JAPAN'S ROAD TO WAR

Less than a century after emerging from cultural and economic isolation, Imperial Japan’s expansion led to a confrontation with the nation that had first disturbed its solitude

During the mid-1850s the United States opened feudal Japan to trade with the Western world. From its earliest awakening to the international community Japan rapidly industrialised and began to exert influence beyond its own borders. In less than a century, Japanese leaders began to perceive their culture and people as preeminent on the continent of Asia as well as across the vast Pacific rim.

By the early 20th century, Japan had emerged as an Asian power with global reach, shocking the world with its defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Japan later joined the Allies in World War I, receiving post-conflict League of Nations authorisation to administer former German colonies in the Pacific, as well as having ruled Korea by mandate since 1910.

The road to war in the Pacific was virtually inevitable from a Japanese perspective. By the late-1920s, a rise of militarism in the country had coincided with the recognition of an opportunity to extend its influence, subjugate other Asian peoples, and exploit the resources that were required to perpetuate and protect Japanese interests beyond the confines of its borders. Japan embarked on a programme of military expansion, building a navy comparable in several respects to those of the United States and Great Britain, while reluctantly (and temporarily) acquiescing to treaty limitations on the strength, number and type of warships constructed. During this period Japan also augmented its land armies and air power.