Kirishima, built in the period 1911-1915, participated in both world wars. Their entry into service aroused considerable impression it embarked a main armament that was not based on any other similar unit, with 8 guns 356 mm. The protection reached a thickness of 203 mm. The machinery consisted of four turbines directly coupled with an output of 64,000 HP and a speed of 27.5 knots. Kirishima and Hiei sank in November 1942 in the waters of Guadalcanal, the Kongo sank Nov. 21, 1944 in Formosa, and Haruna was destroyed by aerial bombing of July 27, 1945 Kure Arsenal. When it appeared in 1907, the Ibuki and Kuruma were the most powerful armored cruisers built in the world. During the First World War took part in operations around Tsingtao and hunting squadron of Maximilian von Spee. The Ibuki was the first Japanese ship to ship an apparatus turbine engine. Considered outdated, and Kuruma Ibuki were dismantled in 1923. The Imperial Japanese Navy also boasts another record. It was one of the first, along with that of the United States and Great Britain (5), to own ships carrying aircraft. The Wakamiya Maru was a support ship capable of carrying four Farman seaplanes. Launched in 1913, this unit was able to deposit with its crane aircraft in the water for takeoff, and besides retrieval after landing. MF.7 Farman aircraft were used as scouts and as a bomber with about ten small bombs. At the outbreak of the First World War, Wakamiya Maru sailed to the port China's Tsingtao, the German colony. On September 5, 1914, Japanese aircraft dropped two bombs on the Farman coastal battery. On 13 October there was an aerial duel between an aircraft and a German Taube Farman Japanese. This was the first clash between the planes of the First World War. In total, during the siege of Tsingtao, which ended with the German capitulation, the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft performed 50 missions and dropped 200 bombs, sinking even a torpedo.
The events that led Japan into war against Germany was fast enough. As an ally of Britain, Japan sent an ultimatum to Germany August 15, 1914, demanding the surrender of the German base at Tsingtao. Naval forces Germanic under the command of Captain Mayer-Waldeck, were made by the gunboats Jaguar, Tiger, Iltis, and Luchs, from S 90 destroyers and protected from the cruiser Austrian Kaiserin Elisabeth. The squadron was commanded by Vice Admiral Satou Japan, and was composed of the battleships Suwo, Iwami and Tango, the armored cruisers Iwate, Tokiwa and Yakumo, protected from the cruiser Tone, and about a dozen destroyers. The units used in Japan were not the most important modern and which remains in reserve for the defense of Japan. For example, the battleship Suwo was an old Russian ship, the Poltava, captured at Tsushima. The modern ships were saved and taken away for use in strategic battles the future expansion of the Japanese. The ultimatum expired, on 23 August 1914, the Japanese began the war. The first landing occurred 150 km north of Tsingtao. On September 4 Shirotaye the destroyer ran aground on a rock and was lost. On September 28 he began a massive fire on enemy positions in the battleships Suwo, Iwanami and Tango, supported by the artillery of earth. The German destroyer S 90 tried to escape, while browsing collided with the cruiser that sank Japanese Takachiho with three torpedoes. However, the S 90 was forced all'autoaffondamento because he had no where to shelter and basic supplies. On 7 November 1914, the German base finally surrendered. The Japanese forces were overwhelming and controlled large parts of the Pacific Ocean. These conditions were crucial to the movement of Germanic forces from the Pacific Ocean, forced a retreat that cost the loss of many units. The squadron of Vice-Admiral Johannes Maximilian von Spee, which deploys the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, departed from the island of Pagan, reached Tahiti and Easter Island, and passed the Strait of Magellan, he faced the Atlantic Ocean vessels UK. On December 8, 1914, the team of Spee was destroyed in the battle of the Falklands.
The Japanese fleet had reached its goals by eliminating the German ships from the Pacific Ocean. It remained inactive until to 1917, when it was requested its intervention in the Mediterranean. This fact created an unexpected condition. The submarines of the German U-boats had become a terrible threat to maritime traffic. In particular, France was engaged in a struggle for survival, the enemy already penetrated beyond national borders, was not available to stall. The supplies that reached France on the Mediterranean routes were essential. So they asked Britain and France to Japan. He was also given the availability of fleets of great Japanese destroyers, the most modern and versatile built in that period. Then he was made a naval squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Satou, constituted protected from the cruiser Akashi and twelve destroyers, including the internationally Katsura, the Kusunoki and Ume. The squadron entered the Mediterranean in working in a safe and away from enemy submarines key routes. Remarkable was the moral and political impact of this operation. The Japanese team was the first Asian in history that the fleet in European waters penetrated to lead military operations.
The contribution of the war Japan was also represented by important military supplies to the Allies. In 1917 Japan gave to France twelve destroyers type Kaba. They formed the class Algerien and remained in service until 1936, the year of radiation and demolition. These successes pushed the political authorities of Japan to consolidate and strengthen plans for strengthening the military, unfortunately with tragic consequences that we know well.
4. The Air debut
The Japanese were the first to understand the importance of the airplane as a war machine (6). The Empire of the Rising Sun had intensified the growth of which was equal to the major powers. The first plane was to fly a biplane piloted by Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa, on December 19, 1910. As you well know experts in aviation, what is fundamental in establishing an air force is training the pilots. The Japanese pursued this goal reached extraordinary results. Japan's military successes were achieved mainly thanks to the preparation and competence of technical personnel and pilots.
Japanese aviation training began in 1909, when a special committee was formed for the development of aeronautics. It included prominent figures both civilian and military, with strong participation of scientists and academics. The pilots were trained in foreign schools, and officers sent to France and the United States. In this environment grew the master engineer naval engineering Chikuhei Nakajima (7), a talent that congedatosi Air Force in 1917 he founded the Institute of the airplane at the Gunma Prefecture, and besides the company Nakajima Hikoki. In 1910 she flew the first airplane piloted by a Japanese. In 1911 the Imperial Army had three Farman, an Antoinette, a Blériot, and two Wright. At the military airport of Tokorozawa in Saitama Prefecture, was built a factory to build planes on the Japanese original designs. So in 1912 flew the first two planes built in Japan. So when the Japanese attacked the German colony of Tsingtao, made extensive use of aircraft in their possession. They used eight aircraft, including four biplanes flying boats. With these machines were carried out numerous bombings on the fortifications and boats. The planes were equipped with racks for bombs obtained from large artillery shells fitted with directional. So it was a ship sunk by German torpedo Nipponese skilled aviators. In addition, Japanese aircraft clashed in combat with a type of German Taube monoplane.
