Why Did We Have To Occupy Japan?

[Fred Steeves]

I was watching my usual morning History Channel shows on WW II over this past week-end, this time on the Japanese front, and something struck me that I've never thought of until now:

Just for arguement's sake let's say Pearl Harbor was indeed the unforeseen sneak attack as portrayed, and there was no eye poking being done by the United States. Sure there would be cause for a robust military response, probably even a devastating response, but here's the rub. Even if one considers the methodical march across the Pacific back towards Japan, with all of the suffering incurred on both sides, a devastating response, well fine then.

But, at the point that we are told we had no other alternative but to drop nuclear weapons on mainland Japan because an all out D-Day type invasion would be too costly, that's what made me wonder. At that point, the damage the U.S. had inflicted not only upon Japan's military capability, offensive or defensive, but on the nation as a whole was so utterly devastating that she would have been licking her wounds for decades to come. Japan would NOT have been out looking for more of THAT any time soon, no?

I can bring the consideration right down to home for metaphorical purposes. Suppose you're sitting in your living room one evening, and someone comes along and heaves a concrete block through your front window. For arguement's sake one might run out, catch the person, and beat the living daylights out of them. They might even go as far as dragging the beaten individual back to their own home, just to make them watch you bust out 5 windows, plus their car's windshield, plus the water main pipe to boot. Couple this with a promise that if it happens again you will kill the individual on sight.

It seems very likely by this point that the offending person would never consider repeating his actions again. Now, if we assume there were people in his house that were scared out of their wits, but had guns, would it make any sense to make careful plans to either invade the home with tragic losses incurred, or else just blow it up with propane tanks, and then occupy it forever?

Why did we really have to occupy Japan?

[christian]

Are you implying here, that the occupation did not make sense, given the fact, that the US government's intention was to act in the best interest of both the Japanese and the US citizens? :hat:

It's criminals in the (shadow) government using any pretext to justify grabbing more power over whomever is available, I find, same old thing.

[music]

To precipitate globilisation, same as the occupation of Germany. Also, to prevent the Russians getting a foot in the door, and to have a convenient base to "have at" the Chinese would be another guess. You are right, inexplicable by any sane reasoning. The same way two atomic bombs. WTF? Well, they had two, so they might as well use them, and after all, the designs were different, both needed testing.

[Operator]

Aha, I think the story may be totally different after all. I have no links and sources at hand but if I remember correctly
the 2 bombs that were dropped on Japan were actually made by the Germans and confiscated by the US only.

So they had reasons for a little experimental demonstration :(

One was a Uranium bomb and the other based on Plutonium ... I am afraid this awful version of history could very well
be true. It fits the circumstances of that period.

[Fred Steeves]

Are you implying here, that the occupation did not make sense, given the fact, that the US government's intention was to act in the best interest of both the Japanese and the US citizens? :hat:

It's criminals in the (shadow) government using any pretext to justify grabbing more power over whomever is available, I find, same old thing.

Of course, this goes without saying. :) I'm just looking at this through the lens of mainline propaganda.(I mean history) I consider myself a rather awakened individual, and until just a couple days ago the old story line still seemed to have a bit of logic to it for the average individual. Somebody sucker punches you, and of course there is no other conceivable alternative but to rape, plunder, and occupy half the planet on your way to total annihilation of the perpetrator, and anyone associated with him. Millions of lost and ruined lives are of no concern. Makes sense to me.

I know I'm not the sharpest tack in the box, but it still kind of shocked me that I hadn't seen this before...:fie:

[christian]

I find TPTW are regularly just trying to put together a narrative, that is swallowed by a preferably high percentage of the citizens, that is the end of it, whether or not it makes any sense by any standards, does not really matter, does it? It might even be advantageous, to have a nonsensical narrative, that is believed for whatever reason (e.g. emotional impact), this belief in a nonsensical narrative will help to detach large portions of the population from reality. If they can get people to wrap their heads around loads of crap, people become used to doing so.

But on the other side, balancing this, people genuinely wake up to it.

[nomadguy]

Much ado ~ about power bases in Asia. IE China.
At the time any power bases not working or contributing to the west were cornered, and well it appears those cornered then ~ still are today. IE NK, Burma etc

[noprophet]

Aha, I think the story may be totally different after all. I have no links and sources at hand but if I remember correctly
the 2 bombs that were dropped on Japan were actually made by the Germans and confiscated by the US only.

So they had reasons for a little experimental demonstration :(

One was a Uranium bomb and the other based on Plutonium ... I am afraid this awful version of history could very well
be true. It fits the circumstances of that period.
The uranium bomb was possibly ours. We had that tech though some of the uranium probably came from germany (the "rubber factory"near auschwitz). The plutonium bomb however was never even tested in the united states. They played it off as confidence in the science but I call bs. Germany was advancing far faster than we were led to believe. There's a good chance we occupied japan to find out if the had any bombs as well since they were tight with germany.

