Lesson 2a – Japanese Expansion in SE Asia
(1931-1941)
Essential Question
Assess the impact of Japanese nationalism
and militarism on Japan’s foreign policy in
the 1930s
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
◦ Review – how far have they come?
◦ Learn about internationalism
◦ Learn about the end of internationalism
Success Criteria
 I can divide my essential question to be
able to answer an IB style question
Review – Discuss the
Difference
Pre-Meiji Restoration
After Meiji Restoration
Military
Economy
Culture
Empire
Relationship with
the west
Vocab
Internationalism
 Washington Treaty
 Four Power Treaty
 Kwantung Army

Reading

Pg. 27~53
◦ Make sure you are
adding to
 Notes
 Essential Question
◦ IB Math
 Notes only = max 5
 Textbook only = max 5
 Notes + Textbook = 6~7
Internationalism
1920s – Japan moves towards a policy
of developing the economy by
peaceful means
 Why is the West worried about Japan?
• Britain – Hong Kong, Malay
• US – Philippines, Hawaii
◦ Created a Pacific fleet and put
their best ships here
 1921 – Washington Treaty
◦ agreed to a tonnage ratio of 5:5:3
 1921 – Four Power Treaty (included
France)
◦ Each power would respect the
territory of the other
 1922 – Nine Power Treaty
◦ Japan would recognize Chinese
territory and sovereignty

Conservative and militant groups within Japan opposed
this move towards peaceful coexistence
 Why?
◦ Economic – need for raw materials, which needed
to be imported + the depression

Opposition to
Internationalism





Foreign tariffs, such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff(1931
rose duties 200%) limited the amount that could be
brought in
Rise of protectionism (40 countries placed tariffs on J)
although exports rose (1934~37 – exports to Latin
America rose 1200%
1932 - Price of silk dropped 1/5 that of 1923
Unemployment rose to 3 million
Food – only 20% of Japan is arable land
◦ Population Growth – rising population out stripped
Japanese food production, resulting in the imports of
food (1937 – 70 million)

Attempted to push emigration to US, but racists
attitudes and fears of cheap labour within US made this
impossible
◦ Weakening of the Military – the Naval Treaties were
viewed as a humiliation

The civilian gov’t had also reduced the army and naval
budget, reducing the army to just 4 divisions
A Weak China

The militants solution was China
◦ Economic Problem – Manchuria was rich
in resources and would provide a market
to sell goods

An empire would ensure a monopoly
◦ Population Growth – send Japanese there
to work (Lebenraum)

1931~45 – 500,000 emigrated to be farmers
but couldn’t compete with the locals who
worked for less. Most became bureaucrats,
police, etc…
◦ Military – Army would be required to
“help” maintain order against a
traditionally divided China


It earned this land by winning 2 wars

Past victories showed that military
intervention always worked for Japan
Problem – Chinese Nationalism
◦ Under the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai
Shek, China began to reject foreign
influence in China, such as the Japanese in
Manchuria
End of
Internationalism

Kwantung Army had been in
Manchuria since 1905 to maintain
order
◦ Many extremist officers knew that
the senior military staff wanted to
expand its role in the area
◦ 1928 – Kwantung officers decide
to assassinate the Nationalist
Warlord of Manchuria without
the authority of the gov’t
◦ Gov’t in Tokyo tried to punish the
officers, however this was blocked
by the senior army staff because
they had the support of the new
emperor
 1929 – gov’t resigned and from
here on, foreign policy became
hostage to extremist army officers
IB Practice
Essential Question
Assess the impact of
Japanese nationalism and
militarism on Japan’s foreign
policy in the 1930s
 Did we answer the entire question
today?
 What separate questions are asked
here?

1.
2.
3.
4.
What was Japanese nationalism in
the 1930s?
??????
??????
??????
Which of these questions can we
answer today?
 Under your essential question,
create an outline for this section

Lesson 2b – Japanese Expansion in SE Asia
(1931-1941)
Essential Question
Assess the impact of Japanese nationalism
and militarism on Japan’s foreign policy in
the 1930s
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
◦ Review – Which had a greater impact?
◦ Learn about the rise of militarism in the gov’t
◦ Discuss Japanese foreign policy goals
Success Criteria
 I can divide my essential question to be
able to answer an IB style question
Review

What domestic issues are
influencing Japanese actions
in China?

What do you think was
more impactful:
◦ Economic Issues at home
◦ Militant actions
Vocab
Diet
 Mukden Incident
 Manchuria
 Manchukuo
 Anti-Comintern Pact

Reading

Pg. 27~53
◦ Make sure you are
adding to
 Notes
 Essential Question
◦ IB Math
 Notes only = max 5
 Textbook only = max 5
 Notes + Textbook = 6~7
Militarism replaces
Democracy

After 1929, militants made life
difficult for the Japanese Diet
(Parliament)
◦ Moderates were labeled “un-Japanese”
if they did not support military
intervention and called for a return to
traditional Japanese ways
◦ Ex. New Hamaguchi gov’t tried to curb
the power of the military but was
assassinated in 1930 by extremists
◦ 1931 – planned a coup but called back
at the last moment

By 1931, militarists control the
gov’t
Mukden Incident 1931

18 September 1931, a bomb, planted
by the Kwantung, was exploded on
the track of the Japanese-owned
South Manchuria Railway
◦ Without Tokyo’s approval, the army blamed
“Chinese terrorists” and seized the city of
Mukden
◦ Proclaiming a need to protect Japanese life
and property, the Kwantung continued to
take Manchuria
◦ When Prime Minister Inukai tried to halt
this aggression, he was assassinated in 1932
by naval officers
◦ Sept 1932 – Japanese create a puppet state
called Manchukuo
Foreign Policy Goals

