During World War I, Japan fought against Germany on the side of the Allies out of friendship with the Japanese and British allies. Unfortunately, however, the reward that Japan received from Europe and the United States after the war was a series of policies that oppressed Japan. In particular, the United States, which had maintained an unusual friendly relationship with Japan and had not hesitated to provide support since the founding of Japan, was suddenly uncharacteristically uncharacteristically acting as the vanguard of a policy of oppression against Japan. He advocated the abolition of the Japan-Britain alliance, the limitation of the power of the navy's capital ships at the Washington Conference, and the abolition of Ishii. The Lansing Agreement, the restriction of Japan's special rights and interests in Manchuria, as stipulated in the Nine-Power Treaty, and the enactment of an anti-Japanese immigration ban by the United States, all cast a shadow over Japan's future. It is not difficult to see that the purpose of these measures is to stop Japan's development, especially Japan's development to the mainland.

In addition, after the First World War, as an inevitable economic phenomenon after the war, it caused overproduction in the world market, which led to the sharpening of international trade competition. Japan, a backward capitalist country, was drawn into the international trade competition that had become more and more acute as it took a leap forward in industrialization during the World War to import goods from overseas and open up markets overseas. A poor country like Japan, which is not rich in materials and funds, has to find a miserable way out by relying on cheap labor to dump abroad. However, in order to combat dumping, European and American countries have adopted measures to build high tariff barriers among themselves. Japan had to be gradually squeezed out of world markets such as India and the South Market.

In the 3rd year of Showa, on the land of China. At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Japan expanded its influence in China and gained greater benefits. However, stealing chickens did not lead to a handful of rice, not only did all the interests in China be lost, but the Ryukyu Islands and Jeju Island were recaptured by China, and 800 million silver was lost. Loss of face and interests.

The global economic crisis that occurred in Showa 4 (1929) also dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese economy, especially the poverty in rural fishing villages. As a result of this crisis, the world's tariff war has intensified, led by Britain and the United States. The policies of various countries to protect the industry are increasingly strengthened. Finally, at the Ottawa Conference in Showa 7 (1932), the so-called bloc economy that formed the British Empire developed into a group.

In this way, the free flow of labor, goods, and capital between countries has finally been blocked. The doctrine of national self-determination, adopted at the Versailles Peace Conference, could only be viable if it was guaranteed by a normal international economic order. But. Mentioned above. The international economy is in the case of a blockade by the bloc. A country like Japan that is overpopulated, resource-poor, and underfunded. Its very existence is fundamentally threatened.

Militarism minimizes the internal contradictions that should have erupted. But it's not gone, it's the influence that is being pushed to its lowest point. Japan's expansion is inevitable. The German alliance was a logical one. From Showa 15 to the middle of Showa 18, more than three years of war of aggression allowed Japan to gain huge benefits, domestic contradictions were ignored in the expansion, and the posture of a strong country once again returned to Japan's hands. However, resources are scarce, and the military is reaching its limit. The United States, on the other hand, is growing stronger, and China's very uncertain attitude in particular has made Japan feel a kind of pressure that is difficult to breathe.

However, at the end of Showa 18, after joining the Allied Powers, Japan received a large amount of material aid at home and sided with the United States. However, with the occupation of Southeast Asia by China, Japan did not seem to be able to obtain the real benefits of joining the Allies.

Contradictions began to arise again, agricultural and industrial production reached historic lows, and poverty and unemployment became the basic social system in Japan.

On December 26, the fifteenth year of Zhongxing, the sky over Tokyo was covered with clouds, and the omen was ominous, and heavy snow had covered the whole city thickly, and it seemed that it was going to fall. It had fallen more than a foot in the first three nights, and it was snowing heavily for the first time in 54 years, and traffic was blocked, and some theaters had to be converted into temporary hotels for audiences who could not return home.

Despite its silver, Tokyo still looks almost always Western and Eastern. Japan has shaken off many of its feudal past, and has become the second advanced Westernized country in Asia after China. A few hundred horses away from the traditional tiled-roof Imperial Palace, a new four-story reinforced concrete building was the Imperial Household Provincial Building, which handled the affairs of the imperial court and the offices of the emperor. Beyond the ancient stone walls and moats surrounding the Imperial Palace, there is also a combination of east and west: a long line of new buildings such as the Imperial Japanese Theater and the Daiichi Life Building, which resemble Shanghai's entirely Chinese-style high-rise buildings, and just a few blocks away are narrow cobblestone streets, rows of geisha houses, sushi shops, and kimono shops, as well as crumbling small shops with warm curtains fluttering in the wind and colorful lanterns hanging from their doors, which exude a joyful atmosphere even on such a cloudy day.

Immediately off a hill from the palace is the unfinished Parliament Building, which is mainly made of stones quarried from Okinawa and looks like an Egyptian model. At the back of this majestic edifice are the spacious official residences of the heads of government. The largest of these is the Prime Minister's Residence, which consists of two buildings, and the office part is the office of the early Frank Frank. Lloyd. Western-style building in the Wright style, the living area is Japanese-style, with paper-thin walls, sliding doors, and tatami mats on the floor.

