The Hidden Logic of Japan’s Foreign Wars: 1592-1945

From 1592 to 1945, Japan conducted a series of military incursions in East Asia, including the invasion of Korea of 1592-1598, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Japanese War of Aggression against China of the 1930s-1940s. The tone of this series of aggressive actions was set by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was continued in the Meiji Restoration and magnified in the Showa era, crystallizing into a pervading pattern of thought and action hiding behind the facts. Those post-World War II views that propose to cut the connections among these wars launched by Japan do not conform to the way Japanese said and behaved in the past but merely endorse some contemporary Japanese academic opinions. Therefore, exploring the facts and hidden logic linking these wars and restoring the original attributes of each regional war may be of benefit to fundamental studies and realistic concerns about Eastern Asian issues.