| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the enduring significance of the "Manchurian Problem" to pre-Second World War Japanese foreign policy and shows how the 1931 Manchurian incident and the creation of Manchukuo in 1932 came to be regarded by many in the Japanese government as the solution to this three-decade long problem. The focus of the analysis is the career of five-time foreign minister, Uchida Yasuya (1865-1936), who not only influenced policy from his positions as a diplomat in the field but also formulated Japan's Manchuria policy as foreign minister in parts of three successive decades. Uchida and many moderates like him voluntarily supported Army plans on the continent, suggesting that, in contrast to the conventional understanding that the founding of Manchukuo marked the beginning of Japanese expansionism and militarism, the events of the early 1930s represented the culmination of over three decades of Japanese efforts at solving the Manchurian problem.
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