Greater East Asia Research Articles

전시기 일본의 대(對)중국 영화정책과 ‘대동아영화(大東亜映画)’

This article attempts to re-evaluate China United Productions Ltd(中華電映), which was established in Shanghai in June 1939. Japanese researchers previously suggested that Nagamasa Kawakita, who led the organization, was a person that resisted the demands of the Japanese military and tried to defend and protect Chinese filmmakers. This paper focuses on his salient activities and tries to break away from the existing research framework that was limited to the relationship between Japan and China. During the war, Japan made films with China and other countries. If a comprehensive review of the film policy direction in various regions, including China, is made, it could shed some light on whether Nagamasa Kawakita's activities and remarks were consistent with the policy directions for Japanese films at the time. To this end, this paper looks at the direction of film production in Japan, focusing on the concept used at the time, ‘Great East Asian Cinema (大東亜映画)’. It is found that the film production environment and the narrative of the cinema also changed due to the need for regional cooperation. Based on these findings, it can be evaluated that Nagamasa Kawakita was just one of the executives of Imperial Japan's film policy. And I suggest that future research on this period should move beyond the evaluation of the individual Nagamasa Kawakita and shift to analyzing the production environment and narratives of films in each region on its own.

『대동아권동화총서』, 소환되는 트랜스 동아시아 문화의 기억 - 『공자님과 거문고 소리(孔子さまと琴の音)』를 중심으로 -

This paper examines the content and significance of Confucius and the sound of Geomungo published in the second volume of The Great East Asian Fairy Tale Series in the 1940s to confirm the possibility that the text had a relevant meaning associated with the cultural imagination of East Asia as a cultural community and recalling TransEast Asian Memories. On the surface, the Chinese fairy tale collection is characterized as an introduction to Chinese characteristics and worldview and presents an attitude of respecting China as the origin of Japanese Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist ideas. Second, considering that it was during the Pacific War, the author carefully selected and refined the stories so that small Japanese citizens could acquire statecentered thinking, loyalty ideas, and warrior spirit through Chinese fairy tales. Third, the author seems to have expected children to understand and “sympathize” with China by finding cultural similarities between Japan and China and placing what is known as the “uniqueness of Japan”, Mono-no-aware throughout the work. In conclusion, the Chinese fairy tale collection recalls the Trans East Asian memory that Japan embraced through cultural exchanges with China in the past and argues that a similar and differentiated Japanese culture was formed as a result in hopes that Japan and China will build a strong relationship.

TRAINING AND ACTIVITY OF THE RUSSIAN RANKS OF THE MANCHURIAN POLICE, 1932-1945

This article examines the way the training and service of Russian emigrants in the Manchurian police took place. According to Japanese attitudes, the policy of Manchukuo was in full accordance with the foreign policy course of the Japanese Empire in building the Great East Asian Sphere of Co-prosperity. In this spirit, the indoctrination of all ranks of the Manchurian police took place. Additional work was done with Russian police officers to educate them in strict discipline and anti-communist beliefs, as well as loyalty to the Japanese and Manchurian authorities. The article traces how the ideological education of the Russian police officers of Manchuria was built, as well as their activities to combat banditry in Manchuria.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE JAPANESE MEMORY POLITIC IN THE II HALF OF XX-XXI CENTURIES IN THE CONTEXTS OF PAN-ASIAN AMBITIONS

The article is devoted to the analyses of the role of Pan-Asianism in the formation of the Japanese policy of memory in the period after World War II. Since the Meiji period, Japan has had a dual relationship with Asia: on the one hand, as a region of high spirituality and culture, on the other, as a region lagging behind the West or Europe in terms of economic, political and technological development. In the 1950s, when Japan was experiencing a period of economic crisis caused by the defeat of the war, the occupation regime, and the formation of military memory, we see a trend of Japanese intellectuals classifying Japan as "Asia". If during World War I Pan-Asian ideology was used to correct imperial ideology and colonialism, modern Pan-Asian concepts tend to create a union of Southeast Asian countries for support and mutual development. The further development of these sentiments depends on the implementation of existing ASEAN projects and the specifics of the adopted political and economic strategies of the Asian Commonwealth.
 The articles provide the first comprehensive analysis of the constitutional documents, editions and speeches of Japanese politicians, which show the transformations of Japanese memory politic. The main terms of development of this policy, which consist in patient orientation and gradual formation of new Asianism, are separated. Discussions around Yasukuni-jinja and Japanese history textbooks as examples of these trends in Japanese politics are analyzed.
 Provided that Japan's pacifist position is enshrined in the constitution, there are conservative and nationalist views on the Japanese war in Asia. As part of Japan's policy of remembrance, Pan-Asianism fosters an ambivalent attitude toward Japanese expansion in Asia. Subject to Japan's official admission of guilt to neighbouring countries, condemnation of expansionism and colonialism, and the transition to pacifism, there are conservative and nationalist views on the Japanese war in Asia. Within the conservative position, Japanese guilt is questioned and the need to recognize the heroic participants in the war is proclaimed, the "Great East Asian War" is interpreted as a war of self-defence, or the correctness and truth of Pan-Asian ideals of Taisho and Showa Japan are recognized.

