The Making of Modern Japan / An Account of the Progress of Japan from Pre-feudal Days to Constitutional Government & the Position of a Great Power, With Chapters on Religion, the Complex Family System, Education, &c.

by John Harington Gubbins

CHAPTER XXVIII
Rise of Japan and Germany Compared—Renewal of Anglo-Japanese Alliance—Japan and the Great War—Military and Naval Expansion—Japan and China—The Twenty-one Demands—Agreement with Russia regarding China—Lansing-Ishii Agreement—Effects of Great War on Situation in Far East.

The rise of Japan finds a parallel in that of Germany. There are, indeed, in the circumstances attending the development of the two countries not a few points of resemblance. In each case the direct cause was military success, and in each the long existence of feudalism had the effect of rendering a naturally warlike people submissive to the will of its rulers and responsive to the teaching of tradition. In each loyalty to the Throne was accompanied by an exaggerated form of patriotism, which needed only opportunity to become aggressive. In each, again, autocratic instincts, the centralization of authority, and the pressure of a powerful bureaucracy, combined to exalt the State at the expense of the individual. And though the personal rule of the Sovereign, so conspicuous in German history, was lacking in Japan, its absence was more than compensated for by the popular belief in the divine descent of the monarch.

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Germany should have been chosen as the model for so many of the new institutions established in the course of the Meiji era, or that the modern Japan which ultimately took shape should in many of its characteristics come to bear a still closer resemblance to the country whence so much had been borrowed. A nation that in the process of its evolution draws upon others so freely as Japan has done inevitably imbibes ideas which affect its whole outlook on the world. What happened in early days, when Japan adopted the written language, ethics, and administrative system of China, occurred again, though in a lesser degree, when she became the pupil of Germany in matters relating to administration, law and military science. Thus the Constitution itself, framed, as we have seen, on a German model, reserved all real power in important matters of State to the Crown; while the adoption of the German system of military organization and training increased the influence of the army and encouraged the growth of militarism.

Describing the position acquired by Germany at the time when William II succeeded to the Throne as King of Prussia and German Emperor, Mr. S. J. Hill, at one time U.S. Ambassador in Berlin, in his Impressions of the Kaiser, says: “The unity of the German States was secure ... and the work of Bismarck was complete. That the Empire was an achievement of superior military force on the part of Prussia, and in no sense a creation of the German people, was universally understood.” His statement is confirmed by an article which appeared in August, 1918, in a German newspaper, the Arbeiter Zeitung. “It is,” it says, “to the Monarchy, the Junkerdom and the Army that the German bourgeoisie owes the establishment of the new Empire, which was followed by so tremendous a development of economic strength, wealth and power.”

Japan at the moment of which we are speaking had, in like manner, achieved a unity of a kind unknown before. In the realization of her ambition to become a great Power she had triumphantly overcome all the difficulties inherent in the process of transition from conditions imposed by centuries of isolation to the new circumstances of a modern State. The work of the group of statesmen successively engaged in the task of reconstruction was, like that of Bismarck, complete. And it was generally acknowledged that all that had been accomplished had been done by the Government, and not by the Japanese people.

The Government clothed with this prestige was still a Government of two clans, which had gained their predominance by military strength, and retained it for the same reason; the portfolios of War and the Navy, and, with these, the control of the forces of the State, having become, so to speak, a monopoly of Satsuma and Chōshiū clansmen, who, as heads of these departments, were virtually independent of the Ministry of the day. The results of the dominating influence of the two clans in the administration, and the supremacy of German ideas in the army, had already shown themselves in the growth of a strong military party; in a cry for national expansion beyond existing frontiers, which seemed to have less reason behind it than the Pan-Slavist and Pan-German racial aspirations in Europe; in the development of the simple feudal maxims of Bushidō into what came near to being a national creed; and in the increase of Chauvinistic writing in a section of the Press. Under these circumstances it was not surprising if from this time forward a louder note should be heard in diplomatic utterances, and a more aggressive tone appear in foreign policy.

This change of attitude in matters of foreign policy may be traced in the successive alterations that took place in the terms of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. The original Agreement of 1902 related only to China and Korea, the contracting parties recognizing the independence of both States and declaring themselves “to be entirely uninfluenced by any aggressive tendencies in either country.” When the Agreement was renewed in August, 1905, its application was extended so as to include Eastern Asia and India. No more is heard of the independence of Korea, but Japan’s paramount rights in that country are recognized, subject only to the maintenance of the principle of “equal opportunity,” this recognition being followed three months later by the establishment of a Japanese protectorate. In the Agreement when renewed again in 1911 all reference to Korea disappears, that country having the year before been annexed to Japan.

Nor was this change of attitude due entirely to a consciousness of new power and increased prestige. In copying other countries as closely as was done the process of imitation had been carried so far as to extend to the adoption of principles which were not regarded with unqualified approval even in the countries where they originated. An instance in point is the enforcement by the Japanese Government in China of extra-territoriality, against which, when applied to Japan by Western Governments, it had constantly protested on the ground that the principle was incompatible with the sovereignty of a State.

The action of Japan on the outbreak of the Great War in August, 1914, at once dispelled all doubt which may have existed as to her participation in it. It also showed that she had no intention of playing a purely passive rôle. Within a fortnight after the commencement of hostilities between Great Britain and Germany the Japanese Government presented an ultimatum to the latter Power demanding the immediate withdrawal from Japanese and Chinese waters of all German vessels of war, and the evacuation by a given date of the leased territory of Kiaochow, with a view to its eventual restoration to China. The ultimatum was followed a week later by a declaration of war. It has been suggested that this swift action frustrated a design on the part of Germany to remove the leased territory from the field of hostilities by handing it back to China for the period of the war. Both in the ultimatum and in the declaration of war reference was made to the Anglo-Japanese alliance, which had been renewed in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese war, and again in 1911, when an Arbitration Treaty was in process of negotiation between Great Britain and the United States. This marked allusion to the alliance pointed to the conclusion that Japan’s entry into the war was in pursuance of a special understanding between the Governments concerned. It was, however, no secret that the acquisition of Kiaochow by Germany had been as displeasing to Japan as the Russian occupation of Port Arthur, nor was it unreasonable to suppose that she would welcome the first occasion that might come to get rid of the obnoxious intruder. The opportunity furnished by her entry into the war was promptly seized. A strong expeditionary force, which included a contingent of British troops, was organized, and by the first week of November the German flag had ceased to float at Kiaochow. The Japanese occupation in the previous month of the Caroline, Marshall and Marianne, or Ladrone, groups of islands contributed to the elimination of Germany from the Pacific.

The war that gave Japan the excuse she needed to destroy the German foothold in China presented her with other opportunities of strengthening her position in the Far East. The magnitude of the military operations in Europe absorbed all the energies of the belligerent States which had interests in Eastern Asia. They were unable to devote much attention to Far Eastern affairs. Japan thus acquired a liberty of action which under other circumstances might possibly have been denied to her.