"Strike South" Group - Meiji Period Genesis

Meiji Period Genesis

The “Southern Expansion Doctrine” was initially vaguely defined. It possibly originated during the final years of the Edo period, when the leaders of the Meiji Restoration determined that Japan needed to pursue a course of imperialism in emulation of the European nations in order to attain equality in status with the west. As the European powers were laying claim to territories ever closer to the Japanese home islands, the “Southern Expansion Doctrine” occupied an increasingly important place in Japanese policy and diplomacy from the early Meiji period.

In its initial stages, the “Southern Expansion Doctrine” focused primarily on Southeast Asia. The vast majority of Japanese emigrants to Southeast Asia in the early Meiji period were prostitutes (Karayuki-san), who worked in brothels in Malaya, Singapore, Philippines, Dutch East Indies and French Indochina. However, by the start of the 20th century, private Japanese companies became active in trade in the region, and the Foreign Ministry had established consulates in Manila (1888), Singapore (1889), and Batavia (1909). Communities of emigrant Japanese merchants arose in many areas, selling sundry goods to local customers, and large scale Japanese investment occurred especially in rubber, copra and hemp plantations in Malaya and in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

With increasing Japanese industrialization came the realization that Japan was dependent (and thus vulnerable) on the supply of many raw materials from overseas locations outside its direct control. The need to promote trade, develop and protect sea routes, and to officially encourage emigration to ease overpopulation came simultaneously with the strengthening of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which gave Japan the military strength to project power to protect these overseas interests should diplomacy fail.