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Institute of International Education

International Relations Clubs

Syllabus No. XI

The Politicaland Economic

Expansion of Japan

By Walter B. Pitkin
Associate Professor of Journalism
Columbia University, New York City

October, 192
 The Institute of International Education
419 West 1 17th Street, New York
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DIRECTOR

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bureau divisions
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Institute of International Education

International Relations Clubs

Syllabus No. XI

The Politicaland Economic

Expansion of Japan

By Walter B. Pitkin
. Associate Professor of Journalism
Columbia University, New York City

October, 1921
 A?

,r
^4* » f
 PREFACE
The following chronological outline has been drawn for the
express purpose of delineating, in its simplest form, the course
of Japan's political, economic and military expansion from the
earliest times to date. The temptation has been to include many
detailed statistics on trade and military budgets and treaty terms,
but all these have been reduced to the barest series of hints. The
student is expected to turn back to the various statistical sources
here mentioned, in order to fill in for himself the continuity of
Japan's remarkable development. He should also study the
chronology with a map and mark it with the appropriate dates
of each major development in territorial acquisition, railway
building, and trade concession. Only thus can a clear picture of
the whole evolution be gained.
Unfortunately, no book has ever been written on the precise
correlation between military and economic expansion in the Far
East. Certain phases of this, to be sure, have been dealt with in
the various works alluded to in the following bibliography. But
he who seeks a full understanding of the manner in which business
and empire have gone hand in hand in Japan must piece together
the story for himself, using trade reports in conjunction with the
diplomatic and political records. Needless to say, such a task is
by no means easy. But it should be done, in rough outline at least.

Walter B. Pitkin
New York, October i, 1921

3]
 :

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following books deal with most of the phases of Japanese
expansion

Abbott, J. F., Japanese Expansion and American Policies

Gibbons, H. A., The New Map of Asia
Hall,Arnold B., The Monroe Doctrine and the Great War
Hart, A. B., The Monroe Doctrine
Hornbeck, S. K., Contemporary Politics in the Far East
lyenaga, T. and Sato, K., Japan and the California Problem
Kawakami, K. K., Japan in World Politics
Latane, J. H., From Isolation to Leadership
Millard, T. F., Democracy and the Eastern Question
Pitkin, W. Must We
Fight Japan?
B.,
r
The Truth About China and Japan
Weale, B. L. Putnam- Reshaping the Far East
The Fight for the Republic in China
^

A good general bibliography on Japan down to 191 6 is to be

found in the Japan supplement of the New York Evening Pasty
December 30, 1916, pages 25 and 26.
A recent bibliography of Japanese- American relations, bearing
in part on Japanese expansion, has been compiled by the New
York Public Library, and published in the Library Bulletins of
January and February, 1921.
For the texts of various important Japanese treaties and agree-
ments concerning matters of political, military, and economic
expansion, see the various Japan Year Books, particularly that
for 1910.
Details of Japan's commercial expansion will be found in the
various bulletins and annual reports of the U. S. Department of
Commerce, as well as in the Japan Year Book.
A general survey of Japanese history and trade is found in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, under ''Japan."

4]
 EARLY ATTEMPTS AT EXPANSION
In the third century the Empress Jingo, of Japan, conquered
Korea, but the Japanese did not remain long in the country.

1587. Hideyoshi issued the first decree expeUing all foreigners from
Japan. It was not strictly enforced.

1 592-1 598. The first Japanese invasion of the Asiatic mainland

took place. Hideyoshi, a great commander, sent 300,000
soldiers into Korea, for the purpose of conquering China. He
crushed the Koreans in a series of terrible massacres on land,
but was finally beaten by Korean sailors, who devised the
first crude ironclads ever used. The campaign lasted six and

one half years and cost a quarter of a million lives.

1614. Tokugawa Shogun issued a decree of expulsion against for-

eigners and undertook to enforce it.

