Japanese nationalism

Japanese nationalism refers to a broad range of ideas and sentiments entertained by the Japanese over the last two centuries regarding their native country, its cultural nature, political form and historical destiny. As such it denotes simply the Japanese version of nationalism which is generally understood to be a process of identity-formation in states undergoing a transition from an earlier agricultural polity towards industrialism and modernity. For convenience's sake, it is useful to distinguish cultural nationalism from political or state-directed nationalism or Japanese imperialism, since many forms of cultural nationalism, such as those associated with folkloric studies (see, for example under Yanagita Kunio), were hostile to state-fostered nationalism. The former aspect, nationalism as the expression of cultural identity, is examined in more detail under nihonjinron. Here political and military nationalism will be analysed.

From a political point of view and in the years leading up to World War II, the particular political and ideological foundations for the actions of the Japanese military (Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy forces, not always acting in concert) can be called a Japanese nationalist ideology. It combined philosophical, nationalistic, cultural and religious elements, mostly drawn eclectically from the larger historical discourse on Japan, the Japanese and their respective historical natures built up over the preceding two centuries. Despite its distinctive features (Emperor worship and the ethno-religious character of the state), functionally this rhetorical panoply of cultural ideas served the same function as similar ideologies developed under Western Fascism, and indeed, drew doctrinal inspiration from these fraternal movements abroad.