22. Isolating Japan from western ideas and culture
In the 1920s much of western culture was appreciated in Japan, including the game of baseball (introduced in 1872), motion pictures, music, and other activities. As Japanese militarism rose in the 1930s, bringing protests from the United States, the government in Japan began to severely curtail western products and behaviors. Motion pictures began to undergo severe censorship, particularly those from the United States. Western texts were removed from the schools, and replaced with government-approved works which stressed the duties of all Japanese citizens. In 1937, increasing tensions with the United States led to the Japanese freezing American assets throughout the Japanese Empire.
In 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor led to war with Great Britain and the United States, the Japanese government issued a pamphlet entitled Way of Subjects. It described the proper behavior and attitudes of the Japanese people. The book roundly condemned western attitudes and behavior, especially those of the United States and described the war in China, which it called the China Affair as, “a step toward the construction of a world of moral principles by Japan”. The pamphlet, which was called a “Bible for the Japanese people” by Prime Minister Konoe, further read, “Japan is the fountain source of the Yamato race, Manchukuo its reservoir, and East Asia is its paddy field”.
