Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CoursePrince Konoe Fumimaro was Japan's prime minister from June 1937 to January 1939 and again from July 1940 to October 1941. In November 1938 he announced a "New Order in East Asia": Japan, China and Manchukuo would work together under Japanese leadership. At home, his second government set out to build a "new structure" in which the whole nation was organised for the war effort. Japan was already at war in China, and from December 1941 it was also fighting in South-East Asia. The war needed money, workers, food and loyalty from everyone.
Key terms:
The National Mobilisation Law of 1938 let the government direct workers, factories, money and goods to the war effort without asking the Diet. Industry turned to making weapons. As more men were called up, women, students and schoolchildren were sent into factories and farms.
In 1940 the political parties dissolved themselves. In October 1940 Konoe set up the Imperial Rule Assistance Association to replace them. It was meant to unite the nation behind the Emperor and the war, not to offer a choice.
From 1940 the government made neighbourhood groups part of daily life. They handed out ration cards, ran air-raid drills, collected money and metal for the war, and passed on orders. They also made it hard to hide opinions, because your neighbours were watching.
Goods such as matches and sugar were rationed from 1940, and rice was rationed in the big cities from 1941. As the war went on, food, clothes and fuel became scarcer. People ate less and queued for hours.
Bombing. American air raids on Japan began to hit the cities hard from late 1944. In March 1945 a night raid on Tokyo set huge areas on fire and about 100,000 people died. Dozens of other cities were bombed too. Millions of people lost their homes, and in 1944 many city children were sent to live in the countryside, away from their parents. (The atomic bombs are the next lesson, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Surrender of the Showa Emperor.)
Between 1941 and 1942 Japan took over large parts of South-East Asia, including Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and Burma. (Japanese troops had been in French Indochina since 1940-41, and Japan ruled it directly from March 1945.) The Japanese slogan was "Asia for the Asians", and some people at first welcomed the end of European rule. They soon found that Japan's rule was harsh.
Over time many people turned against Japan, and resistance movements grew up in several countries. In Korea, already a Japanese colony, people were pressed to take Japanese names, and many Koreans were sent to work in Japan and its war industries.
Change: In the 1920s Japan had party governments and an open mass culture. By the early 1940s the state controlled work, food and news, and in the occupied lands people were forced to work for Japan.
Continuity: The Emperor still stood at the centre of the nation, the Diet still existed, and the idea of loyalty to the Emperor and the nation, which the Meiji leaders had taught, was now used to demand sacrifice.
Explain TWO ways in which government control over people's lives in 1941 was different from 1925. (In 1925 political parties competed in elections and all men over 25 could vote, and the main limit on freedom was the Public Security Preservation Law, aimed at those who wanted to end the system of government or private property.) [6 marks]
Remember: one way alone cannot score more than half marks, and each way must say something about both years.
One difference is in politics. In 1925 the political parties, such as the Kenseikai and the Seiyukai, competed for votes, and men over 25 chose who would sit in the Diet. By 1941 the parties had dissolved themselves in 1940, and the Imperial Rule Assistance Association had replaced them, so people no longer had a real choice between rival parties.
A second difference is in daily life. In 1925 the government mostly left people free to choose their jobs and what they bought, and its main restriction was the Public Security Preservation Law, which targeted a small group. By 1941 the National Mobilisation Law of 1938 let the government direct workers and goods, rice was rationed, and neighbourhood groups of about ten households watched over everyone and carried out government orders.
What lifts this to the top level: each way compares both years directly and uses precise facts (names, dates, laws) for each side.
For "Explain TWO ways ... different from", write two paragraphs. Use a phrase such as "In 1925 ... whereas by 1941 ..." so that every way has a fact about both years.