Is Japan Totalitarian?

Just like all of the other countries outside the United States, Japan was hit hard by the Great Depression because of the foreign trade between America and Japan. At the time, Japan did not have just one person, like an emperor, in charge of everyone. So instead they had a small group of military leaders who basically took over the government. The definition of Totalitarianism is a type of government that has full control of all of the citizens lives. An example of how Japan was indeed ran that way was the government arrested critics, imposed censorship, and employed a secret police force to hunt down and punish enemies of the state. In addition to arresting critics, imposing censorship, and a secret police, the so called government planned to also strengthen Japan in any way that they could. Their final decision for succession was making an overseas empire in the country of Manchuria, which used to be the home of the Manchus. Having a empire across seas made it easier to get raw materials such as coal and oil. Usually when a country invades another country someone condemns, the League of Nations was disapproving of the idea, but let them do it as they pleased. In addition, Japan had a Totalitarian government was because they honestly had nothing else to choose from. People had lost their homes, money, everything and so when there was some sign of hope for a government the people gave it a shot which is how and why Totalitarianism worked after World War 1.






Citation: http://fresno.k12.ca.us/divdept/sscience/history/totalitarianism.htm