Asian Current

Sweep towards Empire Part III

Japan may be regarded, along with Germany and Italy, as one of the three major dissatisfied “have-not” powers of the world. It was in Italian Fascist intellectual circles that the idea first found expression that there could just as logically be a “class struggle” between rich and poor nations as between the “bourgeoisie” and the “proletariat” in a single nation. German National Socialist leaders have displayed an increasing tendency to attribute their country’s economic difficulties largely to the lack of colonial sources of essential raw materials. Japan sees itself confronted with a similar problem, despite the acquisition of Manchoukuo. So the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Amau, recently remarked:-

Unfortunately the territories which now feed Japan’s population are too small. Weare advised to practice birth control, but this advice comes too late, since the population of the Japanese Empire is already about 1 00,000,000. Japanese work harder and longer than people in Western countries; their opportunities in life are more restricted. Why? We need more territory and must cultivate more resources if we are to nourish our population.

A succinct statement of Japan’s case as a “have-not” power is to be found in the following excerpt from a widely read Japanese economic textbook, which has been translated into English under the title Nippon: A Charted Survey:-

The territory of Japan represents one half per cent of the world’s total, while her population makes up five per cent of the world’s total. In other words, Japan’s population density is approximately ten times greater than the average population density of the world. Moreover, Japan is for the most part mountainous, favored with comparatively few stretches of open level land. Dearth of sown acreage and overpopulation are two distinct fundamental factors of Japan’s national life. It will be no exaggeration to say that this particular condition of the country underlies all the difficulties which its people find in their way.

The belief that overpopulation (in relation to available natural resources) is the root cause of Japan’s difficulties runs like a red thread through almost all Japanese publications on social and economic subjects. Even liberal and radical professors and publicists who are outspokenly or cautiously critical of the high-handed methods of the country’s military leaders are quick to point out that the world-wide restrictions on Japanese immigrants and Japanese goods greatly accentuate the strains within the Japanese social order and play into the hands of the advocates of violent courses.

There is abundant statistical proof that Japan’s position is that of a proletarian nation. It depends entirely, or almost entirely, on foreign sources for such vitally necessary raw materials as cotton, wool, rubber, and oil, which are the lifeblood of some of its most important industries. There is no mineral of any consequence which Japan possesses in surplus quantities; and there is an absolute lack or a grave deficiency of such valuable industrial ores as iron, lead, zinc, and nickel. Its consistent bad fortune in finding natural resources within its own frontiers is exemplified in the northern island of Sakhalin, which is divided between Japan and the Soviet Union. Diligent prospecting has revealed no oil in the southern Japanese part of the island, while there is an abundant supply of this liquid fuel on the Russian side of the border.