But in outwardly tranquil Tokyo, a commotion is brewing, a violent commotion that is about to rush into the snow-covered streets. At the outer end of the palace is the barracks of the 1st Division. The barracks were brought to the attention of the authorities when a major in the Ministry of the Army informed them that they were going to launch an armed rebellion. The whistleblower said that he had learned from a young military officer that a group of militants had planned to assassinate several of the Emperor's advisers on that day. Suspects have been placed under surveillance, and key politicians have been provided with bodyguards in case of emergency. The doors and windows of the Prime Minister's official residence are reinforced with steel bars and iron bars, and sirens are installed that lead directly to the Metropolitan Police Department. However, the gendarmerie and the police felt that they were more than capable of dealing with the situation. A handful of rebels, no matter how strongly motivated, can't make a big wave. At this point they were skeptical of the reliability of the intelligence that an imminent rebellion was to occur. The day is coming to an end.

Their complacent attitude seemed incredible, given the rebellious sentiment among the elite troops responsible for guarding the palace was very strong. Their arrogance is extremely obvious. Accordingly, an order has been issued to relocate them to the DPRK within a few days. They showed blatant contempt for the authorities, so much so that one unit went en masse to urinate in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in the name of an exercise. Another 1,400 of these disobedient officers and soldiers are planning to attack six targets in Tokyo, including the Metropolitan Police Department and the homes of several government officials, before dawn the next day.

While making complex preparations for these attacks, merry-seekers wander the darkening streets in search of recreation. Ginza – Tokyo's Fifth Avenue on Broadway – is already packed with bustling crowds. For Japanese youth, it has long since become a romantic symbol of the outside world, a wonderland of neon lights, women's ornament shops, cafes, Chinese and European movies, Western-style dance halls and Chinese restaurants. Not far from here is the Akasaka district, where kimonos are commonly worn by both men and women, and quaint Japan is also looking forward to a fun evening. Geisha with grease on their faces and colorful dance costumes. It seems to be an uninvited guest from ancient times. Sit in a rickshaw and walk through the willow-lined winding streets. The lights here are dim. The traditional Japanese red lanterns carried by the police emit a soft, homesick glow, as if a charming woodcut had come to life.

These rebels were not motivated by personal ambitions. Like the six groups that preceded them - all six failed - they tried to redress the injustices of Japanese society by means of violence and assassination.

These criminal acts are legitimized by Japanese traditions, which the Japanese have given a special term - "Shimokajo". The term was first used in the fifteenth century. Then. Rebellions have broken out everywhere at all levels. The local tycoons refused to obey the shogun (the de facto ruler of feudal Japan). They practiced secession, similar to the vassals, before Emperor Meiji (the father of the current Emperor Showa). For centuries, the emperor was nothing more than a symbolic figure acting as a puppet of the shogun, who in turn did not obey the emperor.

The collapse of autocracy in Europe after the First World War, followed by the emergence of a wave of democracy, socialism, and communism, had a huge impact on young people in Japan, and calls for change were loud. Political parties emerged one after another, and in 1924 the law of universal adult suffrage was introduced. However, all this happened too suddenly. In Japan, there are many people who regard politics as gambling or cash cows, and a series of scandals have been exposed, such as the Songdo red-light district scandal, the railway scandal, and the North Korea scandal. The denunciation of corruption and bribery led to a fierce quarrel in the Capitol building.

The explosive population growth that accompanied the Westernization of Japan deepened the confusion. Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Hokkaido are home to 80 million people. The national economy cannot afford to increase the population by about a million per year. Farmers, who were on the verge of starvation due to the collapse in the price of their products, began to organize the first protest in the history of Japan. Tens of thousands of urban workers have lost their jobs and have been forced to sleep on the streets. Left-wing parties and trade union organizations have sprung up.

However, these movements were resisted by militarist organizations. The most famous leader of such an organization is Kita Kazuki. Kita was both a nationalist and a fiery revolutionary, combining socialism with imperialism. His pamphlet on reform, the Outline of the National Reform Act, was admired not only by radicals, but also by admirers of the emperor. Kita's remarks appealed to all those who were eager for reform. "Japan is following the devastating example of Western countries," Kita wrote. Those who possessed financial, political, and military power, under the protection of imperial power, were defending their unjust rights and interests.......

"Without our protection and leadership, the 700 million brothers of India and China will never be able to achieve independence."

"The history of the East and the West is nothing more than a record of the unification of feudal states after an era of civil war. The only possible international peace is the feudal peace achieved after the international wars of this era. This peace will be achieved by the emergence of the most powerful state that can rule over the nations of the world. ”

He called on everyone to "remove the barriers between the emperor and the people," that is, to abolish the cabinet and the Diet. Only the head of the family had the right to vote, and no one was allowed to amass property of more than 1 million yen (about 500,000 US dollars at the time). Important industries should be nationalized, and an authoritarian dictatorship system should be established. Women's activities can only be confined to the family circle in order to "carry forward the ancient Japanese flower and tea ceremony".