5. The end of the conflict and international agreements
In 1918 the war ended, and Japan participated as a winning nation at the Versailles peace conference. The Empire of the Rising Sun had received many benefits and few burdens without heavy losses. So the Germans were given the lands of Shantung, the mandate of the Marshall Islands, Caroline and Marianas (except Guam). This irritated U.S. politicians are terribly environments hostile to Japanese expansionism in China and the Pacific. On the other hand the plans of Japanese rearmament was worrisome, and the occupation of China was a serious matter not negligible. During the war, Japan had even sent a diplomatic request, known as the "twenty questions", the President of the Republic of China Yuan Shih-kai. In this document you asked for spheres of influence in the territories of Shantung, Honan and Manchuria. Also asked to include Japanese staff in the public and the police in China. It was actually an attempt to turn China into a protectorate or colony of Japan. Yuan Shih-kai had not the strength to fight and was attacked by the Empire of the Rising Sun. Only the United States rallied in defense of China, and sought by diplomacy to limit the claims in Japan. A compromise was reached with the Washington Treaty signed February 6, 1922. This agreement sets a limitation in naval armament, and therefore a reduction of the expansionary policy of great powers, including the United States and Japan. Admiral Yoshitake Ueda said the agreement stating that Japan was not ready for a war with the United States, but would not stand for a long time the arrogance of those who wanted to crush him. The Japanese were preparing to fight to survive, so they believe. It was widely believed that the era conflicts between nations for the possession of economic resources were inevitable.
The First World War ended without an effective conflict resolution. Germany would soon retraced the path that led to the clash with France and Britain, while Japan had invaded China (8). As can be deduced easily, it was the politics of power and expansion in determining the course of history of the twentieth century. Japan followed the same unfortunate way of Western nations. It is misleading to believe that this path is determined by the institutions of democratic or authoritarian countries in conflict. In truth, as we have seen, on the grounds that nations had to act in the First World War was the will to power, that their colonialist and expansionist policy. This policy belonged to the liberal democracies such as France, Great Britain, United States, the subsequent fascist regimes of Italy, Germany and Japan. It also shows how easily accept the democratic partnerships with authoritarian regimes if useful to pursue their goals of expanding trade and economic. Japan, we must never forget, was an ally of France, Britain and the United States in the First World War. You can not erase this historical fact compromising.
causes that trigger wars have the desire to possess, and the lust for power, the economic interest. Democracies are not immune to these impulses, and the history of European colonialism is its clearest demonstration. The First World War is the culmination of this mentality that finds expression in political power. Japan, though heir to the Eastern tradition, shared the same perspective with tenacity, and became an architect of the project of Western modernity so as to suffer the harmful consequences.
Notes 1. Even Francis Fukuyama, in line with the American version of democracy exported to Japan, shows the same distorted vision poorly documented. Taisho Democracy period (1912-1926), based on a parliamentary system, elected by the people, is completely ignored. See Fukuyama, Francis, The End of History and the Last Man, Rizzoli, Milan, 1996, p.71.
2. The increased assistance were from Britain, France, Germany and even Italy. As regards Italy, we recall that in 1904 Japan had in operation two large armored cruisers built in Italy: the Kasuga and Nishino. The Kasuga weighed 7628 tons, had a power of 14,800 HP engines supplied by Ansaldo, a speed of 20 knots, the bow was the main gun caliber 254 mm, 203 mm caliber and two were at the stern. Kasuga Nishino and were used in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The Kasuga was instrumental in the bombing of Port Arthur with its powerful cannon, and relevant to the Battle of Tsushima.
3. But U.S. forces were greater in the Atlantic Ocean, to protect the routes to Europe, and British Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, to protect the colonies, and the Atlantic Ocean in defense of the motherland. Japan had stolen some ships to Russia during the war of 1904-1905, which explains the large number of units in its possession. But his industry was not yet able to compete with the United States, despite the good results and excellence in special cases.
4. The transcript of the names of Japanese ships, adopted here, following the convention used by the publications of the General Staff of the Italian Navy. To avoid misunderstandings and misconceptions have kept the old names in the transcript is already known to Italian readers.
5. The first U.S. Navy ship to be adapted for the transportation and takeoff of aircraft was Langley. The Langley was a genuine aircraft carrier with a flight deck full. The British obtained similar results with the Argus and the Furious, the first aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Japan, however, can claim the distinction of having built the first aircraft carrier designed and built for that purpose: Hosho (1921). Unlike other units, ships that were modified and adapted to become a carrier, the Hosho was a modern purpose built aircraft carrier on a specific project. It participated in the Sino-Japanese War, World in Conflict 1941-1945, and was decommissioned in 1947.
6. The accurate and detailed article published by Pier Francesco Vaccari the magazine "RID" is illustrative of the development of the aircraft fighter in Japan. See Vaccari, Pier Francesco, The origin and development of the Japanese air forces on board, in "RID - Italian Defense Review, No. 12, Year XXV, December 2006. The designers got good results with the Japanese fighter planes and torpedo planes, often more than the western counterparts. For excellent performance in speed, maneuverability and aerodynamic qualities, including seaplanes and reconnaissance aircraft. Instead, because of the shortcomings of the power of the engines, the heavy bombers were always deficient and poorly protected with a cargo of bombs insufficient.
7. See Sgarlato, Nico, The Hunting of Nakajima Koyama and Itokawa, in "Aircraft in History", n. 50, year VIII, October-November 2006.
8. On September 18, 1931 because of the attack at Mukden, the Japanese invaded Manchuria. In 1932 was created Manchukuo, a puppet state under Japanese control. In 1933, occupation of northern China was extended further. On July 7, 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident of the Sino-Japanese war began throughout the country.
Bibliography
Apostle, George and Dicorato, Joseph et al, Aviation. Great illustrated encyclopedia, De Agostini, Novara, 1985.
Apostle, George and Dicorato, Joseph et al, Aviation History, Fabbri Editori, Milano, 1973.
Arrighi, Giorgerini and George, George, History of the Navy, Fabbri Editori, Milano, 1978.
Barzini, Luigi, Japan in arms, Treves, Milan, 1906.
Halliday, Jon, History of contemporary Japan. The politics of Japanese capitalism since 1850, Einaudi, Torino, 1979.
Ike, Nobutaka, The Development of Capitalism in Japan, in "Pacific Affairs", vol.XXII, 1949.
Martorella, Christ, the concept of the Japanese economy: methodological and sociological implications. Proceedings of the XXV Congress of Studies on Japan, Paper Publishing Veneziana, Venezia, 2002.
Martorella, Christian, The Open Society and the Japan case. Report of the course of history of contemporary philosophy. Faculty Arts and Humanities, University of Genoa, 1997.
Maruyama, Masao, The roots of the expansion. Ideologies of modern Japan, Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino, 1990.
Matricardi, Paolo, The big book of combat aircraft, Editoriale Domus, Milan, 2007.
Minami, Hiroshi, Taisho bunka, Keiso Shobo, Tokyo, 1987.
Vincentiis De Positano, Fiammetta, cruisers for the Rising Sun, De Ferrari, Genova, 2005.
Sgarlato, Nico, Nakajima fighters of Koyama and Itokawa, in "Aircraft in History", n. 50, year VIII, October-November 2006.
Takeshita, Toshiaki, Japan and its culture: a historical, Clueb, Bologna, 1996.
Vaccari, Pier Francesco, The origin and development of the Japanese air forces on board, in "RID - Italian Defense Review, No. 12, Year XXV, December 2006.
