In the third chapter of Joel our attention is called to a proclamation to be sounded among the Gentiles during the closing days of this world's history. This proclamation, which is a call to arms, will "wake up the mighty men," and cause them to beat their "plowshares into swords" and their "pruninghooks into spears." This awakening and intense preparation on the part of those nations that have been considered weak in the past will cause them to say, "I am strong."
This prophecy and proclamation is being rapidly fulfilled. Are we as Seventh-day Adventist workers aware of the significance of events that are taking place in the Orient today? Do we sense the seriousness of the present situation, and the days in which we are living? It is hoped that these articles, or rather outlines, will lead our workers to a deeper study of present-day events in the light of Bible prophecy.
The Rise of Japan as a World Power
Seventy-odd years ago Japan was looked upon by the United States, as well as by European powers, as a barbarous and uncivilized state, due chiefly to the fact that she was not equipped with modern weapons of war, and also to her extreme attitude toward foreigners. George Etsujiko Vyehara, in "The Political Development of Japan," states that "it was generally believed that intercourse with foreign nations would endanger the national existence and their presence would therefore be a curse to the country." He also states that "any attempt on the part of a Japanese to go abroad, if he discovered, met with the severest punishment." This was the situation when Commodore Perry in. 1853 proceeded to Japan with instruction "to obtain the facilities desired by persuasion, if possible, but if necessary by force, and there is evidence to show that he was ready to take strong measures, as the occupation of territory to effect his object."—"The Progress of Japan," by J. H. Gubbins, p. 54.
The intense antiforeign feeling continued to spread over the land. "On September 14, 1862, a party of four British subjects was attacked—one of them, Mr. Richardson, was killed, and two others were severely wounded. The British government demanded as reparation £100,000 indemnity from the Yedo government, and from Satsuma £25,000 indemnity and the trial and execution in the presence of British naval officers of the murderers. The unhappy Shogunate had to pay its share of the indemnity, but was too weak to coerce Satsuma, which remained defiant. The result was the bombardment and destruction of Kagoshima by a British squadron on August 11, 1863," and further, "on the fifth and sixth of September, 1864, an allied squadron destroyed the fortification and batteries the Daimijo [royal nobles] had erected at Shimonoseki." Space will not permit us to go into details further, but the bombardment of these two military bases by foreign gunboats awakened Japan.
An intense period of military training and preparedness commenced. Young men were sent abroad to study and to receive military training. These in time returned. Compulsory military training was soon adopted. Young Japan was getting ready to meet the West. Kawakami, in "What Japan Thinks," page 19, says: "But for her army and navy and great military leaders, Japan would have become an English or Russian outpost, and instead of being the sturdy and efficient race that they are, the Japanese today might have become a subject race bearing the yoke of a European rule." And J. H. Gubbins, in "The Progress of Japan," page 51, states:
"The latter half of the nineteenth and the opening years of the twentieth centuries have witnessed a startling event in the world's history, the transformation of a nation living in self-imposed seclusion in a distant and little-known corner of Asia into a great power, conspicuous for love of progress, and equipped with all the adjuncts of modern civilization. This change may be taken to have begun with Commodore Perry's arrival in Japan in 1853."
Chino-Japanese War
By the year 1894 Japan had been swept into a military career. Ito and his colleagues were successful in drawing the attention of the people from their internal political problems by bringing on a war with China. The immediate cause of the war, according to the Japanese viewpoint, was that China had not consulted Japan before sending troops into Korea. At the request of the Korean court, China had dispatched troops to assist the government in quelling an insurrection. The Japanese military took advantage of this act, and immediately took steps to force on a war. The people being well-prepared for the coming break gave their whole-hearted support to the military party. The slogan of the hour was, "On to Peking."
China, although superior to Japan in many respects, was soon defeated on both land and sea, and was compelled to sue for peace. The treaty of Shimonoseki gave Japan a free hand in Korea, cost China $200,000,000 indemnity, and gave Japan Formosa and the Parry group of islands, which she has since transformed into a strong naval base. Had not Russia, France, and Germany interfered, she would also have acquired a large portion of Manchuria. She accepted the counsel of these powers, and agreed to withdraw her claims on Manchuria for an additional $30,000,000. This was a great diplomatic move, and gained for Japan many Western friends.
