: What is Pan-Asianism?

I've been seeing a lot of Asian diaspora push this idea, so let's get into the historical roots of this movement and how it's Japanese Imperialism logic (spoiler).

To understand Pan-Asianism, we have to understand Pan-Africanism + Pan-Islam. These ideologies emerged in the late 19th C in response to European colonial violence. In theory, they all promoted unity against Europeans. There are problems with Pan-Islam, but we’ll focus on Asia.

SIDE: Pan-Africanism is uniquely different from the other two ideologies, + while it became emerged at the same time and influenced the other two, Pan-Africanism has roots as early as the Atlantic Slave Trade. Famous Pan-Africanists: Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and W.E.B Dubois!

ANYWAY, back to Pan-Asianism. We begin with Ideals of the East (1903) by Japanese art scholar, Okakura Kakuzō. This book argues that all Asian people, regardless of ethnicity belong to the same “family,” contrasting Asian spirituality with Western materialism.

Other Japanese intellectuals began to build on Okakura’s ideas, and Japan’s idea of being the “leaders” of Asia emerged and strengthened with the following historical events:

◆ Russo-Japanese War (1904)
◆ Paris Peace Conference (1919)
◆ Second Sino-Japanese War (1937)

i. Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War paved the way for Japan viewing itself as a leader in the Asia. This victory “impressed in the minds of other non-Western peoples that Europeans were neither invincible nor unassailable.” (Eri Hotta)

This war also popularized the idea of the “Asian Monroe Doctrine,” a foreign policy that declared Japan as the “leader” of Asia towards “civilization.” Amerikkkan politicians (like Pres. Teddy Roosevelt) and many Japanese Pan-Asianists were in favor of this policy.

ii. Japan was the only non-Western “Big Five” at the Paris Peace Conference (1919), the post-WWI agreements. Here, they proposed a racial equality clause, which was opposed and turned down. Japan mainly proposed this clause to secure equal treatment of JPN immigrants in the US.

It was ultimately pushed back by Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. Either way, the defeat of this clause led to more Japanese co-operation with the West, leading to more militaristic policies, as the Japanese wanted to be on equal footing with Western nations.

iii. Pan-Asianism solidified itself as a key part in Japan’s expansion and war ideology with the Mukden Inccident (1931) and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937). Japan legitimized its illegal state-building and war with China as part of their broader vision of “Asia for Asians.”

“The vocabulary of benevolent colonialism had to be replaced by the discourse of pan-Asian solidarity to justify Japanese imperialism. By 1940, there were many Japanese [...] who believed in their Asian identity and the discourses of Asian liberation." (Cemil Aydin)

Examples of Japanese war propaganda in the Philippines, in which they paint themselves as liberators from the Amerikkkans.

Pan-Asianism was one of the driving forces behind Japan’s empire building in China and Southeast Asia, from reeducation programs, plans to open elite universities, and building an “Asian” culture that encompassed “modern and ancient civilizations” (Eri Hotta).

"Moreover, [Pan-Asianism] enabled the country to mobilize its population in a comprehensive fashion. Without [it], Japan might well not have taken the path from Manchuria to Pearl Harbor, to Southeast Asia, and to its ultimate defeat in 1945." (Hotta)

First, Japan wanted to create a “New East Asian Order," logic that was used to justify the annexation of Korea, invasion of China, occupation of Taiwan, etc. Then, Japan expanded its vision to include Southeast Asia.

Japanese imperialism was meant to represent a transition stage for E/SE Asians for liberation from Western nations. Again, very similar to how Amerikkkans viewed Latin America as its own playground, wanting to "protect" it from Europeans.

For my Asian diaspora, I sympathize with you and understand your desire for community. However, please do your research and understand that Pan-Asianism is really not what we should be striving for.

It erases the unique experiences, histories, and cultural heritages that exist across our diaspora and in the homeland. Furthermore, it's literally been used to legitimize imperial violence against so many of our countries, to which Japan has yet to apologize for, btw.

What we NEED to be doing is building a strong political identity against racial capitalism, confronting our own anti-blackness, and defending our homelands against Western imperialism.

Sources:
◆ https://erenow.net/ww/the-imperial-cruise/8.php
◆ https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/japanese-pan-asianism-introduction
◆ http://www.psywarrior.com/JapanPSYOPWW2.html
◆ https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/08/11/742293305/a-century-later-the-treaty-of-versailles-and-its-rejection-of-racial-equality

◆ Pan-Asianism and Japan's War by Eri Hotta
◆ The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia by Cemil Aydin
◆ The Ideals of the East by Kakuzo Okakura

*first and second books are available for download on pdfdrive(.)com, third book can be found: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5217920M/The_ideals_of_the_East*