Japan

Article discusses Japanese industrial power and culture.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1911-11-05

A large group of representatives from several nations, many carrying weapons and making threatening gestures to others, arrive outside the “Palace of Peace” for the peace conference to end the Russo-Japanese War. Andrew Carnegie is posting a notice on the side of the building offering “Best Armor Plate for sale by Andy U.S.A.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Carl Hassmann’s cartoon cleverly depicts the actual situation behind the surface rhetoric and posturing between world powers. A second World Peace Congress was organized and funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1905, and held in 1907; and the nations of the world flocked to attend at the Hague. But few of them were committed to disarmament or peace, and the Great War (to commence in 1914) was a universal assumption.

A tattered, but happy, Russian army returns home after the end of the war with Japan. In the background, the rising sun of Japan is visible on the horizon.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Carl Hassmann’s double-page cartoon in Puck at the end of hostilities in the Far East — where the bold symbol of Japan, the sun, clearly rises; it is not setting, as history learned — is a very sardonic portrayal of the international situation. If anything, his depiction of the defeated Russian army as happy, though sotted, as retaining riches and even singing and occasionally smiling, was scarcely true, even in a cartoonist’s metaphor.

Vignette cartoon with a central image showing President Roosevelt sitting with Russian, Japanese, and possibly Chinese figures at his summer retreat at Oyster Bay; his personal secretary, William Loeb, is serving drinks. The vignette scenes suggest that the Russo-Japanese war, and the control of Manchuria and Vladivostok, be decided by competitions between the Russian leaders and those of Japan and China, such as a swimming race, a wood-chopping contest, a tennis match, and a contest of telling the tallest fish story.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck cartoonists L. M. Glackens and S. D. Ehrhart joined forces to draw the magazine’s semi-regular centerspread genre cartoon commenting on current events, this page on the upcoming negotiations to end the Russo-Japanese War. There was one month to go before commencement of talks. Approximately two months after this cartoon’s publication, a Treaty of Peace was signed.

A Japanese soldier trains a group of soldiers of various nationalities and ethnicities, including Koreans.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In 1867 radical reforms were untaken in Japanese society. The Meiji Dynasty was restored to power, and in a rapid-fire attempt to join the world (as Admiral Matthew Perry’s “opening” in 1852 had sought), the country underwent radical social, political, military, and even religious adjustments. For instance, the Shinto faith was recognized as prominent, and Buddhism was downplayed, but Confucianism and especially Christianity were respected. Democratic structures were instituted, and a conscious effort to adopt Western ways took place throughout society. A Japanese version of the Industrial Revolution commenced under Meiji.

A drunken Russian man holds a jug of vodka and wildly swings a bloody sword at a wasp representing Japan. John Bull and Uncle Sam sit in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The context of this cartoon is the Russo-Japanese War, a conflict whose logic, or lack of same as with many wars, is represented by the flailing Cossack and the tiny insect. But the relative strengths of the opposing powers is not depicted accurately by cartoonist Keppler.

The Russian Bear, as a soldier with rifle, has been turned into a scarecrow. A crow labeled “Japan” bites its nose. Another crow labeled “England” is perched on its cap. A crow labeled “Germany” is flying around its head. A crow labeled “Turkey” is on the ground at its feet. A crow labeled “China” is perched on the rifle butt. All these crows, and several others on a fence nearby, are cawing with laughter at the scarecrow.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The term “Sick Man of Europe” has been applied through centuries of international diplomacy to several countries — the Ottoman Empire and Turkey during periods of decline, and Great Britain when parts of its empire fell away. In the years prior to World War I, Russia surely wore the mantle.

Two cats, one labeled “Japan” attacking the other labeled “Russia,” have their tails tied to a rope labeled “Manchuria” with a ribbon labeled “Neutrality.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Kilkenny cats” are parties whose disagreements are so strong that they kill and devour each other, with only their tails remaining on the ground. The term is derived from a legend about the querulous residents of County Kilkenny in Ireland.

A man representing Russia holds a cat-o’-nine tails labeled “Russia” with the lashes labeled “Absolutism, Persecution, [and] Tyranny.” Next to him, on the left, are several dead or wounded people with the word “Kish[i]neff” written on the ground, and in the background, clouds labeled “Finland” and “Poland” are hovering above large groups of people being persecuted by the Russians. The man is shielding his eyes against a burst of sunlight on the right in which is a Japanese woman labeled “Modern Japan” surrounded by the words “Justice, Progressiveness, Humaneness, Enlightenment, Tolerance [and] Religious Liberty.” The figure of a Japanese man labeled “Medievalism” lies on the ground, crushed by the light of “Modern Japan.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

With the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 in the month before this cartoon’s publication, Puck clearly chose sides, as seen in this cartoon by Keppler. The world learned that the failure of often harsh diplomatic exchanges was quickly followed by Japan’s overwhelming victory over the Russian fleet in Port Arthur (occupied Manchuria).

The Russian Bear eyes a house of cards. Each card is labeled a different country, “England, France, Germany, Japan, U.S., Austria, China, Italy, [and] Turkey”, and the king on each card bears some facial characteristics of the ruler of the country, including Uncle Sam. A dove of “Peace” has landed on top of the cards. The bear’s right paw and claws are touching the “Japan” card.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In this cartoon, remarkable for its cleverness and caricatural details, Joseph Keppler illustrates the threats to peace in daily news, and the larger situation in international relations. The “house of cards” is dispositive in two ways: the cartoonist has pictured the major nations of the world, and their leaders, when challenges to the world order arose; and the meaning of the phrase — a precarious situation — is perfectly portrayed.

