The Age of Anxiety: Response To Class

I was quite intrigued when we went over the powerpoint concerning Japan and her major conflicts with China. I never realized how many events took place during this time between the wars, most of them concerning Japan's idea that she was the supreme country and race. even so, Japan believed itself to to be the most dominant even over china, which I was quite surprised to learn. I have never been exposed to the history of Japan during and between the wars and so I was incredibly interested to follow in the Why? and What? of Japan and her motives. It surprises me that Japan felt superior over china! I had always thought that the two countries "got along" in a sense, but after discussing the tragic and grueling Rape of Nanking, I am forced to think otherwise. Japan had already emerged as a "Great Power" in international politics by the colse of World War I and although Japan's light industry included the secure sharing of a world market, Japan fell back to be a debtor nation during the time between the wars. I found it interesting to learn about how the ease of Japan's victory, the internal political instabilities, and the highly negative impact of the Showa Recession in 1926, literally the "period of enlightened peace" in Japanese history corresponding to the reign of emperor Hirohito (Showa), helped contribute to the rise of Japanese militarism in the late 1920's to 1930's. All this leading up to some of the worst events to take place between the wars; eventually, escalading to the attacks led to the devastating World War II!!!