Press translations [Japan]. Political Series 0027, 1945-11-27.
Date27 November, 1945
translation numberpolitical-0110
call numberDS801 .S85
Persistent Identifier
POLITICAL SERIES: 27
ITEM 1 On Militarists - Tokyo Shimbun - 16 Nov 45. Translator: J. Weiller.
Extracts:
Since the end of the war, the militarists directly shouldering the burden of both
responsibility of the war and war crimes,
are being pushed headlong into extinction, a fate which they brought upon themselves.
The militarists must hear the greater
part of the responsibility for bringing JAPAN to her present state of ruin. In illegally
expanding her boundaries which was
accompanied by widespread tries both in and out of the country and in the wanton sacrificing
of a stupendous number of lives
and property, they have committed crimes for which they can never adequately atone.
Well then, what are militarists? we must, however, be careful not to confuse militarist
with the military. Our purpose here is
to expose those elements which constitute a militarist, thereby making clear wherein
the responsibility for war crimes
lies.
The militarists are the group of soldiers in leading positions who, utilizing the
force of arms and powers of the army oust
the other social strata, and attempt to attain their own selfish interests and ambitions.
There are public militarists and
private militarists and each can be divided into army factions and navy factions.
The Origin and Present State of the Militarists.
The militarists, in the first place, owe their origin to community factions. Our
army was first organized by OMURA, Masujiro
of the CHOSHU clan and having been comparatively modernized by YAMAGATA, Aritomo,
it fell under the influence of the CHOSHU
clan as against the influence of the SATSUMA clan in the navy. The current saying
at that time to the effect that without the
CHOSHU clan there would be no army in as much as they formed its very backbone, tells
the story. Up to the last moment a
vestige of antagonism between SATSUMA, SAGA, TOSA OITA, and other factions remained
in the army but, all in all, the CHOSHU
faction was overwhelmingly dominant.
However, owing to the progress of the times and the development of culture, the strong
position of the clan gradually
weakened, Furthurmore, with the emergence of elements dissatisfied with the oligarchy
of the CHOSHU faction out with the
passing of the regime of General TAWAKA, Giichi.
There is an episode which took place towards the end of the TAIOHO era while TOJO,
Hideki and ISHIWARA, Ganji, both
anti-CHOSHU, were instructors at the Military College. They so planned that all the
candidate officers of the CHOSHU district,
to a man, failed in the
POLITICAL SERIES: 27 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
verbal examination with the result that during the following several years not a
solitary CHOSHU officer could enter the
college.
With the passing of the clanship period the militarists began transforming themselves
for their second phase, that is, the
pursuing of personal interests.
The existence of the military preparatory schools which were the nucleus for the
education of army officers can by no means be
overlooked.
The fundamental ideal of education for those youngsters, who were quite blank both
spiritually and physically, was to instill
them with the idea of a chosen nation centered around the Emperor together with a
program of militarism, imperialism, and
self-complacent uniformism.
The school giving preference to the children of professional soldiers and to those
who were regarded as excellent elements
througout the country has a program designed to force and breed into them an atmosphere
of Spartan education. Their
individuality was entirely ignored. Almost all the professional soldier now occupying
important posts in the Army are
graduates of that school. As for the Military Academies, although they took in, principally,
graduates of middle schools, the
main body of instructors, by whose hands the students underwent a thorough spiritual
education, were graduates of the
preparatory schools.
In the military college also the essential part of both instructors and students
was composed of graduates of the preparatory
schools; and even among career soldiers, secret enmity between those from preparatory
schools and middle schools was carried
on incessantly. This was thought to be the greatest cancer in the Army. The Officers
from the preparatory schools who provided
the militarists in the second phase, had paromount influence in the army. In fact,
they had a mixture of many characteristics,
both meritorious and otherwise. Of these traits the most outstanding one was their
simple mindedness. Because of this they
were generally unacquainted with the outside world and to this can be attributed the
self-complacent and cliquish atmosphere
which dominated the whole army.
Next comes the Army's Central Office, which was the hot-bed of militarism. The results
of the graduation examinations of the
preparatory schools, academies and colleges governed the officers' careers throughout
their lives. If the results were not
excellent, even if they happened to be praisworthy individuals from the human or technical
standpoint, they were allowed
little chance and were always being transferred from one locality to another. It is
not too much to assert that the great
majority of those who worked in the Central Office were graduates of the Military
College who had come from preparatory
schools.