Millions of impressionable, idealistic young people already have a deep hatred for corruption in politics and finance, as well as poverty in their families. No wonder they were immediately hooked. They were able to fight against these evil forces and communism, liberate the East from Western domination and make Japan the leader of the nations of the world.

In the West, such young people would have been able to join trade unions or become political agitators to find their way. However, many young people in Japan, especially those from small landowners or merchant families, feel that the best way to do this is to become an officer in the army or navy. Once enlisted. They learned more deeply about the situation of poverty from the mouths of soldiers. These soldiers. Every time I receive a letter from home, I cry bitterly - the whole family is on the verge of starvation because my son is far away. Young officers felt that the responsibility lay with their superiors, politicians, and court officials. They join clandestine organizations, some of which call for direct action and assassination. Others advocate territorial expansion abroad. Internally, reforms are being implemented.

Showa 3 years. Because of the military's defeat in China, a large number of interests in China disappeared, and nearly two billion yen in compensation (ornate and vague conversion). The uproar has reached a fever pitch. But it was thanks to two extraordinary figures operating within the military that the long-awaited plan was put into action. One is Ishihara Waner Nakasa, and the other is Sakagaki Seishiro Osa. The former is talented, quick-witted, pompous, and has a lot of ideas, while the latter is calm, thoughtful, and organized. The two of them are perfect together. As long as Ishihara wants it, Itagaki can do it. Both were staff officers of the Kwantung Army. In 1905, in order to protect Japanese interests, this army was sent to Korea, an area comparable to the size of Japan's four islands.

The two officers believed that the only way to solve Japan's poverty was in Korea and China, and that it would be possible to turn the desolate Korea into a civilized and prosperous region, which would reduce unemployment at home and find a way out for the overpopulated homeland, where more than two-thirds of the farms covered less than two and a quarter acres. North Korea would also provide Japan with a guaranteed source of raw materials and a market for finished products that it desperately needed to maintain its status as an industrial nation. However, Ishihara and Sakagaki believed that none of this would be possible unless Japan had full control of Korea and the northeastern part of China. Manchuria was still under the rule of the warlord Marshal Zhang Zuolin, but the rule was very loose, and Japan had only the right to station troops along the railroad lines and engage in mining, agriculture and commerce.

For hundreds of years, the struggle for this large piece of land in northern China has never stopped. At that time, the Chinese occupied Manchuria and Korea, and the Russians occupied the coastal strip of Siberia from the Bering Strait to Vladivostok, known as Primorsky Krai. For many centuries, Japan closed itself off from the rest of the world, and until 1853 it was never involved in the struggle for this land. That year, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthews. Perry sailed into Edo Bay and used artillery to force medieval Japan to accept modern life. The Japanese firmly accepted this choice. They painstakingly copied the latest technology of mass production, and even added innovative practices, such as the wearing of roller skates by female weavers in order to operate more spindles. They built up powerful armies and navies, and began to emulate European military diplomacy by sending crusading expeditionary forces. Within a few decades, Japan had taken control of most of Korea and fought a war with China in 1894 over Korea. Japan easily won the war, gaining Taiwan, the southern tip of Manchuria and the Liaodong Peninsula and its two important military ports, Lushun and Dalian.

However, this situation soon disappeared, and the domestic contradictions were further intensified. The cherry blossom festival, which had disappeared eleven years ago, began to resurgence after Singapore was occupied by the Chinese, and it is spreading at a rapid pace.

At the moment in Tokyo, members of the Sakura Society are secretly plotting a coup d'état to echo the North Korean rebellion. Their primary aim is to bring about radical reforms at home. These reforms, combined with the conquest of Korea, would make Japan a new nation. Involved in this conspiracy were one hundred and twenty officers and their troops. The rebels planned to kill the government and the imperial dignitaries first, and then gather in front of the palace to collectively cut their stomachs as a plea to the emperor.

However, there were too many factions involved in the coup d'état, and there were different opinions, so some people went to snitch it. It is not known whether the whistleblower was motivated by infighting or money, but the coup plotters were arrested by Hideki Tojo's secret police before they even began, and the leader was imprisoned for 20 days and his assistant for 10 days. The rest of the accomplices were only blamed. Again, the old rule is that amnesty should be granted to anyone who has actually committed or planned to commit acts of violence, if it is for the honour of the country.

At this time, the news of Singapore's defeat reached Japan, and he was arrested and all of them committed suicide in prison as a warning to the emperor.

However, Tojo Hideki was not allowed to get angry, and in order to deal with a new round of expansion offensive in China, Hirohito convened a rare imperial council and called everyone who could be called.

The Imperial Council was held in the Imperial Palace on the same day, and Hideki Tojo, who was also the first minister and two ministers (the first minister was naturally the prime minister, the second minister was, the minister of war, and the minister of foreign affairs. The meeting was attended by the President of the Planning House and other ministers of state, as well as the President of the Privy Council, the Chief of Staff, the Chief of the Military Command Department, the Deputy Chief of Staff, and the Deputy Secretary of the Military Command Department. (To be continued......)

PS: Actually, in the gorgeous outline, this chapter is not like this. However, the main meaning has not changed. If you remember the Sakura Association, maybe it will end up in Little Japan. (TBD!!) ）