The Forgotten Jihad under Japan: Muslim Reformism and the Promise of Indonesian Independence

Abstract In this article I seek to make sense of the apparent contradiction of a call for jihad made under the auspices of the Japanese empire during its occupation of Java from March 1942 to September 1945. Why was Mas Mansur (1896–1946), the Indonesian religious figure and national hero who made the call, so supportive of the Japanese military administration? And why is this act so seldom remembered? As I hope to explain, Japan had already figured in the reformist Muslim imagination as a patriotic anti-western model for decades, creating a constituency that was initially open to Japanese overtures framed around mobilising national sentiment. Equally some Japanese advocates of southern expansion had thought about such framings while downplaying their preferred vision for a Greater East Asia that would not include an independent Indonesia. How this collaboration played out, with the Japanese eventually conceding ground on Islamic terms to gain national bodies, is a story worth retelling. In so doing I stress that Indonesia – lying at the intersection of pan-Islamic and pan-Asian imaginaries – should figure more prominently in global studies of Japanese policies regarding Islam in Asia or yet anti-Westernism in general.

Why has Sweden risen in the IFPI league tables but been surpassed by South Korea? A comparative case study

Abstract Sweden has risen in the global music market charts since the early 2000s and has a substantial pool of music companies, songwriters, and artists. Nevertheless, over the last decade it has lost ground relative to South Korea in particular. By analyzing the factors associated with global music market strength among 20–50 countries and comparing Sweden and South Korea's comparative advantages and disadvantages, the current article underscores that intellectual property rights (e.g., r = 0.842), GDP per capita, (e.g., r = 0.754), and piracy rates (e.g., r = −0.699) correlate with music market size. Thus, South Korea (and China) has benefitted from overall economic growth whereas Sweden's growth rates are comparatively lower. Moreover, at the local level, South Korea has a more dominating market niche signified by both big and small K-pop companies that compete for demand and supply at the local (South Korea), regional (greater East Asia), and global levels of the music industries.

НОВЫЙ ВОЕННЫЙ БЛОК – НОВЫЕ УГРОЗЫ МИРУ И БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ В АЗИИ

The article deals with issues related to the change in the security architecture in Greater East Asia after the emergence of a new military bloc AUKUS (Australia, USA and UK). The reaction to the creation of this bloc on the part of the key countries of the region is shown.

Rising Sun in the Eastern Horizon of Java: The Occupation of Japanese 16th Army in Banyuwangi, East Java 1942-1945

The Japanese Armed Forces did not take a long time to occupy the southern regions. Invading the southern regions was the Japanese’s ambition to build “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. Through Kalijati treaty, the Government of Dutch East Indies declared its unconditional surrender to the Japanese Armed Forces. Banyuwangi is an area located in the most eastern part of Java and considered as a strategic place as a defense fortress for all Java regions from the allied attacks from the south (Australia). The Japanese 16th Army implemented various policies as a part of the Greater East Asia War plan. The purpose of this study was to describe the policies made by the Japanese military government when occupying Banyuwangi, East Java. This study used a historical research method consisting of five steps: topic selection, heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The result of this study shows that Banyuwangi is a strategic area where the Japanese 16th Army directly or indirectly implemented various policies for mass mobilization in supporting the Greater East Asia War. Through its propaganda, the Japanese military said that the Banyuwangi people’s sacrifice was for a mutual victory in the war to build a new, safe, and prosperous Asia.