Furthermore a great number of these officers were occupying seats on The General
Staff, War Department, Military Education and
Air Force Headquarters. Among these the most influential were the Chief of the General
Staff, Officers of sections number one,
Tactics, number two, Intelligence, number three, Line of Communication, or number
four, Military History, Also officers of the
War Department, the Minister, Vice Minister and officers of the Military Affairs and
Personnel Bureaus. The Department of
Military Education, Air Force Headquarters and the Ordnance Bureau were of secondary
im-
- 2 -
POLITICAL SERIES: 27 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
portance. Number one section virtually commanded the General Staff while the Bureau
of Military Affairs held military
administration firmly in its grasp.
The Navy was practically similar to the Army in the above respects, except for the
fact that it had no preparatory
schools.
Private Militarism and Public Militarism.
It is a deep-rooted evil of the Japanese, not alone of the militarists, that being
insular minded, should three men get
together, they unconsciously form a clique taking on the names of KENJINKAI (a party
of the same prefecture) or DOKISEIKAI (a
classmate party) or other such names. It is therefore no great wonder that these self-complacent
militarists practice this
evil to an excessive degree.
When groups of private militarists combined and got in touch with an outside influence
like the ZAIBATSU, such as MITSUI,
MITSUBISHI, SUMITOMO, YASUDA or financial concerns newly arisen, they assumed the
quality of public militarism. The following
are the general qualities of the private militarists:
- 1.Cliques formed according to schools from which they graduated and according to native places.
- 2.Cliques formed according to the arms to which they belonged, such as infantry, artillery, and so forth. Of these the infantry clique held the greatest influence as the most reactionary element, closely followed by the artillery clique. In addition to these two cliques, the cavalry clique was claiming importance and inclined to join the infantry. It is noteworthy that many Imperial Princes were cavalry officers. Besides these, there were transport, engineers, paymaster, and surgeons; but their power, compared with the infantry and artillery, was quite negligible. The influential infantry clique was spiritually inclined to so-called bayonet charge method, and was in sharp contrast to the mechanization of the progressive artillery and engineer cliques. This is an interesting point in order to fully understand the background which inevitably led to our recent defeat.
- 3.Cliques of German-French ideology and Anglo-American ideaology were also formed. Since the foreign languages taught in the preparatory a schools were German, French, and Russian the graduates were naturally influenced with German, or Branch, ideas while, on the other hand, graduates of the academies via middle schools were taught English and educated more or less liberal ideas, thus becoming spiritually allied with the Anglo-American type. In this way, these two elements strongly confronted each other, but since, the important posts were all held by graduates of the preparatory schools it is quite conceivable that the Army was of pro-French and pro-German inclinations.
- 4.Clique of Military Affairs Bureau and clique of Number One Section of the General Staff. These two were the actual impelling powers of the army. Until the 26 February Incident, the Military Education Department had a strong voice in many matters but after the incident when severe criticism was levelled as to the responsibility for this incident. In any case, officers of the Military Affairs Bureau and - 3 -
- POLITICAL SERIES: 27 (Continued) ITEM 1 (Continued) Number One Section took the lead in the Army, Forming a close connection, the two were the private militarists backbone both spiritually and personally, Sometimes consciously accepting instigation form the ZAIBATSU, and sometimes, in turn, instigating them, they carried out their militaristic purposes. Especially during the past war period the part played by the successive Chiefs of the Military Affair Bureau was very extensive. Lieutenant General MUTO, [illegible]and SATO, Kenryo are cited as the most noteworthy among them.
Military Clique and Naval Clique.
The essence of the Naval clique can generally be deduces from facts given in connection
with the Army. The opposition and
strife between these two forces were rooted in the consciousness of their clanship
which, in the MEIJI Era, was known as
CHOSHU'S Army and SATSUMA'S Navy. At the beginning of MEIJI the navy was a part of
the army. YAMAMOTO, Gonbyoe, one of the
first graduates of the Naval Cadet School, in accomplishing his objective of making
Navy independent did everything possible
to wipe out any Army traces. At the same time he did everything possible to lift it
above the level of the army. This
consciousness of clanship and the resultant rivalry not only led to entirely different
customs in the two forces, but
established, different strategy and tactics. The [illegible]
[illegible]other became a traditional convention. The friction was so intense that it was whispered
that
before defeating a foreign enemy, our army must conquer JAPAN'S navy or vice versa.
