As promised...
Brag about Next Year and the Devil Laughs
It had all seemed so easy. At the end of the first week of war, Domei, the Japanese news agency, began referring to the “marvel” of Japan’s successes. Compared to them, “the famous naval engagements such as Trafalgar and Jutland are as sailing exercises on a lake,” said the official government news service. A neutral would have to forgive Domei for this boasting. The British naval base at Singapore was still burning and under threat of Yamashitas forces. The Japanese crowed as London announced the sinking of the Dutch relief fleet. As London gave details, they were transmitted by the wire services to Buenos Aires, and there the Domei correspondent had them to send home. The Japanese newspapers ran pictures of the sunk British cruisers. Artist Ken Matsuzoe painted for the government a stirring scene of a sky full of Japanese planes and Dutch ships burning and sinking below. All Japan was agog in these first days of the war, and the newspapers led the pack. The eight major Tokyo newspapers sponsored a national “Rally to Crush Britain” at Korakuen Stadium. The editors made speeches, promising to do everything possible to bring all the world under one roof.
Hakko ichiu! Banzai!
It was easy enough for the Japanese to tell the truth about the war just then, for everywhere they were winning. The war “is to emancipate the East Asian Nations from Anglo-Saxon domination and to construct a new order.” That was the new Japanese government line. Many people in Asia were more pleased with this Japanese promise to eradicate colonialism then the Anglo-Saxons have ever known. They cheered as the Japanese rolled up their victories. The Thai government pledged its unwavering support to The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Wang I-hung, chairman of the North China Political Council, pledged Chinese support for “the emancipation of the Asian peoples by driving out the Anglo-Saxons.” A Taiwanese banana dealer named Sei Suigen sent the Japanese Ministry of War Y 2000 to further the cause. Manchukuo Prime Minister Chang Ching-hui praised Japan for “establishing the new order.” Prince Teh, chairman of the Federated Autonomous Government of Mongolia, pledged “the full support of six million people.” The natives on Celebes “greeted the Japanese with joy.” Wang Ching-wei, the president of the Nanking China government, congratulated Japan on her initial victories. In Indochina, Governor Vice Admiral Jean Decoux pledged cooperation with the Japanese against the Anglo-Saxons. To be sure, many of these leaders were de facto captives of the Japanese, but the sentiments were often real. From Timor and other South Pacific islands came indications that the Japanese were being welcomed. From Argentina, which ostentatiously declared its “neutralism,” came report after report of pleasure in the victories of the Japanese.
The world seemed turned upside down with the sudden victories of the little brown men over the Europeans. So quickly were the victories coming that the Japanese propaganda machinery was unable to keep up. In future months Tokyo would begin to capitalize on the reservoirs of anti-colonial feeling, particularly in the Dutch East Indies, where Holland’s rule had been among the most unenlightened in the world. In Tokyo, the Diet met in special session to promise efforts to win the war quickly. That same day a drive to sell war bonds was begun in the Japanese capital in spite of the cold; that day marked the last snowfall of the winter. All sorts of changes accompanied the outbreak of war, including changes in terminology. The government declared the word
Kyokuto (Far East) to be obnoxious. Hereafter, said a government announcement, that world would not be used, but the phrase
Dai-Toa (Greater East Asia) would describe the area.
At the end of the first week, Kowloon had fallen, and Hongkong, across the bay, was under attack. The Japanese army was marching down the Malay peninsula toward British forces rushing north from Singapore. On March 19, the Japanese fleet transports under Admiral Yamamoto landed the rest of General Yamashita’s troops at Singapore. This daring operation was made possible by British General Percival’s decision to move the bulk of his army north to deal with what he believed to be the main Japanese thrust. The single division holding the town and port was overrun in a series of brilliantly executed night landings which resulted in extremely low casualties to the attackers. Japanese troops in Thailand joined Thai troops to fight off British forces on the border. Japanese tanks clanked through Shanghai. That day Imperial Headquarters announced the landing of Japanese troops on Java Island. In the second week, Hongkong surrendered.