Benefits, Adriano, Japan 1853-1905: From the end of isolation to the role of great power, Lassa-Scales, Genova, 1984.
Villani, Pasquale, triumph and collapse of European dominance, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1983.
World War
The commitment of the Empire of the Rising Sun
of Christian Martorella
1. Background and considerations of historiography
February 17, 2008. The intervention of Japan in the First World War, Japanese Daiichiji sekai Taisen, is little mentioned in Western history books. This is because politically inconvenient. In fact it is very easy to condemn the Japanese militarism when it sided with the opponents and defeated, while it is difficult to accuse him when he allied with the Western democratic nations and is victorious. In fact, the military power of the Rising Sun was supported and encouraged by the European powers as opposed to rival nations such as Germany and Russia, and instead became a trap when it threatens Western interests in the Far East. This is evident with the First World War, when Japan had sided with Britain and France. In short, it was an instrumental use, without taking any account of the spread of civil rights, and not adequately supported in the Japanese attacked fragile democracy from extremists. Western history books it is said that Japan was an authoritarian country that became democratic only after the defeat of the Second World War (1) in 1945. Curiously, this same country was an ally of Western powers in World War I, which is already in 1914. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Empire of the Rising Sun became a formidable military power with the support of the West between the admiration and praise of many admirers, as well as several material aid (2). In Japan there was nothing corrupt, but it was the mentality of who believe in the strength of armies and colonialism as the spread of civilization. This essay is to meet the meticulous and detailed description of certain events of World War ignored by the press. Each will then draw the appropriate conclusions freely seeking to know the story so complete and incomplete.
2. The political and military involvement
involvement of Japan in World War I was fast enough. Here is the chronology of events. Because of the attack in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28. On 1 August 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. On August 3 Germany declares war on France August 4 Britain declared war on Germany and Austria on August 12. Japan, at the instigation of Britain, declared war on Germany August 23, 1914, just three weeks after the start of hostilities. Japan's intervention was sought by Britain, even if reluctant, fearing the rise to power of Japan. Besides the role of Japan in the Pacific Ocean was crucial. The most powerful fleet in the Pacific Ocean was Japanese. Only the Japanese could block German ships in the vicinity of the settlements and stop the German attack and the threat to India and Indochina. Britain had already signed many treaties of alliance with Japan. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1902 was renewed in 1905, and besides in 1911. Japan guaranteed the security of India, British possession, the expansionist intentions of Germany and Russia. But the agreements between Britain and Japan disturbed American power. The United States wanted to expand their influence in Asia, also had serious internal political problems with the Japanese immigrants. Being an excellent workforce capable of starting up businesses, the Japanese immigrants disturb the local U.S. citizens and their selfish interests. He went so far as to enact local laws aberrant against the Japanese. The Japanese children were excluded from schools under the pretext of lack of classrooms. Webb voted with the Act in the state of California in 1913, prohibited Japanese nationals to own land. These bullying they increased immeasurably the sense of inferiority and the desire to redeem the Japanese determined to confront the same battlefield of the West: the development of military power.
3. The use of the navy
In 1914 the Imperial Japanese Navy (Dainihon Kaigun Teikoku) was the most powerful naval force in this Pacific Ocean, more than even the U.S. and British contingents (3). It was composed of 22 battleships, two battle cruisers, 15 armored cruisers, 19 protected cruisers, 50 destroyers, 40 destroyers and 13 submarines. Units (4) the most important were the battleships Kawachi, Settsu, Fuso, and Yamashiro Ise, the cruiser Kongo, Hiei, Haruna, Kirishima, Kurama, Izumo, Iwate and Ibuki, the light cruisers Chikuma, Hirado, Yahagi and Tone , destroyers Umikaze, Yamakaze, Sakura, Tachibana, Urakaze. During the period 1914-1918 were set and construction of new warships, the most powerful and innovative. They were the battleships Nagato and Mutsu, cruisers Tatsuta, Kuma, Tama and Yubari, the destroyer Kaba, Kaede, Katsura, Kashiwa, Kusunoki, Matsu Sakaki, Sugi and Ume. All these ships were important and valuable, so much so that some of them also participated in the Second World War. The battleship Fuso and Yamashiro, built respectively in the arsenals of Kure and Yokosuka in 1912 and 1913, ships were harmonious lines, with the arms broken down into two groups and the side armor protection with a maximum of 305 mm. Both sank in the Battle of Surigao Strait October 25, 1944. The cruisers Kongo, Haruna, Hiei and Kirishima, built in the period 1911-1915, participated in both world wars. Their entry into service aroused considerable impression it embarked a main armament that was not based on any other similar unit, with 8 guns 356 mm. The protection reached a thickness of 203 mm. The machinery consisted of four turbines directly coupled with an output of 64,000 HP and a speed of 27.5 knots. Kirishima and Hiei sank in November 1942 in the waters of Guadalcanal, the Kongo sank Nov. 21, 1944 in Formosa, and Haruna was destroyed by aerial bombing of July 27, 1945 Kure Arsenal. When it appeared in 1907, the Ibuki and Kuruma were the most powerful armored cruisers built in the world. During the First World War took part in operations around Tsingtao and hunting squadron of Maximilian von Spee. The Ibuki was the first Japanese ship to ship an apparatus turbine engine. Considered outdated, and Kuruma Ibuki were dismantled in 1923. The Imperial Japanese Navy also boasts another record. It was one of the first, along with that of the United States and Great Britain (5), to own ships carrying aircraft. The Wakamiya Maru was a support ship capable of carrying four Farman seaplanes. Launched in 1913, this unit was able to deposit with its crane aircraft in the water for takeoff, and besides retrieval after landing. MF.7 Farman aircraft were used as scouts and as a bomber with about ten small bombs. At the outbreak of the First World War, Wakamiya Maru sailed to the port China's Tsingtao, the German colony. On September 5, 1914, Japanese aircraft dropped two bombs on the Farman coastal battery. On 13 October there was an aerial duel between an aircraft and a German Taube Farman Japanese. This was the first clash between the planes of the First World War. In total, during the siege of Tsingtao, which ended with the German capitulation, the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft performed 50 missions and dropped 200 bombs, sinking even a torpedo.
