Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Empire of Japan and The Morgan Group in 1930's

The Empire of Japan and The Morgan Group in 1930's


In "The House of Morgan" by Ron Chernow, the intimate relationship between the Empire of Japan and the Morgan financial combine before WWII was described over several pages.

The outline of the description is not so bad, but there are a few misunderstandings on critical issues, including characteristics and a political position of Korekiyo Takahashi, the then Finance Minister and a friend of powerful financiers' of the West, who was assassinated in 1936 by young officers of the Imperial Army.

After the Great Depression, the economy of the Empire of Japan continued to suffer a big recession mostly due to a slump in export to the U.S. It had to find a way to sustain its economy and decided to advance into a territory of Manchuria and the Chinese market with support of military power due to a quasi-state of war or an actual civil war going on in the area.

It was regarded as unlawful military invasion by the Empire of Japan on Manchuria and China by Western powers and the Morgan group which finally stopped to give support to the Empire.

It is true that various Japanese politicians and top businessmen, including close friends of the Morgan group's, were assassinated in 1930's by right-wing extremists and violent nationalists in the Empire of Japan.

However, if you viewed the age in a wider scope, things would look different.

The Empire of Japan had been pressed and intimidated by Russia and the USSR even after the Japan-Russo War in 1904, while the Imperial Japan's Army itself sometimes recklessly ventured into exchange of fires with reinforced Russian troops. Manchuria was expected to be the main battle field for the next Japan-Russo War which should have posed a serious threat to the Korean peninsula and down south to the Japanese Islands. But, Manchuria had been in fact under control of Chinese and Manchurian war lords, without any unified and stable administration or government, who often dealt with the USSR against Imperial Japan's interest.

China had been in civil wars, and nobody protected the order of economy and market; it is the Empire of Japan that established and introduced modern industrial infrastructure into China even in those days, as with the case in Korea, Taiwan, and Manchuria.

Moreover, Manchuria had been once occupied by the Russian Empire, the Philippines was a colony of America; Vietnam was a colony of France; Malaysia was a colony of Britain; Indonesia was colony of Holland; and European countries and the U.S. had long been trying to exploit the Chinese market.

It is not like that while Russia was peaceful, China was stable and unified, and other Asia countries were enjoying independence, suddenly the Empire of Japan got mad and waged greedy wars here and there in Asia in 1930's.

(However, the U.S. people and the Morgan Group were very nice to, and extended great aid for, the Empire of Japan when it suffered the Tokyo Earthquake of 1923.)

The Empire of Japan had to manage Manchuria for its security against the USSR and its economic interest, while the Chinese Communist Party tried to draw the Japanese Imperial military into the mainland China and their civil war so that Chinese National Party would have to fight Japanese soldiers rather than Chinese communists.

The Empire of Japan had been at its core a samurai-spirited country trying hard not to be colonized by the West and Russia. If challenged, it had to fight; otherwise, it could not maintain authority domestically. And, the Chinese Communist Party really so challenged to pull Imperial Japan's troops into the Chinese civil war between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party, make situations complicated, and get compassion and support from the U.S. and the USSR. Accordingly, the Morgan group severed its tie with the Imperial Japan.

(The Empire of Japan had no grand design on how to occupy and administrate the whole China; its military was in a sense just taking up the gauntlet and could not stop it as a samurai, no matter how endless it would become in 1930's and 1940's.)

But, every tragedy before WWII in East Asia was essentially triggered by the Great Depression in the U.S. and subsequent mishandling of the situation by US politicians and businessmen including the Morgan financial combine, from a viewpoint of the Empire of Japan.

This is a humble and personal defense for the past Empire of Japan that had refused to sit and starve after the Great Depression, but decided to go out, leveraging its world-class military power, to control and manage the entire East Asia in a great turmoil in vain.

In addition, after WWII, the relationship between Japan and the Morgan group was restored and maintained well. Now, no one argued failures the both sides had experienced before WWII. But, misunderstanding remained should be resolved.


(What is the most heart breaking thing is that some Americans, maybe including you, have never understood the rigorous situations the Empire of Japan had faced eastward (the U.S.), westward (China), northward (the USSR), and southward (European colonial rulers) in 1930's. If I were an American and a follower of Jesus Christ, I suppose, I would not blame the past Empire of Japan, since Japan is truly situated at the End of the East.)



"DO NOT TRY TO STOP HIM"