894.00/557
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 13, 1936.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Embassy’s despatch No. 1079 of December 11, 1934,65 which dealt with the pronounced nationalistic urge in Japan, the efforts being made to free Japan as much as possible from foreign influence, from which nothing more is to be gained in the opinion of the exponents of nationalism, and the steps being taken to attain economic self-sufficiency.
During the year that has elapsed since the writing of that despatch, the tendencies analysed therein have increased in force and concrete evidences of the national conceit have multiplied. First of all, Japan officially gave notice of abrogation of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 on December 29, 1934, and since then has firmly clung to its demand for the establishment of a common upper limit among the naval Powers, even at the risk of causing unrestricted building competition in the not distant future. Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations took effect on March 27, 1935,* and no ill results have followed this separation. In fact, Japan’s position on the Asiatic mainland seems to have been strengthened partly as a consequence of the disentanglement from the European scheme of things. The “Amau statement” of policy, first enunciated on April 17, 1934,66 has been put into practice with apparent success from the Japanese point of view. In any case, in the past year there has been an obvious decline in European and American influence in China with a concomitant increase in Japanese influence there. The so-called autonomy movement in North China, fostered by the Japanese military, [Page 875] whose connection therewith has not been officially disavowed by the Japanese Government, may be taken as an instance of Japanese active penetration in China and the enhancement of Japanese influence there. In the economic field, the vernacular newspapers and prominent business leaders point with pride to the continued expansion of Japanese foreign trade and the healthy condition of the internal economic structure.
Aside from the broad considerations set forth above, there have been a number of less important though no less illustrative evidences of the intensification of the urge toward nationalism and toward substantial independence from foreign influence in Japan. The “fundamentalist” theory of the Japanese Emperor as the supreme and semidivine head of his people gained a complete victory in the Minobe controversy, the upshot of which was the suppression of objectionably liberal ideas of foreign origin. In this connection and in connection with the growing belief that Western civilization has nothing further to offer Japan, it is interesting to note the views of the Government regarding the aims of the newly established Education and Study Council for the clarification of the form of the Japanese State,† Among these aims, as set forth by the Cabinet on November 24, are the eradication of the defects of Occidental culture and the inculcation among the people of the true spirit of Japan. Another pertinent development is the recent organization of the Domei Tsushinsha (United News Agency), around Rengo as a nucleus, the object of which is the setting up of strict Government control over the news published in Japan so that only the approved nationalistic point of view shall be presented.‡ Still another evidence of this nationalistic tendency is the decision reached by the Government on August 9 to enact legislation for the control of the automobile manufacturing industry in Japan.§ The main purpose of the proposed law is to prevent the foreign automobile companies from expanding further in this country and to secure the natural increase in the demand for automobiles for the Japanese manufacturers. Self-sufficiency in the supply of automobiles in time of war is the ultimate goal of the desired legislation, which is sponsored by the War Office, whose obstructionist policies have frequently hampered the foreign automobile companies in their operations in this country.
In the realm of religion in its relation to education, the nationalistic urge has manifested itself through the movement now on foot for the [Page 876] recognition of Shintoism as a religion and the compulsory teaching of Shinto doctrines in all schools. Heretofore the Home Ministry has maintained that Shintoism is not a religion in the strict sense, but only a form of ancestor reverence. It is reported that the Education Ministry has drafted for presentation in the Diet a bill providing that Shintoism shall be recognized as one of the religions in Japan, along with Buddhism and Christianity. In addition, according to the Japan Times of December 20, the Education Ministry advocates the teaching of Shinto doctrines and the establishment of Shinto shrines in all the schools of Japan. The placing of Shintoism on a definite religious basis would be significant because it has for many years been the cult of supreme patriotism in Japan. It is difficult to reconcile this proposed action with the position that the Japanese Government supports no religion and permits no religious teaching in public schools. A further illustration of the trend of affairs in this country is the intransigent attitude recently assumed by the Government with regard to the foreign oil companies’ desire that the storage requirements of the Petroleum Industry Control Law be shortened. And, in general, the Japanese Government has become more reticent, more independent, and rather intractable in its dealings with foreign Powers.
Rather than hold up this despatch for interpretive comment I shall have occasion to refer to it later as background for a further discussion of the nationalistic and expansionist urge in present-day Japan.
Respectfully yours,
- Foreign Relations, 1934, vol. iii, p. 684.↩
- Embassy’s despatch No. 1244 of April 19, 1935. [Footnote in the original; for despatch under reference, see p. 113.]↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1934, vol. iii, pp. 112 ff.↩
- Monthly report for November, 1935. [Footnote in the original; report not printed.]↩
- Embassy’s despatch No. 1603 of December 26 [27], 1935. [Footnote in the original; despatch not printed.]↩
- Embassy’s despatches No. 1431 of August 10, 1935, and No. 1490 [of October 1, 1935]. [Footnote in the original; despatches not printed.]↩