The events that led Japan into war against Germany was fast enough. As an ally of Britain, Japan sent an ultimatum to Germany August 15, 1914, demanding the surrender of the German base at Tsingtao. Naval forces Germanic under the command of Captain Mayer-Waldeck, were made by the gunboats Jaguar, Tiger, Iltis, and Luchs, from S 90 destroyers and protected from the cruiser Austrian Kaiserin Elisabeth. The squadron was commanded by Vice Admiral Satou Japan, and was composed of the battleships Suwo, Iwami and Tango, the armored cruisers Iwate, Tokiwa and Yakumo, protected from the cruiser Tone, and about a dozen destroyers. The units used in Japan were not the most important modern and which remains in reserve for the defense of Japan. For example, the battleship Suwo was an old Russian ship, the Poltava, captured at Tsushima. The modern ships were saved and taken away for use in strategic battles the future expansion of the Japanese. The ultimatum expired, on 23 August 1914, the Japanese began the war. The first landing occurred 150 km north of Tsingtao. On September 4 Shirotaye the destroyer ran aground on a rock and was lost. On September 28 he began a massive fire on enemy positions in the battleships Suwo, Iwanami and Tango, supported by the artillery of earth. The German destroyer S 90 tried to escape, while browsing collided with the cruiser that sank Japanese Takachiho with three torpedoes. However, the S 90 was forced all'autoaffondamento because he had no where to shelter and basic supplies. On 7 November 1914, the German base finally surrendered. The Japanese forces were overwhelming and controlled large parts of the Pacific Ocean. These conditions were crucial to the movement of Germanic forces from the Pacific Ocean, forced a retreat that cost the loss of many units. The squadron of Vice-Admiral Johannes Maximilian von Spee, which deploys the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, departed from the island of Pagan, reached Tahiti and Easter Island, and passed the Strait of Magellan, he faced the Atlantic Ocean vessels UK. On December 8, 1914, the team of Spee was destroyed in the battle of the Falklands.
The Japanese fleet had reached its goals by eliminating the German ships from the Pacific Ocean. It remained inactive until to 1917, when it was requested its intervention in the Mediterranean. This fact created an unexpected condition. The submarines of the German U-boats had become a terrible threat to maritime traffic. In particular, France was engaged in a struggle for survival, the enemy already penetrated beyond national borders, was not available to stall. The supplies that reached France on the Mediterranean routes were essential. So they asked Britain and France to Japan. He was also given the availability of fleets of great Japanese destroyers, the most modern and versatile built in that period. Then he was made a naval squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Satou, constituted protected from the cruiser Akashi and twelve destroyers, including the internationally Katsura, the Kusunoki and Ume. The squadron entered the Mediterranean in working in a safe and away from enemy submarines key routes. Remarkable was the moral and political impact of this operation. The Japanese team was the first Asian in history that the fleet in European waters penetrated to lead military operations.
The contribution of the war Japan was also represented by important military supplies to the Allies. In 1917 Japan gave to France twelve destroyers type Kaba. They formed the class Algerien and remained in service until 1936, the year of radiation and demolition. These successes pushed the political authorities of Japan to consolidate and strengthen plans for strengthening the military, unfortunately with tragic consequences that we know well.
4. The Air debut
The Japanese were the first to understand the importance of the airplane as a war machine (6). The Empire of the Rising Sun had intensified the growth of which was equal to the major powers. The first plane was to fly a biplane piloted by Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa, on December 19, 1910. As you well know experts in aviation, what is fundamental in establishing an air force is training the pilots. The Japanese pursued this goal reached extraordinary results. Japan's military successes were achieved mainly thanks to the preparation and competence of technical personnel and pilots.
Japanese aviation training began in 1909, when a special committee was formed for the development of aeronautics. It included prominent figures both civilian and military, with strong participation of scientists and academics. The pilots were trained in foreign schools, and officers sent to France and the United States. In this environment grew the master engineer naval engineering Chikuhei Nakajima (7), a talent that congedatosi Air Force in 1917 he founded the Institute of the airplane at the Gunma Prefecture, and besides the company Nakajima Hikoki. In 1910 she flew the first airplane piloted by a Japanese. In 1911 the Imperial Army had three Farman, an Antoinette, a Blériot, and two Wright. At the military airport of Tokorozawa in Saitama Prefecture, was built a factory to build planes on the Japanese original designs. So in 1912 flew the first two planes built in Japan. So when the Japanese attacked the German colony of Tsingtao, made extensive use of aircraft in their possession. They used eight aircraft, including four biplanes flying boats. With these machines were carried out numerous bombings on the fortifications and boats. The planes were equipped with racks for bombs obtained from large artillery shells fitted with directional. So it was a ship sunk by German torpedo Nipponese skilled aviators. In addition, Japanese aircraft clashed in combat with a type of German Taube monoplane.
5. The end of the conflict and international agreements
In 1918 the war ended, and Japan participated as a winning nation at the Versailles peace conference. The Empire of the Rising Sun had received many benefits and few burdens without heavy losses. So the Germans were given the lands of Shantung, the mandate of the Marshall Islands, Caroline and Marianas (except Guam). This irritated U.S. politicians are terribly environments hostile to Japanese expansionism in China and the Pacific. On the other hand the plans of Japanese rearmament was worrisome, and the occupation of China was a serious matter not negligible. During the war, Japan had even sent a diplomatic request, known as the "twenty questions", the President of the Republic of China Yuan Shih-kai. In this document you asked for spheres of influence in the territories of Shantung, Honan and Manchuria. Also asked to include Japanese staff in the public and the police in China. It was actually an attempt to turn China into a protectorate or colony of Japan. Yuan Shih-kai had not the strength to fight and was attacked by the Empire of the Rising Sun. Only the United States rallied in defense of China, and sought by diplomacy to limit the claims in Japan. A compromise was reached with the Washington Treaty signed February 6, 1922. This agreement sets a limitation in naval armament, and therefore a reduction of the expansionary policy of great powers, including the United States and Japan. Admiral Yoshitake Ueda said the agreement stating that Japan was not ready for a war with the United States, but would not stand for a long time the arrogance of those who wanted to crush him. The Japanese were preparing to fight to survive, so they believe. It was widely believed that the era conflicts between nations for the possession of economic resources were inevitable.
The First World War ended without an effective conflict resolution. Germany would soon retraced the path that led to the clash with France and Britain, while Japan had invaded China (8). As can be deduced easily, it was the politics of power and expansion in determining the course of history of the twentieth century. Japan followed the same unfortunate way of Western nations. It is misleading to believe that this path is determined by the institutions of democratic or authoritarian countries in conflict. In truth, as we have seen, on the grounds that nations had to act in the First World War was the will to power, that their colonialist and expansionist policy. This policy belonged to the liberal democracies such as France, Great Britain, United States, the subsequent fascist regimes of Italy, Germany and Japan. It also shows how easily accept the democratic partnerships with authoritarian regimes if useful to pursue their goals of expanding trade and economic. Japan, we must never forget, was an ally of France, Britain and the United States in the First World War. You can not erase this historical fact compromising.
causes that trigger wars have the desire to possess, and the lust for power, the economic interest. Democracies are not immune to these impulses, and the history of European colonialism is its clearest demonstration. The First World War is the culmination of this mentality that finds expression in political power. Japan, though heir to the Eastern tradition, shared the same perspective with tenacity, and became an architect of the project of Western modernity so as to suffer the harmful consequences.
Notes 1. Even Francis Fukuyama, in line with the American version of democracy exported to Japan, shows the same distorted vision poorly documented. Taisho Democracy period (1912-1926), based on a parliamentary system, elected by the people, is completely ignored. See Fukuyama, Francis, The End of History and the Last Man, Rizzoli, Milan, 1996, p.71.
