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Will Japan adopt Fascism?
Interview with Mr Yosuke Matsuoka,
Japan’s last representative at the League of Nations.
By Gareth Jones.
Tokyo, March, 1935
Will Japan go Fascist? Many
observers believe that she already has many of the ingredients of
Fascism. They point out that the Army and the Navy are in command, that
militarism is lauded to the skies, that ‘dangerous thought’ is
suppressed, that there is persecution of Socialists and Communists and
that the political parties have little power. They refer to the
assassination of Cabinet Ministers by groups of ‘Young Officers’ in whom
they see the nucleus of a coming Fascist regime.
What does one of Japan’s outstanding
figures think of this so-called Japanese Fascist future? To find out I
visited Mr Matsuoka, the man who faced the world for his country at
Geneva and who is now leading a campaign to smash the political parties
and party system of Japan.
When this stockily built man with broad
rough features and Hitler-like moustache received me in his black silk
kimono, I asked him what his political aims were.
“I am agitating to abolish political
parties, he replied. “The West is already doing it. Even in England
the party system is undergoing a big change. According to your
constitutional usage, I believe, Mr MacDonald has no right to form a
government. Your constitutionality should demand Mr Baldwin as Prime
Minister, because he is leader of the majority party. Luckily you have
that envious ability to accommodate yourselves to circumstances in a
common sense way.
“Even in the United States politics are
not carried out now according to party lines. A great many so-called
Republicans support the President, while in California, Mr Sinclair, a
Socialist, was supported by Democrats. Thus in American party lines
have been erased.
“The disappearance of parties in Italy,
Russia and Germany is obvious to mention”.
“Do you then, Mr Masuoka, wish to
introduce Fascism?” I asked.
“No. In Japan, due to racial traits and
our history, we cannot carry out anything similar to what Mussolini and
what Hitler have been doing. It is not in our temperament to allow any
dictator to boss the whole country and such a thing has never happened
in Japan”.
“Has there been a movement towards
Fascism here?” I asked.
“Some people who saw the rise of
Mussolini were aroused, for it appealed to their imagination. But since
I came back from Geneva I have told the people that Mussolini can have
no place in Japan. He has done a lot of good but the establishment of
power by violence and autocratic rule cannot be carried out in Japan.
If we could only adopt the policy of Mussolini, it might be the shortest
way out of present situation, but it just cannot be done”.
“Why cannot Japan adopt Fascism”, I
asked.
Mr Masuoka replied: “Examine our
national and racial history. Take Hideyoshi, the greatest warrior
statesman of our country who live in the sixteenth century. Even he
could not do what Mussolini has done. He had to consult with the
daimyos, the lords. Hideyoshi did not unite Japan by force; he had to
use diplomacy and negotiate internal treaties by compromise. Take
Ilyasu, the founder of Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled for over two and
a half centuries until the Meiji Restoration of 1867. Ilyasu did not
have the power of a Hitler or a Mussolini. Even the Emperor has not
ruled the country autocratically”.
“Is a Fascist coup d’¢etat
possible?” I asked.
“It is possible. No man in Japan can
carry out a coup d’etat because without the army it cannot be done. You
cannot form like the Blackshirts or the stormtroopers. The standing
army and the police maintain the status quo. Not even the most popular
general or admiral could entice the army”.
“Might not the ‘Young Officers’ attempt
a coup d’etat?” I asked.
“Now and then the Young Officers have
tried to carry out a revolution. They are nationalist fiery and they are
deeply dissatisfied. They worry as to the future of the country. It is
not that they forget their duty, for they think that they are saving the
country. But no attempt has succeeded, because no man can move the
major part of the army or even one division. In England a Cromwell
arose, but in Japan no Cromwell can arise”.
“The Japanese have a temperament which
compels them to fight against power. When we are commanded we fight.
When we are persuaded we are softer in yielding than Europeans.
Foreigners believe that we are a disciplined race. That is wrong. We
are rebellious and lack discipline. No people are as independent as the
Japanese. They answer to emotion rather than to reason”.
“Why do you wish to abolish political
parties”, I asked.
“We must get away from Western democracy
which breeds corruption and return to the true Japanese democracy which
is the rule of the Emperor. The mainspring of our country is the
Emperor. He is responsible for all that happens in Japan. The Emperor
Meiji wrote in a letter: “If there is a man who is not contented, them I
am responsible”. The Emperor rules according to the will of Heaven. We
have a saying that the will of the people is the will of Heaven. That
is our Japanese democracy”.
“How does the party system clash with
that democracy?” I asked.
“The State Ministers are solely
responsible to the Emperor, and through the Emperor the Ministers are
responsible to the people. For 3,000 years we have had that notion.
That Ministers are responsible to Parliament can have no place in our
history, for you cannot make a Briton out of a Japanese in one day.
However, the idea has got into our politics that Ministers should be
responsible to Parliament and it causes confusion and corruption. I am
trying to convince the people that is not our way. We must get back to
real Japonism, which means not Fascism but that Japanese democracy which
is the rule of the Emperor.
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