Empire of Japan

=====Tripartite Pact=====
{{Main|Tripartite Pact|Axis powers}}
[[File:Signing ceremony for the Axis Powers Tripartite Pact;.jpg|thumb|Signing ceremony for the [[Tripartite Pact]], September 27, 1940 in [[Berlin]], [[Nazi Germany]]]]

In 1938, Japan prohibited the expulsion of the [[Jews]] in Japan, Manchuria, and [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]] in accordance with the spirit of [[Racial Equality Proposal|racial equality]] on which Japan had insisted for many years.<ref name=mof>{{cite web |title=Question 戦前の日本における対ユダヤ人政策の基本をなしたと言われる「ユダヤ人対策要綱」に関する史料はありますか。また、同要綱に関する説明文はありますか。 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan]] |url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/annai/honsho/shiryo/qa/senzen_03.html |access-date=October 2, 2010}}</ref><ref name=gosho>{{cite web |title=猶太人対策要綱 |work=Five Ministers Council |publisher=[[National Archives of Japan|Japan Center for Asian Historical Record]] |url=http://www.jacar.go.jp/DAS/meta/listPhoto?IS_STYLE=default&ID=M2006092115064531921 |page=36/42 |date=December 6, 1938 |access-date=October 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726042931/http://www.jacar.go.jp/DAS/meta/listPhoto?IS_STYLE=default&ID=M2006092115064531921 |archive-date=July 26, 2011}}</ref>

The Second Sino-Japanese War had seen tensions rise between Imperial Japan and the United States; events such as the [[Panay incident]] and the Nanjing Massacre turned American public opinion against Japan. With the occupation of [[French Indochina]] in the years of 1940–41, and with the continuing war in China, the United States and its allies placed embargoes on Japan of [[strategic material]]s such as scrap metal and oil, which were vitally needed for the war effort. The Japanese were faced with the option of either withdrawing from China and losing face or seizing and securing new sources of raw materials in the resource-rich, European-controlled colonies of [[Southeast Asia]]—specifically [[British Malaya]] and the [[Dutch East Indies]] (modern-day [[Indonesia]]).

On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the [[Tripartite Pact]] with [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]. Their objectives were to "establish and maintain a new order of things" in their respective world regions and spheres of influence, with Germany and Italy in Europe, and Japan in Asia. The signatories of this [[Military alliance|alliance]] became known as the [[Axis Powers]]. The pact also called for mutual protection—if any one of the member powers was attacked by a country not already at war, excluding the [[Soviet Union]] and for technological and economic cooperation between the signatories.

For the sake of their own people and nation, Prime Minister Konoe formed the Taisei Yokusankai (Imperial Rule Assistance Association) on October 12, 1940, as a ruling party in Japan.

In 1940 Japan [[:ja:紀元二千六百年記念行事|celebrated the 2600th anniversary of Jimmu's ascension]] and built a monument to [[Hakkō ichiu]] despite the fact that all historians knew Jimmu was a made up figure. In 1941 the Japanese government charged the one historian who dared to challenge Jimmu's existence publicly, Tsuda Sokichi.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sundberg |first1=Steve |title=2600th Anniversary of the Founding of Japan, 1940. |url=http://www.oldtokyo.com/2600th-anniversary-of-the-founding-of-japan-1940/ |website=Old Tokyo |date=October 22, 2018}}</ref> During the Second Sino-Japanese War and the [[Second World War]], the firm [[Iwanami Shoten]] was repeatedly censored because of its positions against the war and the Emperor. Shigeo Iwanami was even sentenced to two months in prison for the publication of the banned works of Tsuda Sōkichi (a sentence which he did not serve, however). Shortly before his death in 1946, he founded the newspaper ''[[Sekai (magazine)|Sekai]]'', which had a great influence in post-war Japanese intellectual circles.<ref name=echo>{{cite journal |author=Joseph K. Yamagiwa |title=Literature and Politics in the Japanese Magazine, Sekai |journal=Public Affairs |date=September 1955 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=254–268 |jstor=3035405}}</ref> The early 20th century historian [[:ja:津田左右吉|Tsuda Sōkichi]], who put forward the then-controversial theory that the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}<nowiki/>'s accounts were not based on history (as Edo period {{lang|ja-latn|kokugaku}} and State Shinto ideology believed them to be) but rather propagandistic myths concocted to explain and legitimize the rule of the imperial (Yamato) dynasty, also saw [[Susanoo]] as a negative figure, arguing that he was created to serve as the rebellious opposite of the imperial ancestress Amaterasu.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gadeleva |first1=Emilia |title=Susanoo: One of the Central Gods in Japanese Mythology |journal=Nichibunken Japan Review: Bulletin of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies |year=2000 |volume=12 |pages=166–7 |publisher=International Research Center for Japanese Studies |doi=10.15055/00000288}}</ref> A [[historian]] in 20th century, Sokichi Tsuda's view of history, which has become mainstream after the World War II, is based on his idea. Many scholars today also believe that the mythology of [[Takamagahara]] in {{Lang|ja-latn|Kojiki}} was created by the [[ruling class]] to make people believe that the class was precious because they originated in the heavenly realm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Joos |first=Joël |date=2008-01-01 |title=17. Memories Of A Liberal, Liberalism Of Memory: Tsuda Sōkichi And A Few Things He Forgot To Mention |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004213203/Bej.9781905246380.i-382_018.xml |journal=The Power of Memory in Modern Japan |language=en |pages=291–307 |doi=10.1163/ej.9781905246380.i-382.134 |isbn=9789004213203}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reader |first=Ian |date=2003|editor-last=Befu|editor-first=Harumi|editor2-last=Oguma|editor2-first=Eiji |title=Identity, Nihonjinron, and Academic (Dis)honesty |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3096753 |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=103–116 |jstor=3096753 |issn=0027-0741}}</ref>