2. The increased assistance were from Britain, France, Germany and even Italy. As regards Italy, we recall that in 1904 Japan had in operation two large armored cruisers built in Italy: the Kasuga and Nishino. The Kasuga weighed 7628 tons, had a power of 14,800 HP engines supplied by Ansaldo, a speed of 20 knots, the bow was the main gun caliber 254 mm, 203 mm caliber and two were at the stern. Kasuga Nishino and were used in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The Kasuga was instrumental in the bombing of Port Arthur with its powerful cannon, and relevant to the Battle of Tsushima.
3. But U.S. forces were greater in the Atlantic Ocean, to protect the routes to Europe, and British Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, to protect the colonies, and the Atlantic Ocean in defense of the motherland. Japan had stolen some ships to Russia during the war of 1904-1905, which explains the large number of units in its possession. But his industry was not yet able to compete with the United States, despite the good results and excellence in special cases.
4. The transcript of the names of Japanese ships, adopted here, following the convention used by the publications of the General Staff of the Italian Navy. To avoid misunderstandings and misconceptions have kept the old names in the transcript is already known to Italian readers.
5. The first U.S. Navy ship to be adapted for the transportation and takeoff of aircraft was Langley. The Langley was a genuine aircraft carrier with a flight deck full. The British obtained similar results with the Argus and the Furious, the first aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Japan, however, can claim the distinction of having built the first aircraft carrier designed and built for that purpose: Hosho (1921). Unlike other units, ships that were modified and adapted to become a carrier, the Hosho was a modern purpose built aircraft carrier on a specific project. It participated in the Sino-Japanese War, World in Conflict 1941-1945, and was decommissioned in 1947.
6. The accurate and detailed article published by Pier Francesco Vaccari the magazine "RID" is illustrative of the development of the aircraft fighter in Japan. See Vaccari, Pier Francesco, The origin and development of the Japanese air forces on board, in "RID - Italian Defense Review, No. 12, Year XXV, December 2006. The designers got good results with the Japanese fighter planes and torpedo planes, often more than the western counterparts. For excellent performance in speed, maneuverability and aerodynamic qualities, including seaplanes and reconnaissance aircraft. Instead, because of the shortcomings of the power of the engines, the heavy bombers were always deficient and poorly protected with a cargo of bombs insufficient.
7. See Sgarlato, Nico, The Hunting of Nakajima Koyama and Itokawa, in "Aircraft in History", n. 50, year VIII, October-November 2006.
8. On September 18, 1931 because of the attack at Mukden, the Japanese invaded Manchuria. In 1932 was created Manchukuo, a puppet state under Japanese control. In 1933, occupation of northern China was extended further. On July 7, 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident of the Sino-Japanese war began throughout the country.
Bibliography
Apostle, George and Dicorato, Joseph et al, Aviation. Great illustrated encyclopedia, De Agostini, Novara, 1985.
Apostle, George and Dicorato, Joseph et al, Aviation History, Fabbri Editori, Milano, 1973.
Arrighi, Giorgerini and George, George, History of the Navy, Fabbri Editori, Milano, 1978.
Barzini, Luigi, Japan in arms, Treves, Milan, 1906.
Halliday, Jon, History of contemporary Japan. The politics of Japanese capitalism since 1850, Einaudi, Torino, 1979.
Ike, Nobutaka, The Development of Capitalism in Japan, in "Pacific Affairs", vol.XXII, 1949.
Martorella, Christ, the concept of the Japanese economy: methodological and sociological implications. Proceedings of the XXV Congress of Studies on Japan, Paper Publishing Veneziana, Venezia, 2002.
Martorella, Christian, The Open Society and the Japan case. Report of the course of history of contemporary philosophy. Faculty Arts and Humanities, University of Genoa, 1997.
Maruyama, Masao, The roots of the expansion. Ideologies of modern Japan, Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino, 1990.
Matricardi, Paolo, The big book of combat aircraft, Editoriale Domus, Milan, 2007.
Minami, Hiroshi, Taisho bunka, Keiso Shobo, Tokyo, 1987.
Vincentiis De Positano, Fiammetta, cruisers for the Rising Sun, De Ferrari, Genova, 2005.
Sgarlato, Nico, Nakajima fighters of Koyama and Itokawa, in "Aircraft in History", n. 50, year VIII, October-November 2006.
Takeshita, Toshiaki, Japan and its culture: a historical, Clueb, Bologna, 1996.
Vaccari, Pier Francesco, The origin and development of the Japanese air forces on board, in "RID - Italian Defense Review, No. 12, Year XXV, December 2006.
Benefits, Adriano, Japan 1853-1905: From the end of isolation to the role of great power, Lassa-Scales, Genova, 1984.
Villani, Pasquale, triumph and collapse of European dominance, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1983.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Male Models In Underwear Backstage
Article on Japanese nationalism and patriotism discuss blog published by the Japan [discutiamodelgiappone.blogspot.com].
Aikokushin, love of country
Outlines of the history of Japanese nationalist politics of Christian Martorella
May 7, 2008. Japanese patriotic spirit (Aikokushin) is well known for the tragic repercussions caused by the exploitation and nationalist propaganda of the authoritarian regime established by the military in the twentieth century. Clarify and understand how this happened is the task of historians. The provision of further studies and research is therefore welcome and useful to provide new perspectives. This contribution is part of the long debate about the origins of totalitarianism, and intends to distinguish the cultural aspects of the ideological matrix. Japan, unlike Germany and Italy, has never had a clear ideological basis of policy, and yet has created a totalitarian regime by exploiting the cultural characteristics of the Japanese people. But the exploitation of nationalistic culture Japanese can not be interpreted as an equivalence. The Japanese culture is not fully comparable to an authoritarian regime. They are not to have generated the cultural totalitarianism, but the story states, their institutional and political, then international relations.
status as transcendental abstract entities is a Western creation of the nineteenth century (although its theoretical formulation in the seventeenth century by Thomas Hobbes). The theory of this magnitude is carried on by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Unfortunately, history has seen the birth to coincide with the nation-state disproportionate growth of military power and the brutal exploitation of colonialism. Hegel, in contrast, had developed a wonderfully admirable synthesis between individual rights and the organization of society in the political area of \u200b\u200bthe state, which actually implement the powers and human aspirations. Unfortunately, the nineteenth century, following the twentieth century, the doctrine of Hegel stravolsero making the state an abstract entity in the service of economic and political forces brutal, cruel and unscrupulous. Japan followed the Western democracies by imitating the institutions and laws with the reform of Meiji (Meiji ishin), 1867.
