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.
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