Pan-Asianism

After Japan joined the ranks of colonial powers following its victories over China in 1895 and Russia in 1905, the Japanese government adopted a policy of cooperation with the Western powers. At the same time it asserted Japan's special interest in China. Around World War I phrases like "Asia for Asians," "Asian Monroe Doctrine," and "White Peril" appeared in newspapers and popular periodicals. The earlier emphasis on solidarity with Asian neighbors was replaced by emphasis on Japan's leadership and supremacy in Asia. The opinions of Tokutomi Sohō (Iichirō; 1863–1957), the long-lived influential publicist, reflected the changing mood in Japan. Kita Ikki (1884–1937), who once joined the revolutionary activities in China, urged Japan's aggressive expansion in Asia and called for a radical reform in Japan to establish a kind of state socialism under the emperor. Ōkawa Shūmei (1886–1957) believed that Japan had a mission to replace white men's imperialism with a federation of all nations and to create a new world blending the civilizations of the East and the West. Ōyawa had close ties with ultranationalist army officers, including Ishiwara Kanji (1889–1949), the mastermind of Japan's conquest of Manchuria in 1931. During the 1930s and early 1940s, when the Japanese government openly adopted military expansionism, Pan-Asianist ideas were expressed in official declarations proclaiming a "New Order in East Asia" and the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."