[Eagle]

Three words, Power, Control, Imports LOL

[Alan]

It's very simple, they wanted to keep an eye on the USSR.

[Vitalux]

Raping and pillaging other nations is the American Way as of the mid-20th century.

It's just the propaganda campaign that the idiots ( citizens) are exposed to.They will believe anything they are told by the criminals in charge of their country.

To believe the USA needed to drop an atomic bomb on Japan would be at a stage of naiveness that would demonstrate the reasoning capacity of an imbecile.

All other nations associated with Germany had quit WW2, the entire world was now at war with Japan. Japan, with its air, sea and land forces destroyed was frantically trying to surrender.
That is the fact.
When that bomb was dropped, it was a war crime by the USA and crimes against humanity. They dropped it ( atomic bombs) on women, children and old people.

[Eagle]

You can almost justify anything under patriotism; the bombing of Perl Harbor did not justify the H Bombing of Japan. This was a clear message however that whatever country went against the US at that time would be severely punished and no questions would be asked. Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq were all unjustified, except War brings profit!

[Lord Sidious]

Doesn't the creditor always take possession of the assets when the debtor can't pay?
How else could the banksters screw Japan?
Have you guys forgotten Libya already?
The other things listed above are true too, but it is always about the money first and foremost.
And I am of the opinion that both bombs were captured from the Reich.

[Ron Mauer Sr]

The reasons for war can be many.

War is used to cover up internal problems, currently the economy.
International banksters profit.
The military-industrial complex profits.
The dark side reptilians make a feast of the fear generated.
The dark side ET's manipulating humanity get to enjoy the multidimensional chess game played among themselves, using humans as their pawns.
And the pawns learn from their experience, of being brain washed and manipulated by politics and religion.

[13th Warrior]

WWII was set up to turn the United States of America into the worlds military power through the military industrial complex.

You don't have to take my word for it though; just ask the Allied Supreme Commander.

[nomadguy]

tru tru 13th,
I suppose that's these dudes - http://www.aco.nato.int/saceur.aspx

I wonder what kind of briefings these guys get every morn.

[Fred Steeves]

Raping and pillaging other nations is the American Way as of the mid-20th century.

It's just the propaganda campaign that the idiots ( citizens) are exposed to.They will believe anything they are told by the criminals in charge of their country.

To believe the USA needed to drop an atomic bomb on Japan would be at a stage of naiveness that would demonstrate the reasoning capacity of an imbecile.

All other nations associated with Germany had quit WW2, the entire world was now at war with Japan. Japan, with its air, sea and land forces destroyed was frantically trying to surrender.
That is the fact.
When that bomb was dropped, it was a war crime by the USA and crimes against humanity. They dropped it ( atomic bombs) on women, children and old people.

We had Thanksgiving at the house of some friends who are some of the most generous and loving people you could ever want to know. Their roots are in the hills of Tennessee, and they WILL literally give you the shirt off their back to someone in need, even a stranger. The same people who took us in and made us feel at home when our house flooded a few weeks ago. When the conversation got around to Iran, it was suddenly nothing but FOX NEWS talking points. You know the drill, "those damn Muslims, turn the place into a parking lot if they won't listen to reason, fight em over there before they get us over here" crapola.

In the same respect, one of my grandfathers was a fighter pilot in WW II fighting Rommel's forces in Northern Africa. One of the wisest men I've ever known, he was even the best man at our wedding. He hated those "sneaky Jap bastards" until the day he died. Never able to forgive... Never able to see that propaganda was not limited to the Axis powers.

Were he alive still, he would disown me for speaking such things. Probably my patriotic to the bone beloved grandmother too, whose glory days were hobnobbing with ambassadors and generals when the U.N. first got it's start. I now find this sadly fascinating.

It seems the story remains consistent across generations. Dropping nuclear weapons on an already utterly devastated Japan was actually the humanatarian thing to do.

And many Americans have the gaul to say other nationalities should be ashamed of the actions of their forefathers...How did we let ourselves become this?

[Cjay]

tru tru 13th,
I suppose that's these dudes - http://www.aco.nato.int/saceur.aspx

I wonder what kind of briefings these guys get every morn.

Curious acronyms used by these globalists:
SHAPE - Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
SACEUR - Supreme Allied Commander Europe

Trying to massage our brains to believe they're trying to shape a more secure world? And what's with the word "supreme"? Who do these monsters think they are? God?

[mosquito]

Good question Fred, with many spin-offs. In order to get closer to the answer, let me take you a little further down the hole, and a little further back in time, as the answer ......

Why did the USA steal the Sandwich islands (Hawaii) ?

Why did the USA send Admiral Perry to Japan, where he effectively blockaded the country and forced them into allowing American traders, missionaries etc. to begin the process of demolishing their culture ?

The thread is specifically about the USA and Japan, but the real answers lie a lot further back, and involve plenty of other countries, not to mention goold old christianity.