Mars, the Roman god of war, waits for the establishment of protocols and the Japanese occupation of “Korea” to be completed before the sands in an hourglass shift from “Peace” to “War.” “China” sits quietly on the left. Caption: Mars–Just a little more, and I’ll give that Peace Congress a jolt!

comments and context

Comments and Context

Largely forgotten by much of the world, under the dust of events like the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese aggression in the 1930s, and World War II’s “Pacific Theater,” is the subject of Pughe’s cartoon. Japan’s unrelenting ambitions to dominate Korea reached an important moment in 1904; a treaty between the two royal empires then on the agenda (in Korea’s hopes) at the Peace Conference then convened at the Hague. The treaty was prosaic in its language, Japan respecting, and by assurances, protecting Korea. Yet it was aggression without arms, blackmail, and the establishment of a de facto protectorate by Tokyo.

Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, salutes a Japanese admiral on a gunboat. In the background are the ruins of a Russian naval fleet.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As the flames of battle were extinguished, and news filtered across the globe, the decimation of many Russian warships — a large percentage of the Czar’s fleet — by Japan, surprised observers. Even King Neptune, the mythical god of naval conflict and control, had to pay tribute in the eyes of cartoonist Joseph Keppler.

Edward VII, King of Great Britain, thanks President Roosevelt for the letter, delivered by Ambassador Whitelaw Reid. He has been following the progress of the Great White Fleet in the Pacific, and admires the undertaking. Edward VII agrees that “the interests of the English speaking peoples are alike in the Atlantic & the Pacific,” and empathizes with the questions of immigration and emigration with which Roosevelt has to deal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-05

President Roosevelt finds W. Cameron Forbes’s letter interesting and speaks to Secretary of State Hay about the “anti-foreign spirit” in the Japanese army about which Roosevelt has heard. He is particularly concerned because it seems to be especially violent against Americans.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-23

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of State Hay about Captain John F. Morrison’s assessment of the Japanese army. Morrison spent time with Japanese General Yasukata Oku’s army and observed that American attachés were favored over British attachés and the Russian prisoners—most of whom were wounded—were treated kindly. Morrison was impressed by the training and preparedness of the Japanese army, especially in comparison to the Russian army.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-05

President Roosevelt apologizes to Secretary of State Hay that he cannot attend their morning talk due to the dedication of the Lutheran Memorial Church. He comments on the Senate’s handling of the arbitration treaties and declares the United States cannot intervene on Korea’s behalf against Japan.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-28

President Roosevelt begins his letter to Cecil Spring Rice discussing the presidential election and how Alton B. Parker and the Democratic Party chose to campaign. Roosevelt mentions his plans to send Ambassador to Italy George von Lengerke Meyer to St. Petersburg, and spends the rest of the letter discussing Japan and Russia. The Japanese government treats Americans well, while Russia has treated the United States, England, and Japan poorly. However, Roosevelt believes the Japanese Army groups all white men together and considers such men inferior to themselves, as evidenced by the experience of American military attachés in Japan. The president opines that Russia is the main enemy of Japan, as long as it focuses on China, Korea, and Manchuria. However, if Japan desires to become a maritime power, it could threaten the United States, England, and the Netherlands. Roosevelt concludes his letter by saying, “[W]e must trust in the Lord and keep our powder dry and our eyes open.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-27

President Roosevelt heartily thanks Yogoro Matsumoto for gifting him a sword by the famous sword-maker Munemitsu of Jakushu. He accepts it under the “Bushido” philosophy wherein, “the sword must never be drawn save with justice and never sheathed save with honor.” Roosevelt expresses his interest in the history of Japan, and feels that “the great civilized nations of the world can each teach and each can learn from the others.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-16

President Roosevelt writes to journalist and explorer George Kennan regarding his article in The Outlook titled “The Sword of Peace in Japan.” He explains that Kennan’s analysis of Japan’s role in the peace agreement is incorrect, and supports his position with confidential facts. Kennan is told that none of the information in the letter is to be made public, but that he may use it to draw more accurate conclusions. Roosevelt explains that he himself did not force Japan into peace, and that he was not interested in boosting his own reputation through the negotiations. Japan willfully asked for the peace agreement, and also for Roosevelt’s involvement. Despite Kennan’s claims, Japan was in no position to demand an indemnity. The cost of the war, both literal and figurative, was too great for Japan to bear, and so they chose to negotiate for peace. They do not want these facts revealed for fear of embarrassment, Roosevelt explains. He supports Japan’s decisions, although he believes they could have fought harder in the agreement for the ownership of the northern half of Sakhalin Island. He quotes a note from Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to support his claims.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-15

President Roosevelt received Secretary of State Hay’s note, and would like Hay to do as he suggested by writing to Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi and inviting him to an informal dinner. Roosevelt does not want Itō to feel pressured to attend, but would like to see him. He also asks Hay to “keep the people hurried up about that alleged medical outrage on the Japanese girl students.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-19