Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:55:54.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why was Wilsonian-Taisho moment lost in Japan in spite of its economic success?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2018

Yutaka Harada
Yutaka Harada*
Affiliation:
Bank of Japan, 2-1-1 Nihonbashi-Hongokucho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8660, Japan
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Japan during the interwar period was more globalized in many ways than it is now. Japan prospered under the liberal international order. The Japanese people at the time believed that the country needed more land overseas to feed the increasing population, but the growing mainland economy gave jobs to the most Japanese population. The benefits the colonies conferred were not great, but some Japanese, particularly military and civil personnel in the colonies, were major beneficiaries. Japan was among the first to recover from the Great Depression, and by the middle of the 1930s was in a full employment situation. Japan did not need to export its population to other countries or to acquire territories through military action. The military expansion into China and the shift to a controlled economy in Japan and Manchukuo benefitted those who supplied goods to the military and obeyed the authorities. Such benefits, though, came at the expense of Japanese taxpayers and consumers, who were oppressed and were unable to criticize the military. The benefits gained from the military clampdown and a controlled economy were quite visible, but the benefits of the liberal international order often cannot be clearly seen. Japan still had a chance to recognize the true benefits of the liberal international order and the false benefits of colonization, military expansion, and a controlled economy, but could not. Wilsonian-Taisho moment was lost at the end of the 1930s.

Keywords

Colonizationcontrolled economyliberal international ordermilitary expansion
Type
Special Section, The Wilsonian Moment: Japan, 1912–1952 (Edited by Takashi Inoguchi)
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 571 - 586
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bolt, J and van Zanden, JL (2013) The maddison project: collaborative research on historical national accounts. The Economic History Review 67, 627–651. http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/maddison-project/home.htm.Google Scholar
Braisted, WR (1976) Meiroku Zasshi: Journal of Japanese Enlightenment. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Emi, Koichi and Yuichi, Shionoya (1966) Chouki Keizai tokei 7 Zaisei Shishutsu (Long-term Economic Statistics 7 Fiscal expenditure). Tokyo: Toyokeizai Shinposha.Google Scholar
Flath, David (2014) The Japanese Economy, 3rd Edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Furumi, Tadayuki (1978) Wasure-enu Manshukoku (Unforgettable Manchukuo). Tokyo: Keizai Oraisha, p. 50.Google Scholar
Harada, Yutaka and Ayano, Sato (2012) Showa Kyoko to Kinyu Seisaku (The Showa Depression and Monetary Policy). Tokyo: Nihon Hyoronsha.Google Scholar
Hashimoto, Toshiaki (1989) 2. Kyodai Sangyo no Koryu” (Development of Giant Industry), Nihon Keizaishi 6 (Economic History of Japan). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Ikeda, Michiko (1992) Tainichi Keizai Fusa (Economic Blockade of Japan). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha.Google Scholar
Kase, Kazutoshi (ed.) (2011) Senkanki Nihon no Shinbun Sangyo (Newspaper Industry during the Wars), Tokyo: Institue of Social Science, The University of Tokyo.Google Scholar
Kiyosawa, Kiyoshi (2002) Kiyosawa Kiyoshi Hyoron Shu (Selected Essays of Kiyoshi Kiyosawa). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Maddison, Angus (2008) Statistics on World Population, GDP and Per Capita GDP, 1-2008 AD. http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/oriindex.htm.Google Scholar
Masuda, Hiroshi (1995) Ishibashi Tanzan. Tokyo: Chuokoronsha.Google Scholar
Matsuo, Takayoshi (ed.) (1991) Ishibashi Tanzan Hyoronshu (Collected Essays of Ishibashi Tanzan). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Miwa, Yoshiro (2008) Keikakuteki Senso Junbi, Gunju Doin, Keizai Tosei (Wartime Planning, Mobilization, and Economic Control in Japan). Tokyo: Yuhikaku.Google Scholar
Miyazaki, Masayasu and Osamu, Ito (1989) “4. Senji Sengo no Sangyo to Kinyu” (Industry and Finance During and After the War), Nihon Keizaishi 7 (Economic History of Japan). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa (1989) A History of Japanese Economic Thought. Oxford: Routledge, pp. 54–55, 60.Google Scholar
Muto, Tomio (1988) Watashi to Manshukoku (Me and Manchukuo). Tokyo: Bungei Shunjusha, pp. 16–17, pp. 283–290.Google Scholar
Nakamura, Takafusa (1980) Nihon Keizai Sono Seicho to Junkan (Japanese Economy Its Growth and Cycle). Tokyo: The University of Tokyo Press, p. 138, pp. 134–135, pp. 133–138Google Scholar
Nakamura, Takafusa (1986) Showa Keizaishi (Economic History of Showa Era). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Oka, Yoshitake (1972) Konoe Fumimaro. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Okawa, Kazushi, Nobukiyo, Takamatsu, and Yuzo, Yamamoto (1974) Choki Keizai Tokei 1 Kokumin Shotoku (Long-Term Economic Statistics 1 National Income). Tokyo: Toyokeizai Shinposha, p. 237, Table 32.Google Scholar
Smith, TC (1955) Political Change and Industrial Development in Japan: Government Enterprise 1868–1880. Stanford: Stanford University Press, Chapter 8, Section 4.Google Scholar
Takahashi, Kamekichi (1927) “Nihon Shihonshugi no Teikokuteki Chii” (Imperial Status of Japanese Capitalism), Taiyo, Vol. 32, Translation based On Morris- Suzuki, Japanese Economic Thought, p. 96.Google Scholar
Takeda, Takeo (1977) Nihon Zaisei Yoran (Summary of Japanese Finance). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, p. 42, Figure 18.Google Scholar
Tokutomi, Soho (2006) Tokutomi Soho Shusengo Nikki (Diary after the War). Tokyo: Kodansha.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, Yuzo (1992) Nihon Shokuminchi Keizaishi Kenkyu (A Study on the Economic History of Japanese Colonies). Nagoya: Nagoya University Press, p. 145, pp. 120–121, Table 3–2, p. 202, Table 6–2(1), p. 204, Table 6–3, pp. 146–147, Table 3–14, pp. 146–147, Table 3–14.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, Yuzo (2003) “Manshukoku” Keizaishi Kenkyu (Study of the Economic History of “Manchukuo”). Nagoya: University of Nagoya Press, p. 64, p. 246, Table 7-1.Google Scholar