[Ron Mauer Sr]

Why did the USA steal the Sandwich islands (Hawaii) ?

Why did the USA send Admiral Perry to Japan, where he effectively blockaded the country and forced them into allowing American traders, missionaries etc. to begin the process of demolishing their culture ?

The thread is specifically about the USA and Japan, but the real answers lie a lot further back, and involve plenty of other countries, not to mention goold old christianity.

Did the main street media say the reason for this was to spread democracy?

(Sarcastic ron)

[Fred Steeves]

Good question Fred, with many spin-offs. In order to get closer to the answer, let me take you a little further down the hole, and a little further back in time, as the answer ......

Why did the USA steal the Sandwich islands (Hawaii) ?

Why did the USA send Admiral Perry to Japan, where he effectively blockaded the country and forced them into allowing American traders, missionaries etc. to begin the process of demolishing their culture ?

The thread is specifically about the USA and Japan, but the real answers lie a lot further back, and involve plenty of other countries, not to mention goold old christianity.

Good stuff mariposafe, thank you. O.K., I did my due morning research on Hawaii and 1800's Japan as you suggested, and learned a whole new section of history I had been ignorant of. Stealing the Sandwich Islands is putting it kindly if anything. What westerners did to those people starting with Cook in the late 1700's on through to 1959 is nothing short of a complete and utter disgrace. Were it possible for all the people responsible to fall on their swords to make ammends, it would only be one small step in the right direction.

It sounds like the Japanese were doing a fine job of minding their own business, until the British and Americans started bullying them around with their military toys starting in the early 1800's. Perry was certainly a piece of work in the 1850's. Whether he enjoyed what he did, or was doing the old "just following orders" is irrelevent so far as I'm concerned. I didn't see that he blockaded them though, just insist that they open up ports for western "interests" by demonstrating his cannon capabilities on local houses, much the same as the HMS Phaeton did in 1808 under cover of flying a Dutch flag to attain supplies.

I seem to recall hearing an author talking about the U.S. meddling around with Japan's oil supplies in the early 1900's, and that this was a continuing player right up to our curbing their oil imports even further in the lead up to Pearl Harbor. Does this sound correct?

[Cartomancer]

There are reasons and then there are reasons. I believe much of what happened in WWII revolved around what we are calling the New World Order. It was kind of like a battle between the occult forces of the US against Germany and the Vatican to see which occult force would rule the world and establish the NWO. If you you really examine it FDR was into the occult and recovering artifacts and relics every bit as much as Hitler. This is simply not talked about very much.

If you look at the history of the east you will see that the Vatican has always had designs on Japan. I think they have a belief that Japan is part of their sphere of influence. In 1640 the Japanese became hip to this and banned all foreigners from the country. This isolationist policy was a direct response to Roman Catholic missionaries infiltrating the country. In addition Japan is a fiercely independent island nation w/ limited resources. The only way for them to compete is to be an imperial power that manipulates others to survive. This is the same reason we still have military bases all over Japan and Germany. This fit the more openly fascist philosophy of the Axis powers. The third reich, in a very real way, was an extension of the Byzantine Empire which morphed into the Holy Roman Empire.

Note that each Axis power is included in the Templum established at St. Peter's square of the Vatican. St. Peter's Square is considered an Axis Mundi in the Roman tradition. Is it a coincidence that the Germans, Italians, and Japanese were known as the Axis powers?

[Lord Sidious]

Good question Fred, with many spin-offs. In order to get closer to the answer, let me take you a little further down the hole, and a little further back in time, as the answer ......

Why did the USA steal the Sandwich islands (Hawaii) ?

Why did the USA send Admiral Perry to Japan, where he effectively blockaded the country and forced them into allowing American traders, missionaries etc. to begin the process of demolishing their culture ?

The thread is specifically about the USA and Japan, but the real answers lie a lot further back, and involve plenty of other countries, not to mention goold old christianity.

Good stuff mariposafe, thank you. O.K., I did my due morning research on Hawaii and 1800's Japan as you suggested, and learned a whole new section of history I had been ignorant of. Stealing the Sandwich Islands is putting it kindly if anything. What westerners did to those people starting with Cook in the late 1700's on through to 1959 is nothing short of a complete and utter disgrace. Were it possible for all the people responsible to fall on their swords to make ammends, it would only be one small step in the right direction.

It sounds like the Japanese were doing a fine job of minding their own business, until the British and Americans started bullying them around with their military toys starting in the early 1800's. Perry was certainly a piece of work in the 1850's. Whether he enjoyed what he did, or was doing the old "just following orders" is irrelevent so far as I'm concerned. I didn't see that he blockaded them though, just insist that they open up ports for western "interests" by demonstrating his cannon capabilities on local houses, much the same as the HMS Phaeton did in 1808 under cover of flying a Dutch flag to attain supplies.