The really big news occurred during War Minister Sugiyama’s speech to the Diet:
At daybreak on March 21, Imperial forces reached the northern part of the island of Borneo…The Japanese units report that the enemy had destroyed the oil refineries and taken out machinery as early as three months ago. However out of the total of 150 oil wells it will be possible to extract oil from 70 wells in a month’s time, enabling a daily production of about 1700 tons. It is further reported that during the next year there is a possibility of extracting 500,000 barrels of oil.
The war had been going on for just two weeks and Japan had already accomplished her major aim. For the first time in her history, she controlled her own source of petroleum. “Japan is no longer a have-not nation,” boasted the Japanese planning agency. On April 1, Imperial General Headquarters announced the fall of Ipoh, the tin and rubber center of Malaya. The army drove on.
The navy and the Japanese media were crowing ever more loudly about the enormous successes achieved. Admiral Yamamoto was annoyed at the new braggartry of the Imperial General Headquarters publicity machine. “The mindless rejoicing,” he called it. Imperial Headquarters adopted the practice of accompanying their naval boasting with a rendition of “The Battleship March,” and Yamamoto came to flinch every time he heard the piece on the radio. “All this talk of guiding public opinion and maintaining the national morale is so much empty puff.” Admiral Yamamoto knew that the war was not going to continue so easily, and that difficulty would come when the easy victories stopped. Then what of the shouting?
But the puff grew every day. Yamamoto could not escape it himself, even though he spent most of his time at sea and none of his time seeking publicity.
Yomiuri Shimbun compared his exploits to those of the Great Admiral Togo. He was called “the father of the Japanese Naval Air Force,” which was more or less true; credit was given him as developer of Japan’s enormously successful carrier tactics, which was true. When the emperor issued a special Imperial Rescript honoring Yamamoto, that was enough for press and public. Overnight he became Japan’s greatest war hero.
The day was not far off when the Anglo-Saxons would cease to dominate Asia, said Professor Toshiyoshi Miyazawa of Imperial University, in an article widely reprinted in the Japanese press. “The Anglo-Saxon influence is rapidly waning and in its place a rapid rise is being witnessed in the Asiatic countries. The war of Greater East Asia will create a new and glorious page in the history of the world.”
“The war of Greater East Asia,” said General Sugiyama, “is only in its primary stage and the major battles are yet to be fought. The officers and men of the Imperial Forces are fully aware of this fact and are resolved to exercise their utmost efforts in attaining the objects of the holy war, thus serving the cause of the Japanese Empire.” The end of spring saw Japan beginning to implement its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as a diplomatic and propaganda weapon against the Western powers. The victories continued, with startling rapidity. Japanese troops landed in Sumatra and began to attack Palembang and Banda Aceh.
The government’s plan in the late spring of 1942 called for the rapid expulsion of the Anglo-Dutch powers from Asia. Next would come the manning of defenses and the strengthening of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which would encompass all the conquered territory. Once the territory was occupied, then the economic strength of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was to be increased by sending the
zaibatsu into the new territories to start industries that would bring profit back to Japan and supply all her needs. As speedily as possible, the conquered territories would be turned into allied nations, with friendly governments that would contribute to Japan’s defense and power rather than draw on it. Once that was accomplished, the United States could be dealt with, according to circumstances. At the very least, the United States would have to remain outside the Western Pacific. Perhaps Hawaii and even more American territory might fall under the great Japanese roof. Then Soviet Russia could be dealt with, and ultimately
hakko ichiu would be secured. How Japan would deal with her allies remained to be seen. Perhaps
hakko ichiu would have to be adjusted, but at least the Pacific basin would belong to Japan.
Just now, in May 1942, the war had moved into what the Japanese army termed the “second phase.” The Sumatra and south Burma operations were next. No one had expected the war to proceed so rapidly, but with the Anglo-Saxons falling like gingerbread men, Marshal Terauchi had recommended that the second phase be advanced. So it was done. The center of Japanese attention moved to Burma, where the great invasion of British India would begin. Japan’s most serious problem at the moment was the assimilation of all these victories.