Of course, in both the Army and Navy the necessity for concord between the two was
keenly felt and attempts were made to bring
it about. However, since they were unable to reconcile their differences and abandon
their traditional conventions, many
strategical discordances were experienced during the war. Furthurmore because of the
share and share-alike method, our slender
resources were all the more impoverished, hastening the way to our defeat.
The proposal to set up an indepedent air force ended merely in idle talk because
of the above strife.
ITEM 2 Our Answer to the Yomiuri's Editorial - The Yomiuri Hochi - 16 Nov 45. Translator: K. Gunji.
Full Translation:
We have read the editorial in the YOMIURI of the 13th which asked for an explanation
of why the JAPAN Socialist Party moved
its headquarters to the Lower House, and advised us to develop and active movement
among the people. As we believe that the
editorial reflects a misunderstanding about this mater, we shall be glad to offer
an explanation.
- 1.We were evicted from the Industrial Building, but rented two rooms on the sixth floor of that building in the name of Mr. HIRANO, an associate member. As we did not have an office for the inauguration ceremony of our party, we were obliged to start our business there. The managers of the building, noticing an unusually large number of people constantly coming in and out, discovered that we were using our rooms as offices and asked us to move. At that time however, we were occupied with many urgent tasks, such as receiving special delivery letters for the 2,000 members who were going to attend the inauguration and were desirous of obtaining lodgings. The manager of the Industrial Building would not comply with our requests for more rooms, but finally allowed us to use the rooms we had until the 4th of this month, so we could hold that meeting on the 2nd. - 4 -
- POLITICAL SERIES: 27 (Continued) ITEM 2 (Continued) On the 4th, however, we had not yet found an office and obtainte permission to use a room in the Lower House for a month. Of course, in this case, the majority of the Standing Committee was opposed to the idea because it was inconvenient for them to attend meetings, and also for visits by local members. But there was no other alternative.
- 2.Popular movements are in the course of developing all over the country. We are continuing to hold, five hundred meetings daily in every, town, or village, from [illegible]in the north to KOCHI and KATO SHIMA in the south. At present Mr. KATO is in KANTO and TOKAIDO Districts: Mr. MIZUTA[illegible]I, in KIRKI; Mr. MISHIO, in OSAKA; Mr. KAWAMATA, in TOKOKU; and MR. [illegible]in SHIKOKU.
They are holding meetings on the average of twice each day and night. We also are
making an active movement for the return of
our soldiers and civilians now in foreign lands. Efforts in this respect are being
made by Mr. YOSHIKAWA in CHINA, Mr. SHIBUYA
in SHIZOOKA, Mr. TAGA in OKAYAMA, Mr. FUJIWARA in WAGASAHI, Mr. HOTA in HIROSHIMA,
Mr. MATSUMOTO in SHIMANE, Mr. SHOJI in
TOTTARI, and Mr. MAKAWA in KAGAWA.
The other day we held a mass-meeting of citizens in SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, and leading
a mass demonstration, we broke into the
official residence of the governor and demanded the ration of three go of rice daily.
We also lead a movement for the
protection of sufferers from war disasters. The headquarters of a political party
is, so to speak, the general staff office,
and its main task lies in tactics, planning, and making connections, Therefore we
delegate the carrying out of actual
movements to local branches of the party.
We wish to express here our gratitude for the interest shown in our organization
and the chance to make our policies
known.
TAWARA, Haruji in the headquarters of JAPAN SOCIALIST PARTY.
ITEM 3 The Imperial Rescript Calling an Extraordinary Diet Session - The Asahi Shimbun - 18 Nov 45. Translator: S. Fukuda.
Extracts:
The government requested His Majesty, the Emperor to call the 89th Special Diet which
opens the 26th and lasts for 18
days.
The Imperial Rescript calling the session was issued officially on the 17th day as
follows:
The Imperial Rescript.
We order, in accordance with the seventh and forty-third articles of the Imperial
Constitution, a session of the Imperial Diet
in TOKYO on the twenty-sixth day of November this year, and to remain in session for
a period of eighteen days. His Majesty's
signature and seal hereunto on this, The seventeenth day of November, 1945.
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