Colonialism is a questionable period in history for several nations in the world. For some, it represents an oppressive and exploitative reign of enforced power, an ugly stain in their pages of history, while for some it represents an important historical and cultural time of extensive development for the nation. When prompted with the word colonialism, people often associate the term with Western empires such as the British and Dutch, yet several forget one of the few great Eastern colonies, the Japanese.

The Japanese Empire existed between 1868 and 1947, following which Japan became a democracy. At its peak in 1942, the Empire spanned 8,510,000 km2, nearly 12000 times Singapore’s land area! An estimated 463 million people resided in it (around 20% of the world’s population at the time) making it more populous than the world’s most notorious empire – The British Empire. 

Despite being relatively obscure in the annals of geopolitics, the Japanese empire made significant conquests in its time, two of which are the invasions of Korea and Manchuria (northeastern China). The process of the Japanese occupation of Korea began from the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876, which came in a time following the Meiji restoration in Japan when Korea remained under Chinese influence. Coupled with the growing Western presence in the region, Korea initiated relations with Japan. Using gunboat diplomacy, i.e. intimidating the Koreans with their naval strength, the Japanese coerced Korea to open three of their ports up to them and grant them the right of extraterritoriality through the 1876 treaty. The Koreans’ conflicting views on how to deal with Japanese presence as well as weak military strength contributed to the gradual collapse of their independence. Japan grew its military presence in Korea, eventually establishing the Korean Empire as its protectorate in the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1905, and finally annexing the nation in 1910 through the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. Korea became a puppet state for the Japanese, and this period of “forced occupation” by Japan, akin to their occupation of Singapore, ended with the Japanese surrender in 1945. 

Manchuria was an area of land heavily disputed between China, Russia, and Japan. During the first Sino-Japanese war, China leased the region to Russia. Following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905, Inner Manchuria fell into Japanese hands. Japan capitalized on the discord wrought by the 1917 Russian Revolution and seized outer Manchuria too. However, they lost the area to the newly formed USSR in 1925. Inner Manchuria was next governed by a Chinese warlord named Zhang Zuolin. He initially had Japan’s support but was deemed insufficiently subordinate to the Japanese and was promptly assassinated in 1928. 

The invasion of Manchuria occurred in 1931 following the “Mukden Incident” – the bombing of a Japanese owned railway line in Manchuria. The explosion was blamed on the Chinese, however, allegedly the Japanese generals masterminded this attack to justify their invasion of Manchuria. This justification was necessary as a number of established empires such as Britain and France were concerned about the growing Japanese influence in China. By 1932, all of Manchuria was under Japanese command. 

While the Japanese colonial reign was riddled with conflicts, looking back, one should consider that the root of these conflicts was something greater than a dispute over territorial claims. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Western powers were staking their claim in the Far East. Japan sought to expand its own influence in Asia and widen their Empire. This desire to expand fueled the development of their armed forces. Japan desired control over Manchuria for the following reasons: to gain access to the resources and extra land necessary to feed and house a growing population, to take advantage of new markets and recover from the Great Depression, and to increase their international influence. These reasons, particularly the latter were common to all imperial powers. Yet, Western powers felt threatened by the suddenly ambitious and independent Japanese and proceeded to impede the Japanese expansion as much as they could. They hoped to increase their own influence in East Asia, yet retaliated heavily against similar efforts by the Japanese, despite the Japanese being better poised for expansion. Was this a display of double standards, or excellent judgement? Perhaps both…

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_colonial_empire
• A reckless adventure in Taiwan amid Meiji Restoration turmoil, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, Retrieved on July 22, 2007.
• “Treaty of Annexation”. USC-UCLA Joint East Asian Studies Center. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
• James, David H. (2010-11-01). The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire. Routledge. ISBN 9781136925467. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018. by 1942, this ‘Empire’ covered about 3,285,000 square miles
• http://www.populstat.info/Asia/asia.html Populstat ASIA
• The Move to Global War, by Keely Rogers and Jo Thomas 

By Saarthak Gupta and Keshava Navale