The Japanese people were greatly disappointed with the results. They felt that the Ito government had been too lenient and had not secured the fruits of victory to which she was entitled. Ito, who had been the idol of the nation a year before, became the most unpopular man in the empire. The people, of course, did not know that Ito had to contend with a coalition of three strong European powers. He did not dare to make this public.
The war with China revived the teachings of Yoshida Shoin, the fiery patriot of the Tokugawa regime. His program called for the acquisition of the Kurile Islands, Saghalien, Kamchatka, Formosa, Korea, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Eastern Siberia,—in fact, the expansion of Japan to a great continental Asiatic power. With this ambition revived, Japan continued her great program of industrial and political development.
Walter Wallace McLaren, in his "Political History of Japan," page 236, has the following to say about the influence of this victory over a Western power:
"As a result of that war, Japan emerged as a nation distinct from the general welter of Orientals. Western nations acknowledged that a power on a level with themselves had arisen in the Far East, and recognized the fact that the Japanese could no longer be regarded as belonging to the group in which they included indiscriminately Chinese, Siamese, Tibetans, Indians, Turks, etc. They were a nation apart. Both by her military prowess and her careful adherence to all the principles of humanity in time of war, Japan had raised herself to the rank of a great nation."
The military expansion program had been well developed by the time Katsura came into power. His interests had always been with the allay and navy, and he accepted his high post as minister of state with the hope of furthering the ideals and plans of the military party. The general staff launched an extensive campaign of propaganda with the aim of creating an intense nationalistic feeling which would support the military party in their slogan, "On to Lake Baikal." The ambition of the military party was to acquire complete control over Korea, Mongolia, Manchuria, and even Siberia. Having acquired partial control of Korea at the conclusion of the Chino-Japanese War, she realized that she was now beginning to tread on the toes of Russia. From then on she was preparing for conflict and an open break with Russia, which seemed inevitable.
Russo-Japanese War
The crisis was reached in 1903 when the Korean government granted certain timber rights to a Russian concern. This move was interpreted by Japan as a challenge from Russia. After the usual protests were lodged with Russia, she presented her ultimatum and ordered her troops to attack the Russian forces on both land and sea.
Philip Van Ness Myers, in his "General History," pages 652, 653, sums up the result of this conflict as follows:
"The sanguinary war was signalized by an unbroken series of astonishing victories for the Japanese on land and on sea. They assumed practical control of Korea, and under Field Marshal Oyama wrested from the Russian armies under Kuropatkin the southernmost portion of Manchuria. Port Arthur, after one of the longest and most memorable sieges of modern times, was forced to capitulate.
"The strong Russian fleet in the Eastern waters at the beginning of hostilities was virtually destroyed. A second great fleet sent out from the Baltic Sea was met in the Korean Straits by the Japanese fleet under Admiral Togo, and the greater part of the ships were sunk or captured.
"Through the mediation of President Roosevelt peace envoys of Russia and Japan were now brought together at Portsmouth, in the United States, and the war was ended by what is known as the peace of Portsmouth.
"The war had momentous results. It lifted Japan to the position of a great power. It set limits to European encroachments in Eastern Asia, and established the doctrine of 'Asia for the Asiatics.' It gave assurance that the yellow race should not, like the red and the black race, become subordinate to the white race, but should, in self-determined and self-directed activity, play an independent part in the history of future times."
The Treaty of Portsmouth, signed September 5,. 1905, settled the destiny of Korea, drove Russian influence out of Manchuria, transferred all Russian rights and interests to Japan, and gave Japan undisputed leadership in the Orient.
(To be continued in August)
* Professor Scharffenberg has, since 1918, been in educational work in China and the Far East. Connected first with the training school at Shanghai, then in field work, and later as principal of the Home Study Institute, serving both the China and Far Eastern Divisions, he has assembled and here presents material that should be of great value to our workers in studying and recognizing developments in the great East. We need to be unusually well informed upon the entire question here discussed, coming as it does within the purview of prophecy, and that in its final aspects.—Editors.