The introduction of democracy is not so rapid, however, coincided with a strengthening of the liberal forces (parties, unions, political movements, etc..) That were subjected a gradual weakening. In particular, they were very serious attacks of liberal politicians who cruelly murdered could not conduct its business. The fanatics of the extreme right had the ability to easily create a climate of instability by encouraging subversion and coup attempts. Every time the state showed its weakness, they fomented the popular dissatisfaction by invoking the patriotic spirit (aikokushin). The destabilization process was very slow and gradual, as there were fervent supporters of the strengths of democracy (politicians, businessmen, teachers, students, journalists, workers, etc.).. Unfortunately, the extremists of hard blows inflicted institutions. In 1921, he killed the Prime Minister Takashi Hara at Tokyo Station. It was a brutal and merciless attack. On 14 November 1930 he was attacked Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi, who died the following year as a result of their injuries. On May 15, 1932 was assassinated in his residence the Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai. In the same year were killed on the Finance Minister and head of the Rikken mins (Constitutional Democratic Party), Inoue Junnosuke, and the Director of Mitsui, Dan Takuma. In 1936, during an attempted coup, were killed, the Minister of Finance Takahashi Korekiyo and Admiral Saito Makoto.
One particular aspect is fundamental to understanding the complex situation of militarism Japanese of the twentieth century is the bloody infighting in the Army. In fact, the military in the '30s were divided into two opposing factions: Kodoha and Toseiha. After the failure of the attempted coup of February 26, 1936, the faction Kodoha fell into disrepair and knew the political decline. The Kodoha sharply criticized the excessive power of economic cliques who held a monopoly, then disliked the zaibatsu, and capitalism. The decline of Kodoha allowed an easier way of strengthening ties between the military and the zaibatsu, eliminating the friction elements. The Toseiha (side control) did not intend to change the structure of the state, but seize it to conduct a war of conquest. Therefore favored a reorganization of the army units based on mechanization and technical specialization. In contrast, Kodoha (via Imperial faction) aimed at restoring traditional spiritual values, and hence the change of the company through a reorganization of the state. The Kodoha considered a priority the reorganization of the state before any military intervention, the Soviet Union and considered the natural enemy of Japan and its expansionist aims. The soldiers who were leading the Kodoha Araki Sadao and Masaki Jinzaburo. The supremacy of Toseiha also meant an approach to the politics of Nazi Germany, as in the case of Yamashita Tomobumi. Military attache at the Japanese embassy in Austria, Yamashita was called in 1938 for a courtesy visit to Berlin, where he sympathized with Adolf Hitler, after maintaining close links with Nazism. The Japanese armed forces had not a single political vision, there was also a political party reference and objectives were different and conflicting. Unfortunately, the supremacy of the ruinous Toseiha marked the turning point of Japanese politics that first supported the Nazi Germany, and besides, she was dragged into the war against the United States in 1941. However, not all agreed with these choices were described as patriotic military rulers by those interested only in benefits to their side.
The extremists claimed to be patriots always (Aikokusha), but it is evident that their love for the country was disingenuous, having wanted to destabilize the state. They were not patriots because they had come to desire the destruction of the Japanese state, when videre threatened their interests. Even the fanatics and tried to dismiss his Majesty the Emperor Hirohito, when he decided to declare the yield of the country. Lieutenant Colonel Masahiko Takeshita was the creator and organizer of the attempted coup against Emperor Hirohito. On August 14, 1945 there was an eruption of the General Staff officers in the Royal Palace in Tokyo. Major Kenji Hatanaka killed General Takeshi Mori, commander of the imperial guards, loyal to the Emperor and pro- yield.
These criminal actions were facilitated by the consensus that the extreme right was able to create. The turning point was in fact made from the exploitation of nationalist sentiment and sincere patriotism. The intellectuals were skilled in drawing far-right political doctrines and plans of action involving the population. Often, their ideas were not lacking in originality and were sophisticated and accurate. The propaganda was then able to obscure the common sense and the reasons for the Liberals. The best-known political activist of the extreme right was Kita Ikki, a tireless agitator and dangerous subversive, wrote a book that would clearly indicate what action to take. The work was titled Plan for Reconstruction Japan (Nihon kaiza Hoan Taiko, 1919) and supported the need to eliminate Parliament, suspended the Constitution, implement land reform against the landowners to expropriate the wealth of the upper class and eradicate capitalism. To achieve this we must pursue a policy of military power, invading areas with mineral and oil resources, conquering Manchuria, northern China and Siberia. Kita Ikki stated that the revolt of the poor against the rich was a restoration of justice. The cultural matrix in which they drew on, however, was quite another, and it was common to many Japanese intellectuals. It was the rural (nohonshugi), an ideological movement that placed the center of society the farming community, with its spirit of self-government. The military regimes did the foundation of the rural to the social model of the imperial system. The farming community, aimed at maintaining social harmony, should represent the ideal model to which all of Japanese society was inspired by and conformed, so a society without contradictions and conflicts and antagonisms, therefore (and also absent of dialectic between the social partners) . Another concept that had approached the rural familism (kazokushugi), also borrowed from the tradition. Among the disciples of Kita Ikki, Okawa Shumei deserves a philosopher and scholar of religions that advocated the need for a return to ancient traditions of Japan. In 1925 so he founded the Society of Heaven and Earth (Gyochisha), and participated in the constitutions of other patriotic organizations. Other thinkers like Gondo Seikyo Kosaburo Tachibana and expressed the orientation of the "fraternal communitarianism." These intellectuals, Okawa Shumei, Tachibana Kosaburo, Gondo Seikyo, which must be added also Nissho Inoue, became promoters of a real revolt against the Western model in the name of culture and the Japanese spirit. Unfortunately
subversives and terrorists forcefully inserted themselves into this debate, taking advantage of the situation and directing the discontent and protest. In fact, the criticism of the Western model did not imply the choice of violent action, and politics imperialist and colonialist had already pursued by those foreign nations hate so much. The solutions proposed by the right-wing extremists too looked like they wanted to solve the problem: the Japanese state would become a colonialist and imperialist authoritarian regime that would fight with the weapons of Western colonialism.
The transformation of the Japanese state was gradually and many took advantage of favorable conditions and characteristics of authoritarianism. One such condition was the conception of the individual as an instrument of the state and the exploitation of patriotism. This exploitation of human beings was possible thanks to the mobilization and militarization of the country. Using the justification of the war against countries afflicted Japan, made it the undisputed transformation process in the totalitarian regime. Dell'accerchiamento syndrome and the threat of Western colonialism was an argument so strong that even today reappeared in many historical books by Japanese authors as an explanation of the military of the Empire of the Rising Sun. But we must re-establish the correct causal relationship between events. The existence of Western colonialism in Asia is only one factor, an element, which is contrasted with Japanese nationalists. The authoritarian regime was created through the gradual weakening of democratic institutions by right-wing extremists. The credit and the blame of what happened was due to the dynamics relations between political forces. Dell'accerchiamento syndrome of Western colonialism functioned as a propaganda tool, as well as the exploitation of patriotism, nationalism and cultural identity. The system features extensive use of Japanese civilization, especially the spirit of the group (shudan ishiki), an issue deeply rooted in Japanese mentality. Unfortunately, all the faculties appreciable and commendable team spirit (shudan ishiki) become degenerate when the despicable conformism. He was the educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi to indicate conformity as evil and dangerous trap for freedom in Japanese society. The rampant conformism threatened the ability to critique the proposals of alternative perspectives, reflection, reasoning and not emotional. Finally favored blind obedience and inhuman cruelty that crushed the individual, the ignorant and superstitious credulity. The group conformity (dantaishugi) is a social evil that affects all forms of democracy, and therefore the clue and the beginning of the establishment of a totalitarian regime.
