Abstract
A translation of a Japanese-language book published in 1987, Grassroots Fascism: The War Experiences of the Japanese People offers a compilation and interpretation of diary entries and reminiscences of non-elite Japanese who experienced the war in Asia between 1937 and 1945, on the front lines, behind the lines, and in the homeland. The author, Yoshimi Yoshiaki, is a scholar known outside Japan for uncovering evidence of government involvement in the recruitment of comfort women for the Japanese army. He demonstrates the active participation of ordinary citizens, both inside and outside the military, in Japan’s imperialist venture; an involvement driven by patriotism, a sense of duty, and by a desire to believe government propaganda about Japan’s intent to ‘liberate’ Asia, as well as opportunistic hopes for self-advancement.
Yoshimi argues, based on various opinion surveys and his readings of the war diaries, that public attitudes generally became quite jingoistic and imperialistic in Japan following the outbreak of war in China in 1937. By 1940 war weariness had set in, though most Japanese remained grimly determined to see the war on the mainland through to a victorious conclusion that would justify the sacrifices it had already demanded. In this period, he believes, Japanese fascism established its dominance, overwhelming the latent influences of the ‘imperial democracy’ experienced during the Taishō era (1912–1926). The success of the attacks on the United States and Great Britain in 1941–1942 revived war enthusiasm, which remained strong until it began to collapse in the wake of repeated defeats and the devastating bombing of the homeland in 1945. Yoshimi uses opinion surveys to show, however, that even after the crushing defeat a majority of Japanese remained supportive of the emperor system and retained the conceit of standing head and shoulders above other Asians.
Yoshimi’s choice of materials reflects his goals of: demonstrating the often enthusiastic citizen participation in military expansionism; documenting Japanese war crimes; illustrating the racist, exploitative, and often violent character of Japanese relations with Asian peoples on whose territories the war was largely fought; and drawing attention to the Japanese state’s abuse of minority groups and colonial subjects, including Ainu, Okinawans, Koreans, and Taiwanese. He provides ample evidence to make his case on all these points. Although some of his diarists, who were employed in various capacities in the occupied lands, recognized the evil aspects of Japanese imperialism, suffered bouts of remorse for their own ill-treatment of the local people, and occasionally gave a “native” a break, they retained their keen sense of Japanese superiority and soldiers continued their depredations, qualms notwithstanding.
Yoshimi had no interest in the war experiences of military or civilian elites, or in any military matters unrelated to the issues he was seeking to highlight. The war in the Pacific is largely ignored, a single sailor is quoted, and only two members of the air forces briefly mentioned. While Yoshimi’s book will appeal to Japan specialists, readers interested in military history may be disappointed. A broader cross-section of personal war experiences can be found in Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History (The New Press, 1992), an exceptional book that was not widely reviewed and has never received the attention it deserves.
Translator Ethan Mark has contributed a 39-page historiographical introduction explaining how Yoshimi’s work relates to the varied interpretations of the war put forth by Japanese scholars, a matter of keen interest to historians of Japan, but of limited appeal to general readers. Mark agrees with Yoshimi’s description of the Japanese political order after 1936 as ‘fascist’, an issue that has generated much controversy and debate among historians, both inside and outside Japan. The only definition of fascism offered, borrowed from historian Furuya Tetsuo, describes it as a form of dictatorship characterized by ‘uniform organization of the masses at the level of daily life’ and ‘the complete elimination of the roots of resistance and the mobilizing of the people in accordance with the wishes of authority’ (p. 18). Both Furuya and Yoshimi stress the importance of empire in the rise of Japanese fascism, arguing that much of the resistance it sought to crush came from the colonies and occupied areas rather than from the homeland.
In conclusion, Yoshimi’s book demonstrates widespread citizen support for Japan’s aggressive, military-led imperialism and documents army misdeeds: mass slaughters of Chinese prisoners of war, massacres of civilians, widespread looting, and the deployment of poison gas, through the words of observers and participants. Given the strength and coercive capacity of Japan’s ultra-nationalist right wing, it was a brave move even in 1987 for Yoshimi to publish such a forthright critique, drawing attention to Japanese racism, and revealing the widespread complicity of his fellow citizens in war crimes. Sad to say, but it surely would take considerably more courage to write or publish such a book in today’s neo-nationalist Japan of Abe Shinzō.