THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART- 45

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SHOWA PERIOD OF JAPAN

The SHOWA PERIOD OF JAPAN referred to the period of JAPANESE history which was corresponding to the reign of Emperor HIROHITO . He was the longest ruling Emperor of JAPAN who ruled over the country for sixty-three years from 1926 to 1989 . His period of history saw two most important types of currents which ultimately changed the fate and future of JAPAN in the years to come . Both of them were negative events but here mentioning about them would be appropriate : 1. The rise of extreme nationalism and a series of expansionist wars ; and 2. JAPAN was occupied by foreign powers for the first time after its defeat in the world War- ll . But these two events gave an opportunity for JAPAN to re-emerged as the world economic power as such . The influence of extreme right on the JAPANESE society and the government was such that within the KWANTUNG Army stationed in CHINA along the JAPANESE owned South MANCHURIAN Railroad could better be seen with the fact that those radical army officers bombed a portion of the South MANCHURIAN Railroad and falsly attributed the attack to CHINA thus , invaded and conquered MANCHURIA and set up there a puppet government of MUNCHUKO without the permission of the JAPANESE government , of course , inviting wrath of the west and JAPAN simultaneously , in turn , JAPAN withdrew from the newly formed the LEAGUE OF NATIONS .

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The government of the SEIYUKAI party led by TSUYOSHI INUKAI tried to restrain the KWANTUNG Army of JAPAN . But he was assassinated in 1932 by the right-wing extremists . INUKAI was the last party politician to govern JAPAN before the world war- ll . In 1936 , the young radical officers of the Imperial JAPANESE Army attempted a Coup d’etat and assassinated many moderate politicians before it was suppressed . This resulted in the JAPANESE military consolidation and control over the political system of JAPAN . As a result , the most of political parties and the IMPERIAL RULE ASSISTANCE ASSOCIATION was founded in 1940 . It was the JAPAN’S wartime organization created by PM FUMIMARO KONOE on 12th October 1940 to promote the goal of his New Order Movement called SHINTAISEL . Now JAPANESE expansionist vision grew increasingly bold to a considerable extent . This led to the outbreak of second SINO-JAPANESE war and after their victory in the CHINESE capital the JAPANESE military committed the infamous NANJING massacre killing CHINESE civilians of NANJING , the capital of CHINA . Beginning on 13th December , 1937 and lasted for six weeks . Though failed to defeat the CHINESE government led by CHIANG KAI-SHEK , the bloody stalemate lasted until 1945 . Aim was to establish PAN-ASIA union under the domination of JAPAN during the world war-ll . The UNITED STATES opposed JAPAN’S invasion of CHINA by imposing stringent economic sanctions against JAPAN . And JAPAN’S reaction to the sanctions was in the form of entrance into the tripartite pact with GERMANY and ITALY . On 7th December 1941 , the Imperial JAPANESE Navy launched a surprised attack on the AMERICAN fleet at PEARL HARBOR , HAWAII . This compelled the US to enter into the world war-ll on the side of Allies . Then JAPAN started invading the ASIAN colonies of the US , UK and NETHERLANDS which included PHILIPPINES , MALYA , HONG KONG , SINGAPORE , BURMA and the DUTCH EAST INDIES . In the early stage of war JAPAN got victory after victory , but in the battle of MIDWAY and GUADALCANAL , the Allied forces captured the SOLOMON Islands from JAPAN . On the other hand , the JAPANESE military earned a reputation for fanaticism as such . Moreover  the life in JAPAN became very difficult for the civilians due to stringent rationing of food , electrical outages and a brutal crack down on dissent . The war intensified when the US army invaded and captured SAIPAN island which allowed the US to start widespread attack through bombings on the JAPANESE mainland which destroyed over half total area of the major cities of JAPAN . And the battle of OKINAWA , the largest naval operation of the war left 115,000 soldiers and 150,000 civilians dead and the JAPANESE super battle ship YAMATO was sunk en route to aid in the said battle of OKINAWA . At last , on 6th August 1945 the US dropped atom bomb on HIROSHIMA killing more than 70,000 people . This was the first Neuclear attach on human history . On 9th August 1945 , SOVIET UNION declared war on JAPAN by invading MANCHUKUO and the US dropped the second atom bomb on the JAPANESE city of NAGASAKI killing around 40,000 people . All these led to the declaration of surrender by the JAPANESE Emperor HIROHITO on dated 14 August 1945 on the national radio .

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POLITICAL , SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN

JAPAN changed completely following the second world war . US General DOUGLAS MAC ARTHUR , the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers , virtually served as the de facto leader of JAPAN from 1945 to 1952 . He was inspired by the NEW DEAL policy propounded by ROOSEVELT . So his aim was demilitarisation and democratization of the JAPANESE government and society . JAPAN’S military was disarmed . It’s colonies were declared independent . The notorious Peace Preservation Law and TOKKO were abolished . Decentralization of power became instrumental to the entire policy formation . ZAIBATSU system was abolished . Now agricultural lands were taken away from the Landlords and settled with the actual tenants as it happened in the case of the state of BIHAR ( INDIA ) in 1951 . At the central government level the cabinet was now made responsible to the JAPANESE DIET ( JAPANESE PARLIAMENT ) . Though the Emperor was allowed to remain on the  throne , yet as a titular head of the government and not as Divine power as such . JAPAN’S New Constitution came into existence in 1947 . It guaranteed civil liberties , women’s franchise , and labor rights to all its citizens . The Article 9 of the Constitution of JAPAN prohibited it to go to war with another nation .

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TO BE CONTINUED ……………..

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