Why did Japan adopt Fascism in 1930s?

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Why did Japan adopt Fascism in 1930s?

As a political ideology, Fascism can be described as a belief in anti-rationalism, violence, elitism, charismatic leadership and extreme nationalism. In 1930s, Japan adopted Fascism. In their own definition it was the belief of anti-democracy as the emperor was their leader and the supreme commander of the Army and Navy, and every Japanese citizen had to show absolute obedience and loyalty to the emperor. But why did Japan adopt Fascism? Japan adopted Fascism due to it worsening relation with the west, increasing support within Japan and failure of democracy and unresolved economical problems.

By the time World War I ended, Japan had benefitted greatly from the Treaty of Versailles but the Japanese Government was worried that as the League of Nations did not have a racial equality clause, they would not be treated equally. During the Washington Naval conference, Japan was forced to accept naval reductions that favored US and Britain. After the reduction, it was decided that in ratio, America and Britain to have 5, Japan to have 3 and Italy and France to have 1.67 of capital ships. (Britannica, n.d) At this point, Japan felt that they were being treated very unfairly. Furthermore, in 1931 Japan attacked Manchuria and slowly conquered land from them. This resulted in a commission report filed in March of 1932 which led to the League of Nations protest and an investigation in the matter. And in March 1932, all countries in the League of Nations voted and decided that as the takeover was illegal resulting in Japan leaving the League of Nations. Japan left the League of Nations because they felt they were treated unfairly which caused an even bigger problem with the west. (Tan, 2010)During that time, the people in Japan felt humiliated and insulted by the League of Nations, so when the government decided to resign from the league of nation, the people felt that they have regain their some of their pride in some way thus supporting fascism.

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Within Japan, the people accepted Fascism as a better system as it supported anti-imperialism. (Shuter& Kelly, 2007)  The Fascist believed that western values dominated the world and their ways were morally wrong. They saw the policy of keeping peace with the west as weak and did not want Japan to be dependent in the west for raw materials. As they believed in nationalism, they wanted Japan self sufficient by trading and be a strong nation and using propaganda they try and convinced the Japanese people that western ways were wrong. This help them to a certain extent as some people ...

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