How the public participated in the war of aggression

The Hankyoreh reviews "Totalitarian Empire of Japan" by Louise Young, a work that critically examines the mechanisms through which the Japanese public became complicit in imperial aggression. The book challenges the notion that imperialism was solely a top-down imposition, instead highlighting a 'collaborative product' forged from the convergence of popular aspirations, media sensationalism, and state policies.

Young's research reveals how major Japanese newspapers like Asahi and Mainichi transformed the Manchurian Incident into a spectacle, boosting their circulation by selling narratives of imperial expansion and heroic exploits. This media portrayal fostered a public embrace of the 'Manchurian myth,' leading citizens to internalize these imperial victories as their own. Consumer activities, such as department store exhibitions and tourism promotions focused on Manchuria, further normalized the idea of the region not as a war-torn territory but as an exotic and accessible consumer paradise.

The review underscores the book's argument that this consumerist imperialism, which allowed the public to benefit from the empire's expansion without confronting the violence involved, fostered a dangerous moral insensitivity towards war. The state, facing issues like the Great Depression and overpopulation, presented 'Manchurian immigration' as a solution. While impoverished farmers dreamed of Manchuria as a land of promise, escaping landlord oppression, this migration was predicated on the violent dispossession of local Chinese and Korean populations.

"Totalitarian Empire of Japan" serves as a stark warning, extending beyond a mere critique of Japan's past. It illuminates how 'institutionalized evil' can fester by exploiting the everyday lives and desires of ordinary people. The book's analysis of media monopolies, the numbing effect of consumerism on critical thinking, and the mobilization of the masses through blind patriotism in times of national crisis offers a deeply relevant commentary on contemporary societal dynamics, urging us to recognize the parallels in our own times.