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Rise Of Japan Before World War 2 Essay

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The Rise of Japan Before World War II Before and during World War II, Japan had a slogan that said, “to die for the Emperor is to live forever,” (“Voices of Many,” par. 4). This was one of many philosophies that pushed the Japanese people to go to war to fight for their country. With the mass of soldiers that Japan accumulated before World War II, it was able to conquer more land. This push made Japan a bigger political power, but it also made Japan a bigger target, eventually helping it to gain enemies who wanted to take away their power. With these enemies, Japan made alliances with other countries to protect themselves. The alliances made with these countries then caused them to get into even more conflicts with other countries leading …show more content…
that has its main focus on the holiness of the emperor. It does this by stating that, “the emperor is descended from gods who created Japan and is therefore semidivine,” (“The World at War,” par. 10). This Shinto religion was popularized by the oligarchs of Japan and then was spread throughout to overtake Buddhism as the number one religion. The newfound popularity of this religion brought patriotism to a new, higher level. The citizens of Japan were unable to look at the emperor, or even simply say his name, exemplifying the extreme respect that was given to him. This then led to a new ideology created by the emperor of self-sacrifice. The ideology expressed that if the emperor calls for citizens to give their lives up in war, then they are to respect that and follow his orders. These suicide bombers eventually received the name of kamikaze, which, when translated, means, “divine wind” (“The World at War,” par. 12). When this principle was applied to war, it caused most of the young men of the country to go and fight for their country and their emperor on a moment’s …show more content…
The military movement that Japan created consisted of an economic reformation which also included their expansion, the foreign relations that Japan had with other countries due to expansion, the military based government, and the Shinto religion. When this movement is looked at in a larger point of view, it is easy to see that Japan implemented a very logical progress for each step of the evolution. This is the real reason that this historical event is still important to study and explore today because of this. When people look into the path that Japan took, they can learn from Japan’s mistakes. This way, countries can prevent going into worldwide wars that cost millions of lives and a widespread destruction of the countries involved. So by studying this change in Japan, it can prevent this same destruction of a country in the

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