1638. The expulsion of foreigners begun in 1614 came to its tri-

umphant finish with the massacre of thirty-seven thousand
Japanese Christians. From now on Japan remained abso-
lutely closed to outsiders for two hundred and seventeen
years.

Adams, Francis O., The History of Japan From the Earliest

Period. London, 1875. Vol. I.

NINETEENTH CENTURY EXPANSION

1 861. Russia suddenly seized the Island of Tsushima, but was
obliged to withdraw through the intervention of the British
minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock, and Admiral J. Hope, com-
mander of the British-China squadron.
1863. Kagoshima was bombarded by a British squadron in August,
and in the following year Shimonoseki was also bombarded
by the Allied squadrons of England, America, France and
Holland. The murder of a Mr. Richardson, a Shanghai
merchant, by some retainers of the Lord of Satsuma, was the
cause of the attack.

1868. Japan demanded from Korea recognition of the New Imperial

Government. The Koreans refused, and war threatened, but
was blocked by the Japanese statesmen themselves.

1 87 1. Formosan headhunters killed some natives of the Loo-choo

Islands, which had long been paying tribute to both China
and Japan. Japan demanded redress. China refused to aid
in securing such redress, claiming she had no jurisdiction over
the aboriginal inland tribes that had committed the offence.
Japan sent three thousand soliders to Formosa. In the en-
suing settlement, October 31, at Peking, Japan established
exclusive suzerainty over the Loo-choo Islands.

1872. Commerce before Japan's "industrial revolution." A sig-

nificant manner of considering the expansion is to look at the
volume of imports and exports per capita in the country. On
this basis, in 1872, the average Japanese contributed only
half a yen, or about twenty-five cents, to his country's ex-
ports, while he received from abroad only seventy-nine sen,
or about thirty-eight cents worth of all imports.

Exports Imports
17,026,647 yen 26,174,815 yen

1875. Ogasawara-jima, or Bonin, was recognized by America as

Japan's possession.
After years of negotiation with Russia over the title to the
island of Sakhalin, Japan agreed to recognize the territory as
belonging to Russia, provided that Russia recognized Japan's
title to the Kuriles. Russia accepted this arrangement.

1876. Japan forced Korea to sign a treaty with her in which Korea
was recognized as an independent state (no longer under vas-
16]
 salage to China) and was empowered to enter into treaties
with other powers on a parity.

1880. Final conferences were held in Peking over the title to the
Loo-choo Islands. The Chinese plenipotentiary refused to
sign without further consultation and authorization; the
Japanese withdrew, construing China's failure as final evi-
dence of recognition of Japan's suzerainty over Loo-choo.

1882. Korea, torn by Chinese and Japanese intrigues, signed foreign

treaties and soon afterward mobs destroyed the Japanese
legation building at Seoul, Thereupon, both China and Japan
sent three thousand soldiers to Seoul. The menace war was
of
deferred by some inconsequential diplomatic patching-up.
Trade Expansion
Exports Imports
37,721,751 yen 29,446,594 yen

1884. Korean and Chinese troops under Yuan Shi-Kai attacked the
palace in Seoul which Japanese troops were defending.
Serious friction was narrowly averted.

1885. Prince Ito and Li Hung Chang signed a new convention con-
cerning Korea. Both China and Japan therein agreed to
evacuate Korea and to help this country create its own home
defence.

1 89 1. Trade Expansion
Exports Imports
79,527,272 yen 62,927,268 yen

Callahan, James M., American Relations in the Pacific and.

theFar East, 1784-IQ00, Johns Hopkins Press, 1901.
Chamberlain, Basil H., Things Japanese, London, 1898.