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War by Jeremy A. Yellen

Reviewed by: The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War by Jeremy A. Yellen Barak Kushner (bio) The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War. By Jeremy A. Yellen. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY, 2019. xii, 286 pages. $45.00. In late April 1997, the Asahi shinbun published a series of conversations between former Japanese Prime Ministers Nakasone Yasuhiro and Miyazawa Kiichi. The statesmen agreed on many issues but remained divided on the 1946 constitution. Miyazawa assessed it as a force for good even though it did not emerge from the will of the Japanese people. Nakasone did not dismiss it but felt that Japan had lost its "independence." Therefore he wanted to try and redraft the nation's own constitution.1 The debate was supposed to focus on contemporary Japan but the discussions kept turning back to Japan's war in Asia, which influenced how the leaders viewed the postwar. Was the nature of Japan's postwar constitution reflective of its past or indicative of a peaceful future? After the Abe Shinzō administration stepped down after almost eight years in power, the current push for constitutional reform continues to remain pertinent. Most contemporary political discussions in Japan still pivot on an assessment of the character of the war and Japan's empire, so Jeremy Yellen's book arrives at a propitious time. He leads us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the scaffolding that the Japanese employed in their imperial construction of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Yellen's book opens with the 1937 China Incident. The imperial general headquarters-government liaison conference was created in November 1937, as the army marched toward Nanjing, so it is an apt beginning. It is fitting, as Tomoko Akami explains, because the idea of "equality and independence of colonies from European powers" grew to be "a significant strategic matter for the Allied forces and Japan, for both needed the cooperation of China and other colonies." This shift to gain support propelled the Japanese to further define "its war ideology, the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere."2 Yellen describes in his deep empirical analysis, showing mastery of the archival record in Japan and the long stretch of Japanese secondary scholarship, how Japan was attempting to shape its own new world order. There [End Page 215] are four schools of thought on the sphere as he sees it: (1) the Kobayashi Hideo school which sees the sphere as starting with the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and then evolving in Japan's push for industrialization and self-sufficiency; (2) the revisionists who see the sphere in an uncritical and congratulatory light as the zenith of Japan's holy war and efforts to liberate Asia; (3) an ideological third school, which sees it as an outgrowth of pan-Asianism and imperialism as an ideological mission containing fascist and neo-Confucian elements all at once; and (4) those who hold that the sphere was an abortive vision of the future. Building on research examined in The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931–1945, Yellen takes a more in-depth approach to examine the interactive nature of the sphere in Southeast Asia. By 1942, Japanese rule over 350 million people stretched almost from the Aleutian Islands to India.3 Japanese hegemony was, of course, more illusory than actual but we cannot ignore its impact. In this vein, Yellen embarks on the prior journey that Louise Young analyzed in her description of Manchuria as a key element for Japan's launch of total empire.4 However, historians in mainland China have depicted Manchukuo as a "fake" empire, not worthy of analysis. Yamamuro Shin'ichi cautions us in his autopsy of the region that we need to take care when assessing Japan's imperial periphery because to merely label it as a puppet erases our chances of understanding its complicated legacy.5 In Yellen's analysis, the sphere was a hybrid construction of both fantastical conjecture and practical realpolitik to preserve a space for imperial Japan in an expanding world war. Japanese ideologues saw the sphere as colonial and anticolonial at the same time (p. 20). Japan was...

Kita Sumatora Sinbun newspaper as Japanese propaganda media in East Sumatera, Indonesia, 1943-1945

Japan's ambition to be an Asian giant has been shown since 1937 in the Asia-Pacific War or in Japan it is called the Great East Asian War. In an effort to win the sympathy of the Asian people, Japan carried out various propaganda campaigns. In Indonesia, the propaganda was launched by the Japanese military government was very intensive by stating that they were brothers in arms to drive out Western imperialism, and promised independence for Indonesia. To launch its propaganda, Japan facilitated and supervised what was published in Indonesian newspapers every shu. In East Sumatera, the Japanese-founded propaganda newspaper is called Kita Sumatora Sinbun. Although the coverage of Kita Sumatora Sinbun newspaper varies, almost all of the content contains propaganda for domestic and foreign consumption. This study aims to reveal why Japan formed the Kita Sumatora Sinbun newspaper as their propaganda media in East Sumatera, and how the impact of the propaganda narratives in this newspaper on the political, economic and social aspects of the people of East Sumatera.

