Building up a nationalistic identity, the propaganda in Japan during World War II

Résumé du document

The Meiji Revolution brought to Japan, a country relatively unknown and isolated from the outside world for about 270 years, a dynamic wave of restructuration and modernization. Unwilling to suffer from the same fate as many Asian countries, who lost their territorial integrity but also their economic independence, Japan, established the Fokoku Kyohei, an industrialization policy designed to elevate the country at the top of the international sphere and transform it to an imperialistic power. Rapidly, the Land of the Rising Sun became a threat to the Western civilization that realized the great military force it possessed.

After several victories such as the Sino-Japanese War at the end of the 19th century or the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of the 20th, the alliance during the Second World War of the Japanese Empire with Germany reinforced the doubts and the menace of having an Asian-wide ruling power. Nonetheless, such brilliant military achievements need necessarily the full help and attention of the citizens. Indeed, the notions of nationalism and unity were considerably developed, and the entire Japanese population had a feeling of responsibility and concern. In this essay, we will try to explain how the Japanese government managed to create a strong nationalistic identity by using former traditional values and ideologies (cf annex 1).

Consequently, we will analyze the propagandist policies adopted by the leaders in order to keep political stability, involvement and unity. Undeniably, Japan is most certainly a country full of diverse histories, and a large panel of mystical tales with divine significance. As such, it is in these intriguing incidents, stories and beliefs that a national identity was born and kept as a singular particularity of the inhabitants.

Extraits

[...] Just like Hitler did with the Anschluss or the Lebensraum, propaganda left the archipelagos and took an international perspective. Sure enough, the Hakko ichiu, meaning assemble the eight corners of the world together” was added to the tools of manipulation conducted by the government[8]. This new political slogan is based on an ancient telling : the first Emperor Jimmu, founder of Japan, brought together five races present on the land and build up a single one making the people of Japan one family. [...]

[...] As a consequence, propagandist needed to reinforce and ennoble the idea of suicide, and this, using the bushido. The first kamikaze unit was build by Vice admiral Takijiro Onishi. The recruits were told that their nobility of spirit would protect the Empire not only from materialistic defeat, but also from moral destruction. Using the names of a patriotic traditional poem, more precisely a tanka particular Japanese form of poem as practiced as haikus at that time) called “Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bana”written by a classical Japanese scholar named Motoori Norinaga, four sub-units of soldiers were created : Unit Shikishima, Unit Yamato, Unit Asahi, and Unit Yamazakura[7]. [...]

[...] Undeniably, it was a battle between spiritual strength and materialistic strength as the Japanese commander said during the battle of Imphal. As such, the bushido concentrated, put forward the terms of discipline, courage and loyalty”[4]. However, even if the soldiers' involvement is certain, how is death conceived ? The dead were considered as war heroes. Sure enough, starting with the nine submariners who died during the attack of Pearl Harbor, a sensitive campaign of idolization started around the notion of death, and more precisely death for the sake of the Japanese Empire[5](cf annex 2 and 3). [...]

[...] Building up a nationalistic identity, the propaganda in Japan during World War II The Meiji Revolution brought to Japan, a country relatively unknown and isolated from the outside world for about 270 years, a dynamic wave of restructuration and modernization. Unwilling to suffer from the same fate as many Asian countries, who lost their territorial integrity but also their economic independence, Japan, established the Fokoku Kyohei, an industrialization policy designed to elevate the country at the top of the international sphere and transform it to an imperialistic power. [...]

[...] Born from Izanagi-no-mikoto a deity formed from the seven divine generations in Japanese mythology as told in the Kojiki, she was the supreme sovereign of the archipelagos. Legend says that Amaterasu has ordained, so as to perpetuate the prosperity of the great Will, her grandson's descent from the Heavens. The imperial grandchild, Ninigi no mikoto successfully accomplished his task to establish the Japanese nation and founded the principles of imperialistic leadership that was still present during the War. As explained in the Nihon Shoki : “Land-of-Fresh-ears-of-a-Thousand- Autumns of [Long]-Five-Hundred-Autumns of Luxuriant- Reed-Plains. [...]