THE WAR WITH CHINA

1894. China's continued claim of sovereignty over Korea led more
and more to conflicts with Japanese policy. On July 23, after
a long series of factional quarrels between pro-Chinese and

[7]
 pro-Japanese groups in Korea, some Japanese kidnapped the
Queen of Korea and her children, and appointed a pro-
Japanese regent. On
July 25, the Chinese transport "Kow-
shing" was sunk by Japanese cruisers. On August i, Japan
declared war on China. The war lasted only seven and one
halfmonths, and ended in an overwhelming Japanese victory
which brought the following terms in the Treaty of Shim-
onoseki, April 17, 1895:
China was bound (i) to agree to complete independence of
Korea; (2) to cede the Liaotung peninsula and ics littoral;
(3) and Formosa and the Pescadores; (4) to pay indemnity
of two hundred million taels; (5) to open up Shashih,
Chung-King, Suchow and Hangchow to commerce, and the
Yangtze to navigation. The second clause Japan had to
renounce owing to the pressure exerted by Russia, Ger-
many, and France, and had to console herself with the
thirty million taels paid by China for it. Japan was to
receive that part of Manchuria south of the line drawn
from the mouth of the Anping river to the mouth of the
Liao; also the Pescadores and Formosa. Russia, Germany
and France protested the occupation of the mainland by
Japan. Their polite show of power led Japan to accede,
especially as she had been financially exhausted by the war.
The war with China was a powerful stimulant to Japanese
commercial expansion. It marks the beginning of the Em-
pire's conscious efforts to attain the economic, as well as the
political level of the great world powers, by the development
of manufactures and trade.
Compare the figures below given with those of 1 891.

1897. Trade Expansion

Exports Imports
163, 135*077 yen 219,300,772 yen

1902. January. Japan entered an entente with Great Britain.

THE WAR WITH RUSSIA

1904. After a long period of Russian aggression in Manchuria and
adjacent territories, during which the Czar and his agents
resorted to trickery, fraud, and violence, against both

[81
 Chinese and Japanese, Japan went to war with Russia. The
war ended with the Portsmouth Treaty. This Treaty stipu-
lated that Russia transfer Port Arthur and the territory
adjacent to Japan; that Russia recognize the paramount
interest of Japan in Korea; that Manchuria be restored to
China"; and that the portion of Sakhahn south of the fiftieth
parallel of latitude be ceded to Japan.
Japan also won from Russia one hundred and sixty versts
(one hundred and six miles) of the Central Manchurian Rail-
way, north of the zone occupied by Japanese forces at the
end of hostilities. This concession was made through a con-
fusion for which Count Witte was responsible. It placed the
control of the Sungari wheat fields in Japan's hands, as well
as permanently destroying the military value of the whole
Trans-Siberian Railway from Harbin to Vladivostok. From
this date forth the Russian Maritime provinces fell under the
strategic domination of Japan.

1905. Trade Expansion

Exports Imports
321,533,610 yen 488,538,017 yen

In 1905, the average Japanese was sending abroad 6.70 yen,

or more than thirteen times as much as in 1872; and he was
receiving 10.18 yen worth of imports, or again thirteen times
as much as in 1872.
In September, the Japanese-British entente was revised into
an offensive-defensive alliance which insured the integrity of
China and the territorial rights of both signatories in India
and Eastern Asia, each party guaranteeing to aid the other
in the event such rights were jeopardized through the activi-
ties of any third power. (Japan Year Book, 1910, page
429 etc.)

1907. On April Japan and China formally entered into an agree-

15,
ment concerning railway development and control. (Japan
Year Book, 1910, page 437.)
France and Russia concluded ententes with Japan in which
the status quo of the contracting parties in the Far East was
guaranteed.

l9l
1908. Philander Knox, Secretary of State of the United States
proposed to the Great Powers a plan of neutralizing the rail-
ways of Manchuria. This was rejected because of Russian
and Japanese opposition.

1909. British and American financiers planned to construct the

Chinchow-Aigun Railway which would parallel the Man-
churian Railway taken over by Japan.
On August 19, Japan-China Agreements concerning the
Antung-Mukden Railway, Chiento and other outstanding
questions with China were concluded.

