Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period

Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period was dissidence by Japanese citizens of the Empire of Japan (1868–1947) during the Shōwa period, the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito (1926–1989). The Shōwa period witnessed the rise of militarism in Japan, and the Empire of Japan's full-scale invasion of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), which escalated into a full-scale invasion of the Asian continent during the Pacific theatre of World War II (1941–1945). Throughout the period, there was Political repression in Imperial Japan.

Pre-war period

The

• 戦前の反戦運動 「戦争に反対して、命がけで活動した人たちの記録」 (Pre-war anti-war movement "Record of the people who were active in the opposition to war.") at kure-sensai.net
• 山岸一章 (1981). 聳ゆるマスト―日本海軍の反戦兵士. 新日本出版社.

Further reading

References

• Japanese Resistance to the Imperial House of Japan
• Dissent in the Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan
• Relations between Japanese Revolutionaries and the Comintern and the Soviet Union
• List of Japanese dissidents in Imperial Japan
• Assassination attempts on Hirohito
• Popular Front Incident

See also

• An Artist of the Floating World, 1986 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Kabei: Our Mother, 2008 film directed by Yoji Yamada
• Millennium Actress, 2001 animated film directed by Satoshi Kon
• No Regrets for Our Youth, 1946 film directed by Akira Kurosawa
• Runaway Horses, 1969 novel by Yukio Mishima

Japanese dissidence in popular culture

• Doyōbi, an anti-fascist newspaper
• Shimbun Akahata, the organ of the Japanese Communist Party

Media

• Japanese People's Anti-war Alliance, a resistance group in the Republic of China
• Japanese People's Emancipation League, a resistance group in communist-controlled China
• League to Raise the Political Consciousness of Japanese Troops, a resistance group
• Japanese Communist Party

Organizations

There was dissidence from members of the Sōka Gakkai, a religious movement founded in 1930 by Japanese Teacher Tsunesaburō Makiguchi and Jōsei Toda. In 1943, Makiguchi, and Toda, along with others, were imprisoned for advising their followers not to buy amulets from the Grand Shrine of Ise. Makiguchi died in prison.^[9] Toda was released in July 1945. He rebuilt the Sokka Gakkai after the war.^[10]

According to POWs, joined the Chinese resistance to the Empire of Japan^{[5] [6]} Dissidents still in Japan were imprisoned^[7] or had made Tenkō.^[8]

World War II period

Labor activism was active amongst both the rural, and urban workers of Japan. By 1938, the government could no longer tolerate dissent amongst the working class. In 1940, labor unions in Japan were dissolved, and replaced by the ultranationalistic Industrial Association for Serving the Nation (Sangyō Hōkokukai, or Sampō).^[4]

The anarchist movement in Japan collapsed in 1935 following the nationwide roundup of members of anarchist groups.^[3]

In 1933, faculty and students of Kyoto Imperial University protested against the government's suspension of Professor Yukitoki Takigawa from the university. The government was able to suppress the protests. This incident became known as the Takigawa incident.^[2]

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