132 great migrations (1900–1950) Kita Ikki became popular forums for those who wanted to expel the foreigners JAPANESE IMPERIALISM Japan believed it had earned its right to be as imperialistic as Western nations As a result, Japan began subjecting its neighbors to its rule It expanded into Hokkaido, subdued the indigenous Ainu, established treaty ports with extraterritoriality in Korea, took the Ryukyus, and fought a successful war with China Expansion was to gain prestige, materiel, and markets, similar to the goals of imperialism of the Western nations Indicating how successfully it had mastered the Western ways of imperialism and modernism, Japan beat Russia soundly in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 But the Western nations still looked down on Japan, which it resented At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Western powers rejected a Japanese demand for insertion of a racial equality clause in the League of Nations covenant As a result, Japan felt the need to prove that it was as superior By 1932 Japan had subjected Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria to its control The local populations of the conquered lands were exploited for the benefit of Japan After nearly half a century of conquest and exploitation, Japan enunciated the concept of the Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as justification for its aggression Anticipating a long struggle to develop the new Asia under Japan, its war planners established a multistage process to acquire resources of the region as follows: Raw materials and surplus food would come from the southern region, while Manchuria and North China would provide the resources for heavy industry The remaining areas of the sphere and parts of Asia outside it would serve as Japan’s market Japan would oversee the whole by providing planning, tools, skills, and military control GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES The geographic boundaries of the sphere were fluid, varying over time and political circumstance They encompassed the Micronesian mandates and often Melanesia and Polynesia and consistently included Hawaii It had three concentric rings The innermost one included Japan, Korea, and Manchuria A second ring would include China and extend to Hawaii A third ring would include whatever area was necessary to guarantee the total economic self-sufficiency of greater East Asia Areas of the sphere were divided into four categories Some lands were to be annexed outright; they included Guam, Mindanao, and Hawaii Others, including Indochina and the Dutch East Indies, were to become protectorates Some would be independent but would have unbreakable economic and defense bonds with Japan; these would be Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines The fourth group was independent states with economic ties to Japan; they would include Australia, New Zealand, and India Japan had economic rationale for enlarging the sphere It felt heavy pressure to find sources to become economically self-sufficient due to a Western embargo on key resources It needed the oil of the Dutch East Indies and the rubber of Indochina to support its industries and its military venture in China It also justified its imperialism by a perceived need for guaranteed markets for its manufactured goods as well as space for colonization by its people The Japanese had to sell their exploitative venture to the exploited Their slogan was “Asia for Asians,” and their message was the imperative of freeing Asia from the Western yoke They promised economic equity and growth To provide cover for their conquest, they installed puppets, local people who had the power to declare independence from the Western powers but not the power to exercise independence from Japan On December 12, 1941, Japanese media announced that the just-begun war it had instigated by attacking the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands in Asia was the “Greater East Asia War,” a crusade to rid greater East Asia of Chiang Kai-shek, communism, and Westerners Defeat by the United States and the Allies in 1945 ended Japan’s imperial dream and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere See also Sino-Japanese War; World War II Further reading: Beasley, W G Japanese Imperialism, 1894– 1945 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987; Gordon, Bill Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Available online URL: http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/papers/coprospr.htm Accessed March 2000; UCLA Center for East Asian Studies Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere http://www.isop ucla.edu/eas/restricted/geacps.htm (cited April 2006) John H Barnhill great migrations (1900–1950) During the period 1900 until 1950, there were vast migrations of people around the world—some peo-