The most important and striking historical fact, however, was the militarization of society. Unlike Germany and Italy, Japan did not develop an ideology based on a party, but suffered violent penetration of the army in parliamentary institutions and governance, in every aspect of social life, from family to school, to work in the industry. The ideology that said it was militarism (gunkokushugi) in a totalitarian form never seen before. In fact, the Japanese militarism of the twentieth century should not be at all confused with the warrior aristocracy of earlier times. The samurai were a small aristocratic class separate from the others, with specific obligations and duties, and subject and subject to political power. The Japanese army since 1873, was instead an army conscripts and conscription was mandatory. There was a total mobilization of society to serve the army. The army had become a political assimilante and engaging which requires any institution (Family, school, industry). All citizens were soldiers, and everyone had to make a contribution to the cause that was the military build-up of the country. In this system, however, was not clearly demarcated the boundary between the different powers, indeed it was all very confusing and unstable. In theory it was the absolute power of the emperor, but in reality, the Constitution prevented him from taking the initiative. The power of government was often in the hands of soldiers taking major decisions without consulting the emperor and the Parliament. Specifically, power was managed so despotic, as in a barracks, with large and small transgressions. The rivalry between the military were strong, often at the expense of cooperation. Dialogue was absent, poor communication, and prevailed commands, exhortations, blame and slogans.
propaganda was thriving and takes advantage of known artistic sensibility of the Japanese people. Many writers praised the heroism and dedication of the Japanese soldiers at war, though the feat and the value in this case were true even if the field of rhetoric. The captain told in the autobiographical novel Sakurai Tadeyoshi Nikudan (human bullets) the siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. The reputation of the companies of Japanese soldiers came to Europe, so that even an Italian writer and foreign correspondent, Luigi Barzini, brought back and narrated the heroic deeds. Many were the poems of remembrance, as the song in honor of Shirakami Genjiro, a bugler sounded the charge that even if mortally wounded. The sacrifices of the Japanese people at war were not only excited by the patriots and the propaganda of the extreme right, some left-wing writers, and so-called puroretaria Bungaku (proletarian literature) dedicated themselves to self-denial of citizens who simply loved his country. In this sense, the patriotism was not an issue of the exclusive prerogative of the right.
The militarization of the country was a disaster, so to be shown with a very loud kurai Tanima (the dark abyss, about the period 1931 to 1945, that the invasion of Manchuria War of the Pacific). The element of discrimination remained, however, the conception of the state since the idea more widely regarded as the public servants of the nation. Even if one accepts this view, is easily recognized as the military have betrayed their country by promoting personal interests, occupying every seat of power, plundering the resources of the nation. So the history books should explain more clearly and in detail the manner in which the General Hideki Tojo, Yamashita Tomobumi, Hisao Tani and many others, used the powers given to make money, exploit and plunder. The justification for the war served in the military too much to hide their thefts, rapes and abuse. This was the highest betrayal of the country.
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Bergamini, David Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, Morrow, New York, 1971.
Brown, Delmer, Nationalism in Japan. An Introductory Historical Analysis, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1955.
Chang, Iris, The Rape of Nanking, Corbaccio, Milan, 2000.
De Palma, Daniela, contemporary Japan. Politics and society, Carocci, Roma, 2008.
Frattolillo, Oliviero, Japan and the West: From the symposium on the cultural revolt of post-modernity, L'Orientale Editrice, Napoli, 2006.
Mairion Harries and Harries, Soldiers of The Sun, Random House, New York, 1991.
Henshall, Kenneth, History of Japan, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 2005.
Herzog, Peter, Japan's Pseudo Democracy, New York University Press, New York, 1993.
Maruyama, Masao, The roots of expansionism, Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino, 1990.
Ohnuki Tierney, Emiko, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms, University of Chicago, Chicago, 2001.
Sugiyama, Takie, Japanese Patterns of Behaviour, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1976.
Toland, John, The Eclipse of the Rising Sun, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 1971.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Richmond Bc Gay Cruise Area
Koku Japanese nationalism and militarism jieitai
Koku jieitai
Aeronautics in Japan since World War II to today
of Christian Martorella
January 10, 2010. The Air Self-Defense Force of Japan (Japan Air Self Defense Force, JASDF), Koku jieitai in Japanese, was born in 1954 with American assistance and materials. Initially based on antiquated aircraft from the United States, such as the North American F-86 Sabre and Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, was later consolidated by the local production of modern aircraft. In the '60s
interceptor main Japanese air force was the Lockheed F-104J Eiko. The F-104J, named Eiko (Gloria) by the Japanese, were built by Mitsubishi and Kawasaki. The first department to receive the interceptor was the F-104J 201 Hikotai in November 1962. The Japanese versions the total of 210 specimens were Starfighter F-104J and 20 of the two-seater F-104DJ. The F-104J fighter interceptor Eiko was a development of the F-104G, optimized for combat aircraft with radar Nasarre F-15-J31, the J79-IHI-11A reactor, and armed with four air-to-air Sidewinder missiles. The air cover
of Japan was thus assigned to the F-104J, which had respectable performance, with a maximum speed of 1845 km / h at 15000 m, which reached Mach 2 in a clean configuration, an initial rate of climb of 254 m / s and an altitude of 15,240 m. tangency practice A locally built jet
the project was completely Japanese Fuji T-1 Hatsutaka of the trainer, who flew for the first time on 8 January 1958. The industries were the heirs of the Fuji factory Nakajima (Nakajima Hikoki Kabushikigaisha), famous for the construction of the best fighters, bombers and torpedo planes used in World War II. Fuji T-1F1 was a two-seat trainer monoplane with a pressurized cabin, equipped with a propulsion system consisting of Ishikawajima-Harima Japanese turbojet J3-IHI-3 from 1200 kg of thrust, replaced by a model J3-IHI-7 from 1400 version Fuji T-1F3. The performance of this jet trainer were satisfactory, with a speed of 920 km / h, operating a tangent of 16000 m, and a range of 1935 km with external tanks. This allows most of the Fuji T-1 were still operating in the 80s before being replaced gradually from the most modern jet aircraft.
In 1973 Japan had provided the first McDonnell Douglas F-4EJ. The heavy and powerful F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber was used in Japan for a total of 140 specimens. The McDonnell gave them 10 copies, whereas 130 were built by Mitsubishi, which ended production in 1981. The F-4EJ version was a variant of the F-4E that could reach a speed of 2390 km / h or Mach 2.25. Equipped with a radar APQ-120, the McDonnell F-4E was armed with four air-to-air missiles AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided, and could also be mounted on underwing pylons air-air missiles AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided, while in muzzle of a cannon was installed pipe 20 mm M61A1 rotary. A
other aircraft locally manufactured fighter was the Mitsubishi F-1 first flew June 3, 1975. Mitsubishi T-2 derived by the trainer, whose first flight was in July 1971, was inspired by the project francobritannico SEPECAT Jaguar. The Mitsubishi F-1 fighter was equipped with two turbofan Ishikawajima-Harima TF40-IHI-801A from 3570 kg of thrust each with afterburner, maximum weight of 13.6 tonnes, maximum speed of 1700 km / h or Mach 1.6 and a range of 2595 km. The armament consisted of a vast arsenal of missiles, bombs and rockets, including air-to-surface missile Mitsubishi ASM-1.