I seem to recall hearing an author talking about the U.S. meddling around with Japan's oil supplies in the early 1900's, and that this was a continuing player right up to our curbing their oil imports even further in the lead up to Pearl Harbor. Does this sound correct?

You might like to know that Captain Cook was killed and eaten in those same Sandwich Islands.
Maybe they made a sandwich out of him? :o
Ok, ok, I couldn't help myself.
And yes, the united snakes had been messing around with the delivery of oil to Japan before 1941.


There are reasons and then there are reasons. I believe much of what happened in WWII revolved around what we are calling the New World Order. It was kind of like a battle between the occult forces of the US against Germany and the Vatican to see which occult force would rule the world and establish the NWO. If you you really examine it FDR was into the occult and recovering artifacts and relics every bit as much as Hitler. This is simply not talked about very much.

If you look at the history of the east you will see that the Vatican has always had designs on Japan. I think they have a belief that Japan is part of their sphere of influence. In 1640 the Japanese became hip to this and banned all foreigners from the country. This isolationist policy was a direct response to Roman Catholic missionaries infiltrating the country. In addition Japan is a fiercely independent island nation w/ limited resources. The only way for them to compete is to be an imperial power that manipulates others to survive. This is the same reason we still have military bases all over Japan and Germany. This fit the more openly fascist philosophy of the Axis powers. The third reich, in a very real way, was an extension of the Byzantine Empire which morphed into the Holy Roman Empire.

Note that each Axis power is included in the Templum established at St. Peter's square of the Vatican. St. Peter's Square is considered an Axis Mundi in the Roman tradition. Is it a coincidence that the Germans, Italians, and Japanese were known as the Axis powers?

You are correct.
And not just catholics, specifically jesuits.
They even had an uprising in Kyushu of the christians left behind by them.
Needless to see they were put to the sword.
And it is one action that is verifiable where hired ninja were used for various tasks.

[grapevine]

I read somewhere - Jim Marrs The Third Reich I think (but don't quote me) that the US wanted to test the atom bomb. They had the money and the Germans had the technology and that between the Germans giving up and Japan being bombed sky high they wanted to see what it could do. They were scared that Japan would surrender before they had a chance to use it. Whether that is true or another propaganda story I don't know. Nobody comes out of war smelling like roses . . . except for the poor civilians in Japan who, even today, are affected by the fallout of this terrible weapon. Let's nobody do it again huh?

[Fred Steeves]

They even had an uprising in Kyushu of the christians left behind by them.
Needless to see they were put to the sword.
And it is one action that is verifiable where hired ninja were used for various tasks.

Do you have a good source where I can read more about that Rob? From what I was able to find, the story comes across as a bit muddled.

[Fred Steeves]

This fit the more openly fascist philosophy of the Axis powers. The third reich, in a very real way, was an extension of the Byzantine Empire which morphed into the Holy Roman Empire.

Note that each Axis power is included in the Templum established at St. Peter's square of the Vatican. St. Peter's Square is considered an Axis Mundi in the Roman tradition. Is it a coincidence that the Germans, Italians, and Japanese were known as the Axis powers?

I'm enjoying being a student here Cartomancer. Do you have a reliable source as well to post that I can read up on this? I know a bit about the symbolism and sacred geometry, but there appears to be much more I do not know, and I would like to.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

I didn't foresee the Vatican and the Jesuits involvement here, but I reckon it should be of no great surprise.

[Cartomancer]

Fred, You have brought up a point that has been frustrating me since I discovered it.

I have a strong background in GIS and cartography. Unemployed w/ lots of time to look at Google Earth.I have written a series of essays and documentation entitled "Geomantic Infrormation Systems Vol. I" I think I am the first ever to document the following:

The obelisk at the center of St. Peter's Square at the Vatican is surrounded by a circle of "windrose" markers. Each marker has a primary compass direction marked on its surface. This is an echo of the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Greece, a similar structure.

If you plot these directions using azimuths (lines matching the curvature of the earth) on the globe they all lead to places significant to the Roman Catholic Church (including Japan). There are too many precise correlations here for this not to be valid. I have three movies on my youtube channel on this subject. If you check my posted threads you will see my movie about the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Search though I may no one else has ever noted this phenomena in the past. I have had doctoral level geographers double check this and they have stood agape and in disbelief but were forced to admit that I was correct. I have stumbled upon one of the greatest gnostic secrets in the world and I can't get anyone to pay attention. I have since discovered other significant Axis including the Hexagon of Baalbek, The Great Pyramid, and Thomas Jeffersons country estate the octagonal Poplar Forest. This is the system used to move the 0 degree longitude around the world over time. It's all based on the occult use of the Axis Mundi best defined in Roman geography.