1910. On January 21, Japan sent a reply to America declining Sec-

retary of State Knox's proposal to neutralize the South Man-
churian Railway.
On August Treaty of Annexation was signed by the
22, the
Representatives of Japan and Korea and was made public
on August 29. Korea became officially a part of the Japanese
Empire.
By 1910 Japan had full control of all railways in Manchuria
east of the Liao river, all the mines there, and a new salt
manufacturing enterprise which was forcing its product on
the Chinese, in spite of the fact that salt was a Chinese gov-
ernment monopoly. The lumber business of the Yalu dis-
trict was also completely in the hands of Japan.

191 1. During the Revolution in China Japan sent infantry to the

city of Hankow (six hundred miles up the Yangtze river).
These forces are still there. Japan has subsequently erected a
large wireless station there.

1913. Under the agreement of this year with China, Japan financed
and constructed four railway lines in Manchuria. The official
opinion as to the possibilities of the lines and the territories
they traverse is that
"the population within the present limits of the four lines
numbers between twenty and thirty millions, but the re-
gion can easily support double this number. The farming
as at present conducted is so rough that each family oc-
cupies on an average twenty-five to thirty-five acres."
In October an agreement about railway concessions in Man-
churia was concluded between Japan and China.
[10]
 JAPAN IN THE WORLD WAR
1914. Japan entered the World War on the side of the AlHes. On
October 6, the Japanese squadron occupied the German
possessions of Jaluitand about a week later several of the
;

Mariana, Marshall and Caroline groups were occupied. One

survey ship was captured.
Japan took over the Marshall Islands, and made the
Japanese language compulsory in the schools.

1915. The Japanese criminal and code for the Marshall Islands
civil

was issued. Japan took over the Yap cable under the League
of Nations ruHng. This cable connects with Shanghai,
Menado (Celebes) and Guam.
On January 18, Japan served the "twenty-four demands" on
China. (For text, see B. L. Putnam Weale: Fight for the
Republic in China. Appendix.)
On April Japan submitted her "revised twenty-one
26,
demands" on China. (For text and events in connection with
this move, compare Putnam Weale The Fight for the Republic
:

in China, page loi, ff.)

On July 8, the New Russo-Japanese Convention was promul-

gated as follows:

The Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia, having

resolved by united efforts to obtain permanent peace in
the Far East, agreed upon the following:

Article I. Japan will not become party to any arrangement

or political combination directed against Russia.
Russia will not become party to any arrangement
or political combination directed against Japan.

Article II. In case the territorial rights or special interests

in the Far East of one of the contracting parties
recognizedby the other contracting party are
menaced, Japan and Russia will act in concert
on the measures to be taken in view of the sup-
port or co-operation necessary for the protection
and defence of these rights and interests.

[II]
 :

19 1 8. Civil Administration in the Marshall Islands was begun under

the control of the Japanese navy.
Location and jurisdiction of officers of the civil administra-
tion department created by the Japanese Navy's authority
in 1 91 8, for the South Sea Islands group administered by
Japan
Location Jurisdiction
Saipan Mariana Islands
Palau West Carolines, west of east longitude 137°
Yap West Carolines, east of east longitude 137
Truk East Carolines, west of east longitude 154
Ponape East Carolines, east of east longitude 154
and Marshalls, west of east longitude 154
Jaluit Marshalls, east of east longitude 160

