Modern Japan: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Goto-Jones Christopher

Author:Goto-Jones, Christopher [Goto-Jones, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

9. Modernity at the crossroads, c.1928

For the first time in modern history, Japan became a net creditor nation.

Historians often overlook Japan’s role in World War I: it joined the war at the request of its ally, Great Britain, on 23 August of 1914, and then quickly occupied the German territories in East Asia, including Shangdong and Tsingtao. The Imperial Navy proceeded to occupy a string of Germany’s island colonies in October, including the Marshall Islands. Furthermore, Japan used the instability in the region to consolidate its position in Manchuria and to assert itself against a weakened China – issuing the so-called Twenty-One Demands for economic and territorial concessions. Elsewhere, Japan was involved in a joint campaign with the USA to attempt to bolster the ‘Whites’ in the Russian Revolution, which erupted in 1917, and it also sent a naval squadron of 17 ships to the Mediterranean to help escort British vessels based at Malta. Indeed, Japan’s involvement in World War I earned it a seat amongst the Big Four (Britain, France, USA, and Italy) in Versailles for the negotiation of the peace treaty in 1919, and also a permanent seat on the Council of the League of Nations – an achievement that postwar Japan has not accomplished in the United Nations.

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