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Tag: Leftist Thinkers

The Meiji Restoration

Published April 1, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson
The First May Day Event, 1920

Throughout most of Japanese history, monarchies and feudal military dictatorships ruled the country. However, after a coup d’etat in January 1868 that stripped Tokugawa Yoshinobu of authority, Japan entered a tumultuous and revolutionary period known as the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912). Following hundreds of years under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the country was forced to construct a new government that appealed to the people. Moreover, as this period marked the continuation of Japan’s new relations with foreign countries for the first time in centuries, there was tremendous pressure to pursue distinct ideologies from foreign governments.

Therefore, the Meiji Era enabled vastly different perspectives to propose courses of action for economic, social, and cultural development. From socialism rooted in Christianity to Japanese Marxism, various systems were posited as options for the new centralized government. Thus, this section explores the numerous perspectives of Japanese resistance against the former government and the dominant ideologies that persisted throughout the era.

FURTHER READING

Beasley, William G. 1972. The Meiji Restoration. ACLS Humanities EBook. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00345.

Theodore, William, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E Tiedemann. 2005. “The Meiji Restoration.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Nakano Shigeharu

Published April 1, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

NAKANO Shigeharu  (1902-1979) was a Japanese author and activist that utilized his writings to advocate for Marxist philosophy. Following the teachings of Fukumoto Kazuo and other Japanese Communist Party leaders, he crafted poetic critiques that employed the traditional tanka format to spread radical ideas throughout the 1920s.

Specifically, much of Nakano’s work lies in Miriam Silverberg’s translated compilation, Changing Song: The Marxist Manifestos of Nakano Shigeharu. Within pieces like “Farewell Before Daybreak” and “Imperial Hotel,” Nakano utilizes poetry to comment on the daily suffering of Japanese workers and illustrate an aversion to the effects of Westernization that accompanied foreign influence on Japan. Therefore, while many activists worked to expose the hypocrisy of the Japanese government with Marxist beliefs, Nakano Shigeharu championed radical change through his literature. While his advocacy for the Marxist ideology already exhibits opposition against Western democracies in Japan, his poetry also displays how culture was a vital tool of resistance against the hostile regime during the Meiji Restoration.

FURTHER READING

Silverberg, Miriam Rom. (1999) 2019. Changing Song: The Marxist Manifestos of Nakano Shigeharu. Princeton Legacy Library.

Theodore, William, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E Tiedemann. 2005. “Socialism and the Left.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Kaneko Fumiko and Anarchism in the Meiji Restoration

Published April 1, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

KANEKO Fumiko (1903-1926) was a political activist who advocated for an anarchist approach to Japanese society in response to the Meiji Restoration. Born out of wedlock to an impoverished mother and unrecognized by her father, Kaneko encountered the hardships of society very early in life, which eventually led her towards nihilism. However, even though these disadvantages could solely rationalize her anarchist perspective, her emigration to Korea and experience witnessing the mistreatment of Korean servants altered her stance on government and Japanese society.

Within interrogation records translated in Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, Kaneko describes her initial endorsement of socialist policies and eventual criticism of the system. With frequent criticism of the upper-class and the emperor system, Kaneko became known as a thinker who embraced the futility of life and denounced all people’s greed and hypocrisy. Therefore, even though Kaneko was eventually imprisoned for her controversial opinions and ultimately committed suicide at age 23, her political perspectives remain markers of the disillusionment with the parliamentary government of the Meiji Era. 

FURTHER READING

Hane, Mikiso. 1998. Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan. University of California Press.

Theodore, William, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E Tiedemann. 2005. “Socialism and the Left.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.

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