Japanese Militarism The recent spat between Japan and China is the latest in a series of outbursts between the two nations. What started as a Chinese objection to Japanese interpretation of history especially with reference to the latter’s acts against
China during the fourth quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, has now snowballed into a major controversy which could threaten the fragile relationship between them.
The current episode started simmering when the
Chinese began circulating an online petition protesting against Japan’s bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. A series of violent protest rallies were held in many Chinese cities. The protestors stoned vital Japanese business units as …show more content…

These had come into being specially after the ‘Triple Intervention’, which had throttled Japan’s urge to expand.
Western imperialism around Pacific: Western imperialism in the neighbourhood of Japan also influenced the Japanese leaders to pursue the path of imperialism. Britain, Russia, and
Germany were very busy in expanding their hold over the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The French in Indo-China, Russia in Siberia, and The
Netherlands in Indonesia captured large chunks of territories. In 1898, the USA occupied Hawaii and The Philippines. The presence of Western powers in their vicinity made the Japanese leaders nervous. They thought that their claim on these territories was legitimate because they were situated in the vicinity of Japan. In a nutshell, Western imperialism inspired Japanese
Militarism and nationalism. It was only natural that Japan, now economically sound and militarily prepared, would stake her claim for hegemony in the Far East.
Impact of Japanese Militarism
Japan unleashed her force of imperialism and
Militarism in the name of settling her boundary disputes and finally ended in wars and annexations. In 1875, Russia and Japan concluded a treaty by which the boundary disputes were solved. By this treaty, Japan surrendered all her claims to the Sakhalin in exchange for all the islands of Northern Kuriles, which were