Contemporary accusations of Western corruption could mean more than financial bribery; foreign contact or influence could itself be treated as suspect. Yonai was an obvious target for such language because he maintained extensive connections and engaged beyond narrow factional boundaries. The discussion then broadens to the gap between Japan's self-image, outside perceptions of Japan, and competing ideas of what the country should become in the 1920s and 1930s. Period political labels need to be read in their own institutional and ideological setting before they are translated into modern assumptions.
Notable Point · 3:05:42-3:11:19
Western influence and political suspicion in interwar Japan
A chat discussion distinguishes alleged Western corruption from the wider suspicion of foreign influence in interwar Japanese politics.