FINANCIAL EXPANSION OF JAPAN SINCE THE

WORLD WAR
1918. During year Japanese banks and syndicates made
this
twenty-nine loans to the Chinese Government and Chinese
enterprises totalling 246,400,000 yen.These loans were, in
the main, for military railways, telephones and forestry.
And it was such assets as these latter that were given as
security for the loans.
Of all the loans, the most important politically was the one
for 26,000,000 yen made to the Shantung railways as a conse-
quence of the Shantung Railway Agreement of September 24,
191 8, according to which Japan was to garrison permanently
the capital of Shantung province, to control the police in the
railway zone, and to fill all the important railway posts. On
September 28, the Chinese Minister to Japan secretly signed
at Tokio the Manchurian and Mongolian Railway Agree-
ment, according to which the Industrial Bank of Japan, the
Bank of Taiwan, and the Bank of Chosen would finance the
construction of four railways lying northeast of Peking and
effectively dominating not only the capital but also the entire
territory to the north and east thereof. The violent opposi-
tion to this project among the Chinese prevented the ratifica-
tion of the agreement within the stipulated time limit of four
months.
[12]
1920. Japan began withdrawing troops from the Amur Provinces of
Siberia and concentrated them along the Chinese Eastern
Railway and in the Maritime Provinces.
A special commission of inquiry, appointed by China to in-
vestigate the activities of the Japanese over the Chinese
Eastern Railway, declared as to bandit raids in the vicinity
of the railroad which spans the Province of Manchuria, that
it was "plain that certain bandits were armed with Japanese

guns," and "that a foreign influence is exercised in favor of the

bandits for the evident purpose of destroying Chinese auth-
ority." The Japanese have installed themselves in the build-
ings of the company.
"Japan has acted independently, in spite of the Allies, in
Northern Manchuria, in Transbaikalia, and in the Amur
Province, and is today virtual master of Harbin, of Chita,
and of Blavovestchenok Evidence is accumulating
. . .

that Japan has followed a set plan since 191 7."

At various times since the Armistice Japanese business men
and foreign investors have acquired a large number of con-
cessions and created many corporations in the Far Eastern
Republic, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and the PhiHppines.
The gross investments of Japanese in China are not precisely
known, but reliable financial authorities estimate them as
ranging between $750,000,000 and $1,250,000,000. No trust-
worthy figures are at hand to show the extent of the Siberian
investments.

Trade Expansion
Exports Imports
1,928,000,000 yen 2,320,000,000 yen

Japan comes next to the United Kingdom in the Indian trade

returns. A decade ago, the bulk of Japan's trade with India
was carried in British bottoms, financed by British banks and
distributed by British or Indian traders. Now, ninety per
cent of the goods go in Japanese steamers, and they are to a
large extent financed by Japanese banks, and distributed by
Japanese nationals. Similar conditions obtain in the export
trade, but reports from many quarters tell of growing dis-
satisfaction with Japanese goods on the part of the Indian
consumer.
1 13]
 : —

THE AWARD OF THE YAP CABLE TO JAPAN

At the Council of the Great Powers at Versailles, Japan in-
sisted from the start that the Japanese Government was en-
titled to German rights and interests in the Island of Yap.
A mandate was granted to Japan by the League of Nations,
which was accepted.
—
The United States has maintained and still maintains
that it was never a party to the agreement by which Yap was
conferred upon Japan, and it has also insisted upon equal
commercial opportunities for all nationals in the mandated
territories. A special protest has been lodged concerning the
violation of American interests and rights in the assignment of
the German cable station to the Japanese Government.
During 1921 the State Department and the Japan Foreign
Office took up the question with a view to achieving a settle-
ment prior to the Disarmament Conference at Washington.
While progress is being made in that direction, no final
result has as yet been announced by either Power.

GROWTH OF POPULATION
Japan took her first census in 1920. The figures are given
below. For her previous rate of growth, see the Government
estimates in the Japan Year Book for the desired period.

Japanese Census 1920.

The distribution of the population is as follows

Japan proper 55,961,140

Korea 17,284,207
Formosa 3,654,000
Sakhalin 105,765

Total 77,005,112

14
 INCREASE IN SHIPPING
In 1855 Japan had one steamship, presented by the Dutch
Government. In 1870 there were 35 steamers with a total of
15,498 tons:

1872 23,364 tons

1882 42,199
1892 165,764
1902 610,446
1912 702,738
1914 1,177,760
1918 2,310,960
1921 2,995,878

SaiHng boats are not included in above figures.

