| In 1931, Japan occupied Manchuria or Northeast China. This major development resulted largely from a conspiracy of Japan's local forces in the region, the Guandong Army. Unwittingly, Japan acquired the responsibility for a territory that was mostly agricultural, with little economic or political infrastructure. What to do with this suddenly acquired territory and its inhabitants became a major issue for the Japanese organizations in Northeast China and ultimately, for the central government in Tokyo as well.; From 1931 to 1936, enormous bureaucratic struggles and individual rivalries affected the course of the region's political and economic development. Different visions were articulated concerning the role Northeast China should play in Japan's national security and economic strategy. The three struggling organizations were the South Manchuria Railway Company, the Guandong Army, and the newly installed government of Manchuria, Ishiwara Kanji, Miyazaki Masayoshi, and Hoshino Naoki were the strong willed leaders who fought over the region's future. The alternative visions were to develop Manchuria in its own right, to integrate it into a comprehensive plan for Japan's development, and to turn it into a military-industrial base for use against the USSR.; Drawing upon the theoretical literature on organizational behavior, the thesis illuminates the complex political process through which a development plan—the Five Year Plan for the Industrialization of Manchuria—was finally enacted in 1,936, five years after the occupation began. It never was fully implemented, due to the 1937 Japanese invasion of the rest of China. The story is, however, worth telling for the light it sheds on the politics behind the Japanese expansion of the 1930's. |
