Part 7

Japanese statesmen continually stressed this idea of an East Asiatic bloc in their speeches. To make its realization possible, they concluded the alliance with Germany. Barring an outright German victory in Europe, however, the difficulties which confront Tokyo’s advance toward mastery of East Asia are still formidable.

For Japan’s economic resources are at a low ebb. Industrial production has begun to decline. Foreign trade is falling off, and reserves of foreign currency are low. China is unconquered, and relations with the Soviet Union are uncertain. The British Empire and the United States, which stand guard over southeast Asia, are the mainstays of Japan’s foreign trade. By moving against them in that region, Japan might risk everything gained thus far. For the first time, she would be staking her future on a war with powers that control the seas and access to world markets. She would be facing all the dangers that she successfully avoided in the World War of 1914-18.

Japan’s geographical location, close to the scene of action in the Far East, is still her great strategic advantage. Her economic deficiencies have been, and continue to be, her main source of weakness. The ratio between these two controlling factors may well determine the immediate future. Is Japan’s new Empire to reach out over immensely larger areas, or is it to suffer its first great defeat?

SUGGESTED READING

BORTON, HUGH. _Japan Since 1931._ New York. Institute of Pacific Relations. 1940. Political and social developments within Japan during the past decade. Rather technical.

COLEGROVE, KENNETH W. _Militarism in Japan._ New York. World Peace Foundation. 1936. The army’s role in Japan, and a study of the military-fascist movement. Fairly advanced but readable.

CROW, CARL. _He Opened the Door of Japan._ New York. Harper. 1939. The life of Townsend Harris, first American Minister to Japan (1856-62). Very readable.

ISHIMOTO, BARONESS. _Facing Two Ways._ New York. Farrar and Rinehart. 1935. A noted Japanese feminist leader tells the story of her life. Popular and readable.

NORMAN, E. HERBERT. _Japan’s Emergence as a Modern State._ New York. Institute of Pacific Relations. 1940. Discussion of Japan’s political and economic reforms during the Meiji era. Technical.

OMURA, BUNJI. _The Last Genro._ Philadelphia. Lippincott. 1938. The story of Prince Saionji’s life, covering the whole period of Japan’s modern development. Entertaining narrative style.

REISCHAUER, ROBERT K. _Japan: Government--Politics._ New York. Nelson. 1939. Sketches the growth of Japanese government from earliest times. Fairly advanced but readable.

RUSSEL, OLAND D. _The House of Mitsui._ Boston. Little Brown. 1939. Three centuries of the Mitsui family’s history, beginning in Tokugawa times. Readable.

SANSOM, G. B. _Japan: A Short Cultural History._ New York. Century. 1931. The best recent history of Japan, covering events up to 1868. Technical.

YOUNG, A. MORGAN. _Imperial Japan, 1926-1938._ New York. Morrow. 1939. Also _Japan in Recent Times, 1912-1926_. New York. Morrow. 1931. Narrative accounts of more recent phases of Japanese history. Readable.

SUGGESTED PERIODICALS: _Amerasia_; _Asia_; _Far Eastern Survey_; and _Pacific Affairs_.

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A NOTE ON HEADLINE BOOKS

_Shadow Over Asia_ is one of the Foreign Policy Association’s HEADLINE BOOKS. The object of the series is to provide sufficient unbiased background information to enable readers to reach intelligent and independent conclusions on the important international problems of the day. HEADLINE BOOKS are prepared under the supervision of the Department of Popular Education of the Foreign Policy Association with the cooperation of the Association’s Research Staff of experts.

The Foreign Policy Association is a non-profit American organization founded “to carry on research and educational activities to aid in the understanding and constructive development of American foreign policy.” It is an impartial research organization and does not seek to promote any one point of view toward international affairs. Such views as may be expressed or implied in any of its publications are those of the author and not of the Association.

For further information about HEADLINE BOOKS and the other publications of the Foreign Policy Association, write to the Department of Popular Education, Foreign Policy Association, 22 East 38th Street, New York, N. Y.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T. A. Bisson has been the Foreign Policy Association’s specialist on Far Eastern affairs since 1929. He has taught in China and travelled widely in the Far East. In addition to writing numerous Foreign Policy Reports, he is the author of _Japan in China_, published by the Macmillan Company in 1938, and _American Policy in the Far East, 1931-1940_, published by Institute of Pacific Relations in 1940.

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Transcriber’s Note:

Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are mentioned, except for the frontispiece.