[15
 1

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS
1919
*Announcement of Founding of Institute.

1920
Bulletin No. i. First Annual Report of the Director.
*Bulletin No. 2. For Administrative Authorities of Universities
and Colleges.
Bulletin No. 3. Observations on Higher Education in Europe.
Opportunities for Higher Education in France.
Opportunities for Graduate Study in the British Isles.

192

Bulletin No. Second Annual Report of the Director.

i.

Bulletin No. 2. Opportunities for Higher Education in Italy.

*Bulletin No. 3. Serial of an International Character.
(Tentative List for Libraries)
*Bulletin No. 4. Educational Facilities in the United States for
South African Students.
Bulletin No. 5. Guide Book for Foreign Students in the United
States.
Bulletin No. 6. See Syllabus No. VII.

For the International Relations Clubs

Syllabus No. I. Outline of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Syllabus No. II. The Past, Present and Future of the Monroe Doc-
trine.
Syllabus No. III.The History of Russia from Earliest Times.
Syllabus No. IV. The Russian Revolution.
Syllabus No. V. The Question of the Balkans.
Syllabus No. VI. Modern Mexican History.
Syllabus No. VII. Hispanic- American History.
Syllabus No. VIII. The Question of the Near East.
Syllabus No. IX. China Under the Republic.
Syllabus No. X. The Baltic States.
Syllabus No. XI. The Political and Economic Expansion of Japan.

*Out of print.

16
 '&ir-

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Addams, Jane Mali, Pierre

Alderman, President Edwin Main, President J. H. T.
Ames, Dean Herman V. Mannes, David
Andrews, Fanny Fern Marling, Alfred E.
Biggs, Dr. Herman Meiklejohn, President A.
Blakeslee, Professor G. H. M ill ken. Professor R. A.
i

Brookings, Robert S. Moore, Professor E. H.

Bru^re, Henry Morgan, William Fellowes
Bull, Dr. Carroll G. Neilson, President W. A.
Burton, President M. L. Noyes, Professor Arthur A,
Byrne, James Payne, President Bruce R,
Coolidge, Professor Archibald Pendleton, President Ellen T,
Cravath, Paul D. Pupin, Professor Michael L
Cunliffe, Professor J. W. Putnam, Herbert
Davis, Katherine B. Richardson, Dr. E. C.
Downer, Professor Charles A. Robinson, Dr. Edward
Ely, Professor Richard T. Sachs, Professor Julius
Filene, A. Lincoln Salmon, Dr. Thomas VV.
Finley, Dr. John H. Schwedtman, Ferdinand C.
Fosdick, Dr. Harry E. Severance, Mrs. C. A.
Gilbert, Cass Shanklin, President W. A.
Gildersleeve, Dean V. C. Shorey, Professor Paul
Goodnow, President F. J. Shotwell, Professor J. T.
Hadley, Dr. A. T. Showerman, Professor Grant
Hale, Dr. George E. Stimson, Henry L.
Harrington, Governor E. C. Stokes, Dr. Anson Phelps
Hazen, Professor Charles D. Storey, Professor Thomas A.
Hibben, President J. G. Suzzallo, President Henry
Howe, Professor Henry M. Thomas, President M. Carey
Hughes, Hon. Charles E. Todd, Professor Henry A.
Jenks, Professor Jeremiah Townsend, Hon. John G.
Judson, President H. P. Vincent, Dr. George E.
Keppel, Frederick P. VVald, Lillian D.
Keyser, Professor C. J. White, Professor Henry C.
Lovett, President Edgar Wilkins, Professor Ernest H.
Lowell, President A. L. Wilson, Professor George G.
MacCracken, President H. N. Wood bridge, Dean F. J. E.
Woolley, President Mary E.
L'.BRARY OF CONGRESS
^

029 979 061 7