Here's the best and most controversial alignment at the Vatican. Using the obelisk at the center and the ESE windrose marker an azimuth is created on the globe that leads directly to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Not only does this line transect directly to the Dome but it matches the position and orientation of the NE facet of the Dome's octagonal plan. These buildings point to each other from over 1300 miles away. The history backs this up as Justinian II's engineers and artisans help to build the Dome of the Rock. Justinian I built the Church of St. Mary later known as the Al Aqsa mosque. Both structures currently on the Temple Mount were built by the Byzantines! See the thread from yesterday about Roman Cannon Law and the Khazars. I put a huge post there explaining this. Go to survivalcell.blogspot.com for more. See my old posts for some movies I made about this or go to my youtube channel survivalcell.

There are tons of sources on the net and in history books about the Portuguese and Spanish missions to Japan between the late 1500's and 1640 when it was closed to foreigners. It is interesting that the US was the first to "visit" Japan after all of this happened. Japan even has a myth of Christ coming to Japan. There is even a grave of Christ in Japan in a place called Shingo. (google "The Japanese Jesus of Shingo.")

[Lord Sidious]

Here ya go Fred.
In this article, you can see the ninja fulfilling one of their main roles as shinobi, that of a spy or recon soldier.
From what I can figure, these are men from the Iga Ryu.
Edo is the old name for Tokyo.


Ch 14 - Western Contacts
Rebellion at Shimabara
Shifting political winds and aggressive missionaries pushed the Tokugawa shogunate toward a Japanese policy of national seclusion. The Shimabara Rebellion in 1637 marked the final brutal act in Japan's tolerance of foreign presence and led to the expulsion of all foreigners except the Dutch, who remained on Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay.

In the early years of the seventeenth century, the Tokugawa shogunate sent its own trading ships abroad in search of Chinese silks, hides and ceramics, principally to Indo-China and the Philippines. To distinguish themselves from the infamous pirate ships that sailed the China Seas, Japanese traders carried a special license issued by the bakufu. Licensed or not, many of these Japanese seamen had all the affrontery of the wako pirates who preceded them and it was not uncommon for friction and fighting to break out in the foreign ports they visited. In 1608, Andre Pessao, acting governor of Macao and captain of the next "Black Ship" to Nagasaki, attacked a ship of Japanese troublemakers. Fifty of the surviving sailors surrendered and were returned to Japan, but only after signing an affidavit that absolved the Portuguese from killing their shipmates. The sailors reported the incident to Tokugawa Ieyasu and claimed they signed the document under duress.

Tokugawa Ieyasu hesitated to retaliate against Captain Pessao when he arrived in Nagasaki aboard the Madre de Deus, since the ship's cargo represented such a valuable economic benefit to Japan. At about the same time, the Spanish galleon San Francisco ran aground in Edo Bay. The ship's captain, Governor Don Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco, was brought to Edo and asked if the Spanish could meet the Japanese demand for silk. The governor's enthusiastic reply that Spain would gladly send two or three ships each year to Japan proved to Tokugawa Ieyasu the Japanese could live without the Portuguese. They also found they could play the Spanish off against the Portuguese and the Protestant Dutch and English off against the Spanish Catholics. In early January 1610, the Japanese struck a blow against the Portuguese from which they never fully recovered when they attacked and sank the Madre de Deus as it departed Nagasaki.

In 1609, the same year the Dutch received Japanese permission to establish a trading base at Hirado, administrator Jacques Specx sent a shipload of pepper to Tsushima Island, bound for Korea. Thedaimyo of Tsushima sent the ship back to Hirado. It was difficult for the VOC to swallow that the trade monopoly with Korea was in hands other than theirs and they were keen to change that situation. In 1611, Tokugawa Ieyasu received a letter from The Hague in Holland dated December 18, 1610, and addressed to the "most Almighty Emperor and King of Japan." In his letter, Prince Maurits asserted the true object of the Catholics in Japan was the fomentation of political dissension and civil strife. He also wrote:
"Furthermore my subjects are willing to visit and trade sincerely all countries and places, I thus request Your Imperial Majesty that the same trade on Corea may favor Your Majesty's help."

Despite the lovely words, the prince got nothing. In fact, the message struck a raw nerve.

Tokugawa Ieyasu once tolerated the presence of Christian missionaries, but he soon concluded they were a potential menace to Japan. His advisors warned him that Christian doctrine enjoined the faithful to obey their spiritual leaders (the Jesuits), not their temporal leader (the Shogun). The Dutch and English fanned growing suspicions that Christian missionaries were actually the forerunners of Spanish colonization and attempts to dominate the Far East. These suspicions were enhanced by the arrogance of Sebastian Vizcaino, who obtained Japanese permission to survey Japan's east coast in 1611-1613 for ports that could be used by Spanish galleons bound for Mexico from the Philippines if they were blown off course. Ieyasu became further irritated against the Christians by intrigues involving the Christian daimyo Lord Arima in Kyushu and by the discovery that some of Tokugawa's own household were Christians.