1936 – Japan sets out it’s foreign
policy goals
1.
2.
3.
Russian pressure on Japan's empire
from the north needed to be
resisted;
further territorial expansion to the
south should be undertaken to
seize for Japan the wealth and raw
materials available in the South-East
Asian colonies of Britain, France
and Holland.
the military conquest of the whole
of China should be undertaken;
1. Pressure on the USSR

1936 – Anti-Comintern Pact
with Germany and Japan (Italy
joins in 1937)
◦ Japan saw the USSR as the main
threat to Manchukuo
◦ Japan sought allies that would
support military intervention with
the USSR
◦ Purpose – contain the spread of
communism
 Secretly, used as a safeguard in case
either were attacked
2. Expand to SE Asia for
resources

1937 – Japan withdraws from the
Naval Treaties with Britain and
the US
◦ Believed it humiliating (5:5:3)
and felt stronger with new
allies
◦ Began to build battleships and
aircraft carriers
 Ex.Yamato and Musashi were twice
the tonnage of the biggest US ship
3. Expand in China

1937 – military exercises in China
resulted in Japanese and Chinese
soldiers opening fire on each other at
the Marco Polo bridge
◦ No evidence shows it was premeditated
but the Japanese took advantage of the
situation and began a full scale war with
China
◦ 1937 – despite fierce resistance from both
Nationalist and Communist forces, the
Japanese take Peking, Shanghai and Nanking
(Rape of Nanking)
◦ Originally, only 3 divisions in China,
planning for a 3 month battle. But by 1938,
there were 20 divisions in China
IB Practice
Essential Question
Assess the impact of
Japanese nationalism and
militarism on Japan’s foreign
policy in the 1930s
 Did we answer the entire question
today?
 What separate questions are asked
here?

1.
2.
3.
4.
What was Japanese nationalism in
the 1930s?
??????
??????
??????
Which of these questions can we
answer today?
 Under your essential question,
create an outline for this section

Lesson 2c – Japanese Expansion in SE Asia
(1931-1941)
Essential Question
Assess the impact of Japanese nationalism
and militarism on Japan’s foreign policy in
the 1930s
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
◦ Preview - Message
◦ Discuss Japanese nationalism and motivations
Success Criteria
 I can fill out a table describing the causes
of Japanese actions
Preview

What is the message
of this source?
Vocab
doka
 E.P. Tsurumi
 Kominka
 Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere
 Pan-Asianism

Reading

Pg. 27~53
◦ Make sure you are
adding to
 Notes
 Essential Question
◦ IB Math
 Notes only = max 5
 Textbook only = max 5
 Notes + Textbook = 6~7
Causes of the
Mukden Incident
1928-32
Nationalism
Militarism
Political situation in
Japan
Economic situation
in Japan
Situation in China
Actions of the West
Conclusions
Causes of the Sino- Causes of Japan’s
Japanese War 1933- attack on Pearl
37
Harbor
Colonial Ideology

Japan took on a policy of assimilation
(doka) with its colonies
◦ "Affinities of race and culture between Japan
and her colonial peoples ... made possible the
idea of a fusion of the two and suggested that
ultimately Japanese colonial territories had no
separate, autonomous identities of their own,
but only a destiny that was entirely Japanese.”
(E.P. Tsurumi)
◦ This had the emperor as the head of the
Japanese race and the colonial peoples
would be Japanized (kominka) through
education, religion, etc…
Greater East Asian Coprosperity Sphere
Based on the idea of Pan-Asianism
 The enemy was white imperialism (Britain,
France, US, etc…)

◦ Differed from Western imperialism, which had
the goal of “civilizing” its people

1941 – Great East Asian War
◦ Japanese propaganda portrayed the war between “Free”
Asians against “white” imperialism

1942 – Colonial Ministry replaced with the
Greater East Asia Ministry
◦ Korea is also brought under the Home Ministry

Contradictions however
◦ 1942 Army General Staff memorandum which
spoke of shujin minzoku (master peoples), yujin
minzoku (friendly peoples) and kigu
minzoku (guest peoples) to differentiate between
the Japanese, East Asians and the rest.
Japanese shift in
Imperial Policy

1894 – Strategic and commercial expansion
working within the World Order
◦ Ex. Treaty of Portsmouth gave 25-year lease on Port
Arthur (year round port)
◦ Ex. Washignton Treaty and internationalism

1930s – Greater East Asian Co-prosperity
Sphere
◦ Militant rise in Japan meant more autonomy for
the military
 Resources were drawn away from economic investment
and put into the military
◦ Economic Depression caused the need a search
for resources and markets
 Ex. 1931 – 1.5 billion yen invested into Manchuria
 Ex. 1936 – 3.7 billion yen invested
◦ Less cooperation with the West
◦ Japan would “guide” Asia against the West
Pg. 56
Nationalism
Causes of the
Mukden Incident
1928-32
Help guide Manchuria
against white
imperialism
Militarism
Assassination of PM
Inukai showed the
Army was in charge
Economic situation
in Japan
Nationalists in Manchuria
Situation in China
threatened Japan’s
interests
Actions of the West
Conclusions
Foreign policy goal was to continue
the conquest of China
Depression and protectionist tariffs
from the West
created the need for steady markets
for Japanese goods
Don’t do yet
Don’t do yet
Political situation in
Japan
Causes of the Sino- Causes of Japan’s
Japanese War 1933- attack on Pearl
37
Harbor
IB Practice
Essential Question
Assess the impact of
Japanese nationalism and
militarism on Japan’s foreign
policy in the 1930s
 Did we answer the entire question
today?
 What separate questions are asked
here?

1.
2.
3.
4.
What was Japanese nationalism in
the 1930s?
??????
??????
??????
Which of these questions can we
answer today?
 Under your essential question,
create an outline for this section