The selection and rejection of animal face pattern tiles: The Bohai State examined from a greater East Asian perspective

Archaeological findings show that eaves tile components were already in use in the Fufeng and Qishan areas of Shaanxi Province during the Western Zhou Dynasty. As decorative elements, the composition idea and patterns of eaves tiles reflect aesthetic tastes and distinct features of regional cultures. Archaeological research at sites of the Bohai Sate, a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, have uncovered numerous eaves tiles with all kinds of patterns, except for the animal face pattern. In contrast to Bohai State sites, however, animal face pattern eaves tiles are recovered from contemporaneous sites of the Tang Dynasty, Unified Silla, and in Japan. This paper interprets this phenomenon through consideration of the influence of Tang Dyansty culture, regional cultural inheritance from the Koguryo state, as well as the prevalence of Buddhist culture. It suggests that the absence of the animal face pattern eaves tiles resulted from subjective cultural choices. While the animal face pattern was not used for on eaves tiles, it is found to be applied in the decoration of other architectural elements associated with the Bohai Culture, indicating that people have not totally rejected its use.

Justification and Opposition of Mass Killing: Black Sun—The Nanking Massacre

Japan was supposed to obey the law during the second world war. However, the Nanjing Massacre still happened. Hirohito, the Japanese emperor, deliberately avoided mentioning the International Treaties in the imperial rescript of the Great East Asia War in 1937. The Nanking Massacre was carried out according to the Japanese army’s interpretation of the imperial rescript. Such a legal interpretation was rooted in the idea that Japan had to educate the Chinese and transform China by killing its people in order to pursue a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere led by Japan. In the film Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (1995), we can see both a justification of and an opposition to killing. In this paper I am going to show how the imperial rescript is used to justify this mass killing is and how opposing arguments are used to show its cruelty and absurdity, which is taken as a means to achieve a greater good.

The Mangement and Ruling Ideology of Government-General of Korea during the Incumbency of Governor-General Koiso (May, 1942.5 to July, 1944)

In this paper, the personnel matters during the period of Governor-General Koiso dominated by Shintoist supporters of Kokutai-ron(discourse on national body) from the Ministry of Colonial Affairs and of Imaizumi, the reality of the comprehensive administrative power, and propaganda(Kokutai no Hongi, moral Joseon) were examined taking the changes in ‘the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ into consideration. The incumbency of Governor-General Koiso(1942.5-1944.7), who assumed the Governor-General of Joseon right after the announcement of the enforcement of the conscription order, was when the war situation became worse, and the correction of ‘the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ represented by Greater East Asia Conference and ‘Declaration of Great East Asia’ was tried in order to encourage the occupied areas to spontaneously cooperate in the war because the full-scale counterattack by the Allied Powers had been anticipated since the autumn of 1943. In addition, with the participation in the war of student soldiers, the implementation of conscription, severe delivery of foods, the mobilization of human and material resources such as conscription, and brutal exploitation in Joseon, the people of Joseon whose right to live were being threatened expressed their resistance and hostility toward the colonial rule. Koiso selected talented men who had been the former officials of the Ministry of Colonial Affairs, had personal connections with Imaizumi, or had been from Yamagata Prefecture, and assigned them the center of rule, and also in order to win over and conciliate Joseon officials in charge of the first line of wartime mobilization, he appointed some officials to the head office, and reformed the Gabong system. On the other hand, as the Japanese Government-General of Korea re-organized the administrative organizations and accepted the unitary control by the cabinet following the productivity boosting policies in order to simplify the administration of the cabinet, unify the administration inside and outside of Joseon, and strengthen the attitude to fight in Korea, ‘the distinctiveness of Joseon’ gradually decreased. Finally, when Shōwa Emperor and soldiers of Joseon objected political rights given as the price for the implementation of conscription, Koiso brought the thoroughness of Kokutai no Hongi and the foundation of moral Joseon, which had been affected by Imaizumi’s Shintoist Kokutai-ron(discourse on national body), to the forefront as the ruling ideology in order to suppress the resistance against the colonial rule and to reinforce wartime mobilization, As the ways to realize this, he established a leader training center, a science lab to investigate Joseon spirit, a special training center for young men of Joseon, a training center for young women and others, forced Shintoist cultivation and training represented by Misogi(禊), and made frantic efforts to implant the ideology of subjects and Tenno. However, the thoroughness of Kokutai no Hongi, the foundation of moral Joseon, a leader’s cultivation and training unilaterally proceeded by Koiso rather intensified many conflicts and resistance in Joseon society.