The shifting political winds and aggressive missionaries finally tested the limits of Tokugawa Hidetada's patience. On January 27, 1614, he issued an edict that prohibited the practice of Christianity in Japan. Although the edict was not strictly enforced, it had a chilling effect on missionaries and Christians alike, many of whom survived only by being discreet. Two years later, Shogun Tokugawa restricted all foreign merchants, except the Chinese, to the ports of Nagasaki and Hirado and restricted foreign residents to Edo, Kyoto, and Sakai. A dramatic example of the vigorous and determined campaign to root out Christian missionaries and their followers occurred in 1621, when a Japanese junk transporting two Spanish Franciscans was intercepted off the Formosa coast and escorted to Hirado. Both friars were executed on orders from the Shogun, along with the entire ship's crew and every Christian prisoner in the jails of Suzuta and Nagasaki. On September 10, 1622, fifty-five Christians were publicly burned or beheaded in Nagasaki, including a number of women and children. A total of 120 missionaries and converts were executed in Japan that year.

Tokugawa Iemitsu, Hidetada's son and the third Tokugawa Shogun, celebrated his rise to power in early 1623 by ordering fifty Christians burned at the stake in Edo. He persecuted Christians with a cold-blooded fervor that exceeded that of his father and grandfather. Iemitsu accelerated Japan's growing tendency toward seclusion by further tightening the restrictions on foreigners, securing the benefits of foreign trade for himself, and preventing the Kyushu daimyo from increasing their power through independent trade with foreigners.

Tokugawa Iemitsu expressed Japan's official seclusion policy in five separate directives issued between 1633 and 1639 to his two commissioners in Nagasaki. The first of his edicts closed Japan to all outside foreign interference. The seventeen-article directive issued in 1633 prohibited all Japanese ships and subjects from leaving Japan for a foreign country without a license. Any Japanese subject living abroad, except those who had resided abroad less than five years and had been unavoidably detained, would be put to death if they tried to return to Japan. He ordered the Nagasaki commissioners to investigate anyone suspected of being a Christian and offered a reward to anyone who revealed the location of a foreign priest. Foreign ships arriving in Japan were put under armed guard and thoroughly searched for foreign priests. Any foreigner who helped a foreign priest or any other prohibited foreigner would be imprisoned.

The shogun's edicts of 1634 and 1635 were similar to the first, but the 1635 edict was more specific in its prohibitions . By 1636, no Japanese ship, without exception, could leave Japan for any reason and those who were already on foreign shores were absolutely forbidden to return. A fourth edict, issued in 1636, contained nineteen articles that further increased the pressure against foreigners. The children of "southern barbarians" (Portuguese and Spanish) were forbidden from remaining in Japan and any Japanese who adopted these children, together with the children, were handed over to the Portuguese for deportation.

Beginning in 1569, the Shimabara Peninsula, which stretches southeastward from Nagasaki, and the Amakusa Islands to the south of the peninsula became home to thousands of Christian converts thanks to the missionary activities of Father Luis d'Almeida and the supportive efforts of the Christian daimyo Konishi Yukinaga. After Lord Konishi's defeat by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Kyushu became the domain of Lord Matsukura Shigemasa, a brutal tyrant who squeezed the peasants for nearly everything they had. In addition to the regular taxes paid by each household, which included an annual tribute of rice, wheat and barley, farmers were forced to turn over 80% of their crops and livestock and obliged to perform other tasks that increased Lord Matsukura's wealth. Lord Terazawa Hirotaka, Governor of Nagasaki, heavily taxed his subjects in the small town of Shimabara and conscripted laborers to build the massive Shimabara Castle, completed in 1625. High taxes and forced labor did not exhaust Lord Terazawa's harsh demands. The peasants of Amakusa and Shimabara were also mercilessly persecuted for their foreign faith and punished for the slightest offenses. The most common punishments were crucifixion, being boiled alive, or being hung over a burning pit and left to suffocate.

Less than a year after Lord Terazawa Hirotaka's death in 1633, his son, Terazawa Katakata, Lord of Amakusa, joined with Lord Matsukura in executing peasants who could not pay their taxes. The shogun's anti-Christian edicts only added to the sport. A farmer who refused to pay up was forced to wear a coat made of straw (mino, in Japanese) which was then was set ablaze. According to Nicholas Koeckebacker, the Dutch administrator in Hirado, the Japanese described the victim's agonizing pain as mino odori, or "raincoat dancing."

Living in grinding poverty and unable to tolerate the unceasing insolence and atrocious tyranny of the governors and Lord Matsukura's officers, the peasants of Shimabara believed the end was near and desperately looked for a savior to deliver them. They found him in Masuda Shiro, a charismatic sixteen-year-old who quickly emerged as a rebel leader. In October 1637, peasants from Shimabara and the nearby Amakusa islands, together with large numbers of ronin (samurai without a master), launched a rebellion. Angry peasants, armed with only with swords, rakes and rocks directed much of their anger at Shimabara Castle. They burned the town of Shimabara to the ground, killing one of the governors and more than thirty noblemen. In one instance, when a farmer's virgin daughter was seized, stripped, and tortured with burning sticks for his nonpayment of debts, the man retaliated by killing an "officer of justice" and his companions. Once the gauntlet had been thrown down, there was no turning back.