The Japanese air force made a quantum leap in the '80s, when pilots were getting the most advanced fighters of the time: the McDonnell Douglas F-15J Eagle. The performance of this interceptor were excellent, with a maximum speed of 2600 km / h and a maximum range of 4630 km and a payload of 7528 kg. Japan made a major program based on the powerful and flexible interceptor. In fact, were built under license, since 1980, a total of 223 specimens of F-15J. The first F-15J delivered to Koku jieitai was deployed in 1981. Eagle
The Japanese were later joined by another good plane, the Mitsubishi F-2, a fighter derived from the General Dynamics F-16. The prototype of the Mitsubishi F-2 had flown October 7, 1995, and despite some delays, the first batch of aircraft was delivered in 2002. The construction, based on the model F-16, had a longer fuselage and covered with radar absorbing material, and wing surfaces were an innovative development with the use of composite materials. The F-2 fighter weighs about 22 tons, a maximum speed of 2200 km / h, a maximum altitude of 20,000 m, and a load up to 9000 kg on 11 external pylons.
Finally, the Japanese Air Force had provided, from 11 March 1998, the aircraft radar at the time the most modern and advanced: the Boeing E-767 AWACS. This plane could control an area that ranged from 320 to 500 km radius, with a range of 10370 km, providing a wide area monitoring and coordinating the activity of the interceptor.
This is a brief history of the JASDF (Japan Air Self Defense Force), the Koku jieitai, an heir of a major military aviation tradition that reflects the strict limits imposed by politics, and fortunately, there seems to be a potential aggressive but only a defensive deterrent.
Koku jieitai
Aeronautics in Japan since World War II to today
of Christian Martorella
January 10, 2010. The Air Self-Defense Force of Japan (Japan Air Self Defense Force, JASDF), Koku jieitai in Japanese, was born in 1954 with American assistance and materials. Initially based on antiquated aircraft from the United States, such as the North American F-86 Sabre and Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, was later consolidated by the local production of modern aircraft. In the '60s
interceptor main Japanese air force was the Lockheed F-104J Eiko. The F-104J, named Eiko (Gloria) by the Japanese, were built by Mitsubishi and Kawasaki. The first department to receive the interceptor was the F-104J 201 Hikotai in November 1962. The Japanese versions the total of 210 specimens were Starfighter F-104J and 20 of the two-seater F-104DJ. The F-104J fighter interceptor Eiko was a development of the F-104G, optimized for combat aircraft with radar Nasarre F-15-J31, the J79-IHI-11A reactor, and armed with four air-to-air Sidewinder missiles. The air cover
of Japan was thus assigned to the F-104J, which had respectable performance, with a maximum speed of 1845 km / h at 15000 m, which reached Mach 2 in a clean configuration, an initial rate of climb of 254 m / s and an altitude of 15,240 m. tangency practice A locally built jet
the project was completely Japanese Fuji T-1 Hatsutaka of the trainer, who flew for the first time on 8 January 1958. The industries were the heirs of the Fuji factory Nakajima (Nakajima Hikoki Kabushikigaisha), famous for the construction of the best fighters, bombers and torpedo planes used in World War II. Fuji T-1F1 was a two-seat trainer monoplane with a pressurized cabin, equipped with a propulsion system consisting of Ishikawajima-Harima Japanese turbojet J3-IHI-3 from 1200 kg of thrust, replaced by a model J3-IHI-7 from 1400 version Fuji T-1F3. The performance of this jet trainer were satisfactory, with a speed of 920 km / h, operating a tangent of 16000 m, and a range of 1935 km with external tanks. This allows most of the Fuji T-1 were still operating in the 80s before being replaced gradually from the most modern jet aircraft.
In 1973 Japan had provided the first McDonnell Douglas F-4EJ. The heavy and powerful F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber was used in Japan for a total of 140 specimens. The McDonnell gave them 10 copies, whereas 130 were built by Mitsubishi, which ended production in 1981. The F-4EJ version was a variant of the F-4E that could reach a speed of 2390 km / h or Mach 2.25. Equipped with a radar APQ-120, the McDonnell F-4E was armed with four air-to-air missiles AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided, and could also be mounted on underwing pylons air-air missiles AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided, while in muzzle of a cannon was installed pipe 20 mm M61A1 rotary. A
other aircraft locally manufactured fighter was the Mitsubishi F-1 first flew June 3, 1975. Mitsubishi T-2 derived by the trainer, whose first flight was in July 1971, was inspired by the project francobritannico SEPECAT Jaguar. The Mitsubishi F-1 fighter was equipped with two turbofan Ishikawajima-Harima TF40-IHI-801A from 3570 kg of thrust each with afterburner, maximum weight of 13.6 tonnes, maximum speed of 1700 km / h or Mach 1.6 and a range of 2595 km. The armament consisted of a vast arsenal of missiles, bombs and rockets, including air-to-surface missile Mitsubishi ASM-1.
The Japanese air force made a quantum leap in the '80s, when pilots were getting the most advanced fighters of the time: the McDonnell Douglas F-15J Eagle. The performance of this interceptor were excellent, with a maximum speed of 2600 km / h and a maximum range of 4630 km and a payload of 7528 kg. Japan made a major program based on the powerful and flexible interceptor. In fact, were built under license, since 1980, a total of 223 specimens of F-15J. The first F-15J delivered to Koku jieitai was deployed in 1981. Eagle
The Japanese were later joined by another good plane, the Mitsubishi F-2, a fighter derived from the General Dynamics F-16. The prototype of the Mitsubishi F-2 had flown October 7, 1995, and despite some delays, the first batch of aircraft was delivered in 2002. The construction, based on the model F-16, had a longer fuselage and covered with radar absorbing material, and wing surfaces were an innovative development with the use of composite materials. The F-2 fighter weighs about 22 tons, a maximum speed of 2200 km / h, a maximum altitude of 20,000 m, and a load up to 9000 kg on 11 external pylons.
Finally, the Japanese Air Force had provided, from 11 March 1998, the aircraft radar at the time the most modern and advanced: the Boeing E-767 AWACS. This plane could control an area that ranged from 320 to 500 km radius, with a range of 10370 km, providing a wide area monitoring and coordinating the activity of the interceptor.
This is a brief history of the JASDF (Japan Air Self Defense Force), the Koku jieitai, an heir of a major military aviation tradition that reflects the strict limits imposed by politics, and fortunately, there seems to be a potential aggressive but only a defensive deterrent.
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