![]() As non-Japanese readers, we must humanize the Japanese, even in a period when they were becoming our avowed enemies, and see people from this most “other” of places as unique individuals rather than as a racially defined, homogeneous enemy. Why did Japan’s leaders choose to develop an industrial economy and a powerful military machine in the late 19th century? How could they succeed, given that no one could have predicted such achievement from a non-Euro-American island nation at the edge of East Asia? Why did they decide to overpower their neighbors and gradually to take their territory, beginning with the island of Taiwan, then Korea, then part of mainland China, the Philippines, most of the Pacific Islands, and more? What led Japan into its ill-fated war with the United States?Īnswering questions like these requires not only “facts” such as industrial production statistics or treaty texts or numbers of aircraft carriers, but also an understanding of Japanese views of their position in Asia, and of Japanese culture itself. ![]() EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally written for Japan Society's previous site for educators, "Journey Through Japan," in 2003.īetween the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the mid-20th century, Japan created an enormous empire stretching from Alaska to Singapore, controlling as much territory and as many people as any of the great powers of Europe.
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