Why Did Japan Adopt Fascism

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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 …show more content…

(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 truly believe and were convince by them but one other way Fascism became more powerful in Japan is in the education system. In the 1850s, half the men and a seventh of the women in Japan were literate and by 1920s, farmers could read and write. (Tan, 2010)Along with the education focus on nationalism, self sacrifice and loyalty to the emperor, fascism was becoming more and more popular as they promoted a way which they called the way Japanese people should live their life. ( Shuter &Kelly,2007) This made the people in Japan happy as they too benefitted from this system which leads to the rise of fascism.
In 1920s, workers had poor living conditions. They had to work more than 10 hours a day in crowded, unhygienic conditions which caused them to go on strike in 1921. (Tan, 2010)They felt that the government did not care about them and joined groups such as the militarist which gave them more attractive