Review: The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War, by Jeremy A. Yellen

Review: <i>The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War</i>, by Jeremy A. Yellen

식민지 조선영화 속 ‘대동아공영’의 표상 ─ 그대와 나(1941)에서의 ‘내선일체’ 양상을 통해 ─

식민지 조선영화 속 ‘대동아공영’의 표상 ─ 그대와 나(1941)에서의 ‘내선일체’ 양상을 통해 ─

The Concept of “Asia” in the Context of Modern China

As a part of the geographical knowledge introduced by Matteo Ricci from the West into China at the beginning of the 17th century, the concept of “Asia” had undergone a cool reception for over three hundred years and did not become a common idea of world geography until the early 20th century when it was publicized by textbooks and other mass media. As the author points out, Asia is not merely a geographical concept, but also refers to history, culture, and politics. Although early Western missionaries and Chinese scholar-officials like Wei Yuan endowed Asia with a positive meaning as the origin of world civilization, from the mid-19th century on, Chinese intellectuals, out of a sense of crisis caused by the European invasion of Asia, tended to describe Asia as a backward continent subjugated by the white people. In the 1910s, against the background of Japan’s annexation of Korea, Asia was divided into two opposing parts, “the country invading other countries” (Japan) and “the countries being invaded by other countries” (India, Korea, and China). Along with the occupation of other Asian countries by Japan in the name of “the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” in the 1930s and 1940s, the concept of Asia also lost its charm among Chinese nationals.

Wartime Wilsonianism and the Crisis of Empire, 1941–43

AbstractOne striking feature of the Pacific War was the extent to which Wilsonian ideals informed the war aims of both sides. By 1943, the Atlantic Charter and Japan's Pacific Charter (Greater East Asia Joint Declaration) outlined remarkably similar visions for the postwar order. This comparative study of the histories surrounding both charters highlights parallels between the foreign policies of Great Britain and Imperial Japan. Both empires engaged with Wilsonianism in similar ways, to similar ends. Driven by geopolitical desperation, both reluctantly enshrined Wilsonian values into their war aims to survive a gruelling war with empire intact. But the endorsement of national self-determination, in particular, gave elites in dependent states a means to protest the realities of both British and Japanese rule and to demand that both empires practise what they preach. This comparative analysis of Britain and Japan thus sheds light on the part Wilsonian ideology played in the global crisis of empire during the Second World War.

JUN TAKAMI`S “SHOMINZOKU” AND AMBIGUOUS CRITICISM OF THE GREATER EAST-ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE

Although Japanese writers who experienced living in Indonesia in 1940-1945 witnessed the issue of racial disparity as the reality of a European colony, they were unable to depict it sufficiently because they were expected to portray a peaceful coexistence between Japanese and Southeast Asian peoples as the ideal picture of the Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. This paper explores the possibility of evaluating literary works written under the notion of the Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere by analyzing Jun Takami`s short story “Shominzoku” (July 1941) using Marie Louise Pratt`s “contact zone” as analytical tool. “Shominzoku” poses the problem of Japanese positioning in European colony; of how the protagonist sees himself and others, and how he wants to be seen by other races. Examining the narrative technique of the story to view Japanese positioning in the Netherlands East Indies, this paper argues that although “Shominzoku” can be evaluated as a criticism towards the notion of Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, it is actually an ambiguous work due to a reflection of the persisting idea that Japanese is, indeed, a superior race.

Entertaining War: Spectacle and the Great “Capture of Wuhan” Battle Panorama of 1939

In 1939, the Building Great East Asia Exposition opened in Nishinomiya City, Japan, in support of the ongoing China-Japan War (1937–45). At the heart of the exposition was the monumental Great “Capture of Wuhan” Panorama. Built in an open-air baseball stadium, this massive panorama referenced the long and bloody Battle of Wuhan waged the previous year. Comparing the panorama with other multimedia representations of the battle and connecting this site to other military spectacles reveal how this panorama operated as both somber, realistic edification and tantalizing entertainment as it mobilized exposition visitors for Total War.

Flight school for the spirit of Myanmar

In 1935, two Burmese filmmakers traveled to Tokyo with the intention of acquiring the latest sound recording equipment and training in sound-on-film production. In addition to these stated goals, in Japan they co-produced the feature film Japan Yin Thwe/Nippon Musume, ‘Japanese Darling.’ The film depicts daring young Burmese aviators and a budding romance with a Japanese woman. The active harnessing of the symbolic capital of aviation – the ideological notion of airmindedness – through the mimetic capacities of cinema, could be seen as a prescient example of Pan-Asianism, predating Daitoa Kyoeiken ‘Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ propaganda. The film’s explicit encouragement of Burmese techno-nationalism offers a compelling contrast to other examples of anti-colonial nationalism, which emphasize notions of ethnic history and Buddhist morality and concerns of religious decline in the face of foreign imperialism. However, a comprehensive analysis of the film industry and commercial aviation in Japan in the 1930s reveals a structural impetus for this collaboration, arguably overshadowing ideological motivations and results.