[War & Business] The Shadow of the Choshu Clique

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation due to health reasons at a press conference held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence on the 28th of last month. Tokyo, Japan=Photo by EPA·Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Among the longest-serving Japanese prime ministers in history, the ranking includes Shinzo Abe, Taro Katsura, Eisaku Sato, and Hirobumi Ito. Those who served long terms of at least seven years coincidentally come from the same region. That is Yamaguchi Prefecture, the electoral district of Prime Minister Abe, which was called "Choshu" before the Meiji Restoration period.

Choshu is a region located at the Kanmon Strait connecting the Japanese mainland to Kyushu and is known as the birthplace of modern and contemporary Japanese conservative politics. For over 150 years since the Meiji Restoration, soldiers and politicians from this region, known as the Choshu clique, have wielded great influence over Japan. Nobusuke Kishi, a former prime minister and Abe’s maternal grandfather, who is known as Abe’s spiritual mentor, was also from the Choshu clique.

They were hawks who led Japan’s imperialist expansion policies and were staunch militarists. Yoshida Shoin, a Meiji Restoration scholar whom Prime Minister Abe personally respects and praises highly, was the first in modern Japan to advocate the Seikanron, the theory of colonizing the Korean Peninsula. Also from Choshu, his ideology became the foundation of Japan’s imperialist expansionism.

In the early days of Japan’s opening to the world, the Choshu clique advocated military buildup to fend off Western powers including Russia. From the late 19th century, after Japan had secured its own defense capabilities, they pursued an expansionist policy, arguing that acquiring overseas colonies was the only way for Japan to survive. Following their militaristic ideology, Korea, Manchuria, all of China, and many Southeast Asian countries were trampled under Japan’s military boots.

However, militarism did not improve the lives of ordinary Japanese citizens at all. Under the pretext of enriching the country and strengthening the military, the defense budget once exceeded 90% of the total budget, forcing the Japanese people to tighten their belts. But the price they paid was the first and last use of nuclear weapons in actual combat in world history and a devastating defeat.

Nevertheless, the shadow of the Choshu clique remained deeply cast over postwar Japanese politics. The combined tenure of prime ministers from Yamaguchi Prefecture exceeds 40 years, demonstrating how strong the influence of the Choshu clique has been in Japanese politics and how deeply rooted the imperialist doctrine called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" they advocated is.

With Prime Minister Abe’s resignation and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga being mentioned as a likely successor, expectations are rising in Japan that, for the first time in history, a commoner prime minister without regional ties, clique affiliation, or hereditary connections will emerge. However, he too is a so-called imperial subject who grew up under his father, a military officer of the South Manchuria Railway under the puppet state of Manchukuo during Japan’s imperial era. The shadow of the Choshu clique in Japan still shows no sign of lifting.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.