On November 8, as soon as the Portuguese "Black Ship" sailed from Nagasaki for Macao, the Governors of Nagasaki also departed for the imperial court at Edo. Soon after they reached Edo they got word of the rebellion spreading in Shimabara. Without waiting to learn of the details, Lord Matsukura Shigemasa and the Nagasaki daimyo hurriedly set out from Edo to meet the challenge. Since Nagasaki was designated a Crown city, Lord Terazawa Katakata quickly marshaled reinforcements to guard the suburbs. Over 40,000 men of Chikugo camped in the hills around Nagasaki under orders to defend the city and keep its inhabitants under surveillance. No one could move around freely without offering documents to prove their residence. Lord Terazawa also dispatched nine noblemen with 3,000 samurai from northern Kyushu to suppress the Amakusa rebels and punish the ringleaders. The rebels decimated Lord Terazawa's small force two days later, killing 2,800 men in a pitched battle fought on December 27.

On January 2, 1638, Lord Matsukura and Lord Terazawa set out for Shimabara accompanied by a force of 500 samurai. An additional 800 samurai from Omura along with four large ships arrived in Nagasaki to guard the river approach to the city. The same day, 800 samurai from Hizen arrived at Isahaya, about twenty miles west of Shimabara. The daimyo established their field headquarters in a village about a mile-and-a-half from Shimabara Castle to await the arrival of imperial troops from Edo. The Amakusa rebels suffered heavy casualties in a repeat engagement on January 3, and at least 1,000 survivors escaped to Shimabara to fight alongside rebels led by Masuda Shiro.

During their rampage, the rebels destroyed Japanese religious symbols, replaced them with Christian emblems and took control of the abandoned Hara Castle at the southern tip of the peninsula. Within the castle's massive walls guarded by three moats, they assembled a force of 35,000 men, not including numerous women and children, under the banner of the Christian cross. In capturing Hara, they burned the daimyo's rice stores and ships and came very close to capturing Shimabara Castle. Soon after the rebellion began, Christian converts from Amakusa and Shimabara began openly proclaiming their adherence to Christianity. Many carried banners emblazoned with Portuguese inscriptions such as "Louvada seia o Santissimo Sacramento" (Praised be the most Holy Sacrament) and "San Tiago." This physical evidence may well have confirmed their "treason" to Tokugawa Iemitsu, but they were not traitors. They were men and women driven to the brink of despair with nothing to lose by rebelling against a rapacious government.

On January 4, while the rebels were still enjoying their brief "victory," ten ninja warriors arrived at Hara from Omu Province. Every night for the next two weeks these veterans of the Battle of Sekigahara secretly entered the castle to gather intelligence and map the castle's defenses. Fifteen days later they sent a detailed report to the shogun in Edo. Tokugawa Iemitsu sent an army of over 10,000 men to lay siege to the rebel stronghold at Hara Castle. Armed with little more than a few guns, swords and lances, the rebels defiantly taunted their attackers and managed to inflict heavy losses on government forces without losing a man. Lord Matsukura scavenged some fifty pieces of artillery from Japanese ships in Nagasaki in addition to a large number of smaller weapons taken from Chinese ships and bombarded the castle. He also requested the Dutch send an armed ship from Hirado to bomb the fortress from the sea. The Dutch ship had little effect on the siege and the rebels managed to kill two Dutch sailors before it departed.

The roads and fields around Hara Castle were littered with countless men who died from exposure to the bitter cold winter weather, many of whom had never fired a shot. Rebel raids, such as the deadly assault on February 3 which killed over 2,000 Hizen warriors, the governor and many noblemen, only compounded the attackers' misery. Masuda Shiro's rebellious peasants fiercely held off the shogunate's samurai for four months until dwindling supplies and cold weather began to take their toll. In early February, six defectors from Hara Castle brought Lord Matsukura some welcome news. Hara Castle had provisions for only seventy days and the defenders along the outer perimeter lacked both gunpowder and provisions.

Government forces decisively crushed the rebellion on Amakusa by mid-February. Fifty diehard rebels crossed the narrow strait to Shimabara and joined with the rebels in Hara Castle for the final showdown. Beginning on March 10, a combined force of nearly 200,000 warriors under the command of Lord Itakura Shigemasa assembled on the plains of Shimabara: 30,000 from Chikuzen, 40,000 from Higo; 25,000 from Chikugo, 2,700 from Bungo, 3,000 from Amakusa, 5,000 from Omura, 3,000 from Hirado, and 500 men belonging to Lord Terazawa Katakata. Faced with the prospect of a long siege and certain starvation, the rebels took the initiative and conducted a night assault against the Hizen, Bungo and Chikugo forces on April 4. Captured prisoners from the confused battle that left 380 rebels dead, revealed that the rebels were without food, gunpowder and ammunition. Hizen samurai took advantage of the information and captured the castle's outer defense perimeter on April 12. The castle moats filled with the dead and dying as rebels withdrew toward the main castle, reduced to throwing cooking pots at their attackers.

