War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War

Much like their white adversaries, the Japanese touted their superiority, routinely referring to themselves as the leading race. While there are many similarities between the West and Japan in this regard, there are some very distinct differences as well. One major difference lies simply in the fact that the Japanese faced the blatant and judicial racism of the dominant Western powers. For example, though numbered among the victors of the First World War, when Japan asked for racial equality to be a stipulation in the League of Nations, it was rejected. Also, while the focus of racism in the West was on denigration of other, the Japanese focus was preoccupied almost exclusively on elevating themselves.

On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese government issued a document that stated to the Japanese people:

[T]he enemy’s ‘selfish desire for world conquest’ made war unavoidable, and Japan’s cause was a moral one. The country’s goal was to create a ‘new world order’ which would ‘enable all nations and races to assume their proper place in the world, and all peoples to be at peace in their own sphere (205).

The idea of proper place was a key concept, which was the Japanese keyword for their proper place being at the top.