ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

During the Pacific War, racism played a significant role in worsening the war. But what is an interesting thing is that during the war Japan's leaders feared western racism and did their utmost efforts not to lead the war to a race war. This study is the first to examine how Japanese leaders' fear of a race war had an effect on Japan's war policy during the war. Even prior to the Pacific War, some Japanese leaders expressed concern that Japan might be encircled by the whole 'white' race if a war with the Allied powers occurred. They genuinely worried about the possibility that once Japan entered the war, the 'white' countries, including its ally Germany, would drag the war into a race war with Japan. These men believed that allowing such a situation to develop a great military blunder for the Japanese side. The best solution to preclude the possibility that Germany, as well as Japan's another ally Italy, would conclude either armistice or peace with Britain or the United States was to work on an Axis pact which finally signed on December 11, 1941 when Germany and Italy declared war on the Allied powers. Throughout the war, concern over a race war lingered on in the minds of Japanese leaders. They took every possible measure to avoid a race war in the Pacific. One of the measures was that the Japanese government forbade its propagandists and censors to use the terms such as 'white' and made efforts to prevent the war from leading to a racial war. As the war turned against Japan and Germany was under heavy attack by Allied bombers, some Japanese ruling elites, as duped a 'peace-feeler' group, analyzed Japan's capabilities and found that the nation would be unable to achieve victory if the Nazis surrendered. This research maintains that one of the main reasons that led Japanese leaders to negotiate an end the war through the Soviet Union was the fear of a race war. Their biggest concern should Germany collapse was that the war would inevitably turn into a race war between the 'white' and 'yellow' races where Western racism toward the Japanese would be put to full use. Allowing such a situation would be a major obstacle to ending the war and protecting the imperial institution. To Japanese leaders who believed that the Soviets had few racial prejudices toward the Japanese, the Soviet Union was an ideal negotiator to end the war.

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