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World War II -- age of soldiers Japan expanding induction Pacific War
World War II: Japanese Conscription--Expanding Induction
Figure 1.--Due to the huge expansion of the Japanese Empire which had to be garisoned and the mounting battlefield losses, the Japanese began conscripting university students (September 1943). All this with unrelenting claims of continued glorious land and sea victories hich were fed to the public. Even a primary child who could read a map could question why with all these 'victories', the battles were getting closer and closer to the home islands. Here a university student speaks at a highly publicized Tokyo induction ceremony. His remarks include, "We do not expect to return alive. We pledge to honor the Emperor and the nation. We make this declaration." Prime-Minister Tojo attending the frakkt raisied chants of "Banzaui to the Empoeror! Banzai!"
Japan launched the Pacific War by attacking Pearl Harbor (December 1941). The great majority of the Japanese Army was in China. Shanghai was taken with a njuch smaller fiorce than the British garrision (February 1942). The early Japanese victories were achieved with a small portion of the Army against poorly trained and armed Western forces, mostly colonial policing forces. The American units in the Philippines retreated to Bataan and were basically starved out. The easy naval victories ceased with Midway (June 1942) and then the Japanaese Armny encountered real resistance by trained and well-armed combat troops. First and much for anticipared by Imperial Army untelligence was Gudalcanal from the Americans (August 1942) and New Guinea by the Australians (September 1942). This is when losses began increasing and more men were needed by an already over srreached Imperial Army. The Pacific War thus forced wholesale changes in the Meiji Concription System. The Japanese militarists were forced to attempt to match the greater size and resources of the United States with a greater effort by the Japanese people. The Goverment began to expand the age ranges for military service (1943). Eventually all healthy males aged 15-60 years as well as females aged 17-45 years were drafted. Most of the women and girls as well as many boy, all unifornmed went into the factories. As the military situation became more desperate. University syudents who at first received deferments began to be drafted. This was at first done by shortening the final school year, but gradually other changes were made in the academic program. Then as a result of increasing lossess, the Army began drafting all males over 20 years, including college students (September 1943). 【Shillony, p. 778.】 Here we see a highly publicized induction ceremony in Tokyo (figure 1). The situation in Japanese universities is interesting. They of course were more away of the disturning relevations of the battle maps than most Japanese. It did not cause their natioanal spirit to flag, but many if not most could wee aware of te consequences of inductuion. Here the liveral arts studenys were much more, impacted than the students in the sciences and technical studies. 【Takashi】 The military did not value liberal arts students. They were used as banion fodder. The students in technical areas were seen as having real value. Shortly after, Japan began to experimenbt with the first Kamnakaze suicide attacks. This is part of the reason that such a high percentage of college level enlistees were assigned to the 'Special Attack' Kamikaze squadrons. Next youths under 20, some as young as 15 years old, were made eligible for military service (1944) The National Resistance Program was adopoyed (February 26, 1945). This made men 15 to 60 and women 17 to 40 subject to training for a projected final defense of the homeland asinvasion was looking increasingly likely.
Sources
Shillony, Ben-Ami. "Universities and Students in Wartime Japan," The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 45, No. 4, (1986), pp. 769-87. The author insists that despite the bleak war tragedy, the oprocess of modernization occuring in thev universities did not end during the War.
Takashi, Tachibana. "Tennō to Tōdai" (The emperor and Tokyo University) Bungei shunju (2005).
