Two steps toward disaster

 In the 1930s, Japan went through what is called the “Dark Valley.” It lost democratic institutions and descended into a dark place.

I’ve heard many Americans ask what happened to the Germans in the 1930s. But I don’t recall anyone wondering about similar events in Japan, a partner in the Axis.

When the last elements of democratic government were gone, the nationalist government carved out an empire at the expense of its neighbors. Perhaps 10 million people were killed during the occupation of China, to consider just one aggrieved neighbor. The atrocities were legion. Young Japanese soldiers were toughened up by undergoing bayonet training on living victims. Unit 731 conducted ghastly medical experiments.

The story of how Japan lost its democratic institutions is complicated and includes the assassination of two prime ministers. But two events stand out to me.

• The first was the passage of the Peace Preservation Law in 1929. It established something called the Thought Section, which could charge people with having dangerous thoughts. In three years, 59,000 people were charged. It’s important to remember that a lot of good people dissented and resisted.

• The second was the failed coup on Feb. 26, 1936. A group of army officers wanted to get rid of democracy and restore a strong leader. They wanted to make the emperor great again by restoring all his traditional, autocratic power. When the plot failed, no one was prosecuted for treason. There was no real punishment. The officers were said to be “patriots” who just wanted what was best for the country. It’s important because many people, perhaps most, believed that nonsense.

• Source: Ian W. Toll, Pacific Crucible; New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. This is Vol. 1 of the Pacific War Trilogy. Most of Toll’s discussion of this period of Japan’s history is in Chapter 3, pp. 63-123.