Fires surrounded Hara Castle during the rebellion's brutal and merciless final act on April 15, 1638. Between 5,000 and 6,000 rebels chose to burn rather than surrender. Many rebels threw their children into the flames to prevent them from being taken and cruelly put to death. After taking Hara Castle, government forces systematically slaughtered everyone they encountered. Not a single rebel survived the Battle at Hara Castle except those who fled, and they were later hunted down and executed. Masuda Shiro was captured and decapitated and his head was sent to Nagasaki and exhibited. The ferocity of the final assault is evident from the 10,800 rebel heads taken in the final two days of fighting and placed in the fields beneath the castle walls. Stretcher cases, countless wounded and servants weeping for their dead masters filled the roads leading from Shimabara; gruesome testimony to the brutality of the battle. The castle itself was later destroyed and the combined lands of Shimabara and Amakusa were divided among various daimyo.

The governors and daimyo of Kyushu tried to make the insurrection in Shimabara and Amakusa appear to be the result of religious fervor, largely to deflect attention from their own despotic excesses and prevent their losing favor with the Tokugawa shogunate. The violence of the rebellion and the setbacks encountered by the shogun's forces stunned the bakufu in Edo. Despite the economic benefits brought to Japan by the Black Ships from Macao, Tokugawa Iemitsu saw the hand of foreign Christian adversaries in the Shimabara Rebellion. He now feared not only Christianity, but the possibility that Spain would try to duplicate through force of arms and conversion in Japan what it had already achieved in the Philippines.

Determined to end the Portuguese trade, Tokugawa Iemitsu resolved to prohibit Christianity in Japan and issued an edict that called for a policy of strict national seclusion. No foreign ships were allowed to enter Japanese ports, and no Japanese citizen was permitted to leave or reenter Japan. The Portuguese trade ships arriving in Japan that year were turned away without unloading their cargo. In May 1639, the bakufu expressly forbid Portuguese ships from coming to Japan and all Portuguese and all children of mixed racial parentage were ordered out of the country. The last of the Portuguese Black Ships remaining in Japan sailed for Macao on October 17, 1639, carrying news of the end of an epoch.

In June 1640, the Macao Senate foolishly dispatched an empty Portuguese trade ship to Nagasaki carrying four of its leading citizens who hoped to plead for a resumption of trade. The Governor of Nagasaki received the entourage graciously, but the Grand Council at Edo answered by ordering sixty-one of the ship's multinational compliment executed. Thirteen Chinese crewmen were released to return to Macao with the dreadful news. The official rescript concerning the execution of the Macao Embassy directly linked the actions of the "worm-like barbarians of Macau" with the Shimabara Rebellion.
"If we had not destroyed and annihilated them [the rebels] as quickly as possible, their numbers would have greatly increased, and the revolt would have spread like the rebellion of Chang Lu [revolt of Yellow Turbans in China in 184 AD] . . . The instigators of this revolt were deserving of the severest punishment, and therefore a government envoy was sent to Nagasaki, warning your people that they should never return to this country, and that if they did, everybody on board the ships would be killed infallibly, . . ."

Japan had been moving toward isolation for some time, but the Shimabara Rebellion brought a quick end to Japanese contact with the outside world. Only the Dutch were allowed to remain in Japan, partly because of their assistance against the Christian rebels at Hara Castle and partly because they alone never declared themselves to be Christian, or at least never expressed any intention to conduct missionary activities. In 1640, the Dutch factory on Hirado was ordered to move to Deshima, a rocky, artificial island exactly one hectare in size originally built in Nagasaki Bay in 1635-36 to house Portuguese merchants.

Deshima was tightly packed with offices, warehouses, guest houses for visiting officers and dignitaries, and employee barracks. There was no church or minister, since the Dutch were prohibited from practicing Christianity on Deshima. Food provided by the VOC and the Japanese included chickens, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. Those who died on Deshima had to be taken five miles out to sea and dumped overboard, since the Japanese prohibited burials on the island. Every Dutch ship that anchored at Nagasaki had to lock its artillery pieces and turn over all weapons and bibles to the Japanese along with the ship's sails and rudder to prevent it from leaving without permission. The Dutch had to live on Deshima without their wives and families and were prohibited from crossing the small bridge between the island and the mainland without permission and that was seldom granted. If the Japanese wanted contact with the Dutch for any reason, a small delegation was permitted to cross the bridge. The Chinese, though initially unfettered in their trade with Japan, were eventually placed under similar restrictions.

The Japanese considered Holland to be a vassal state, but had only a vague idea of its actual location and their demeanor towards the Dutch was, at best, well-mannered arrogance. The Dutch were considered foul-smelling strangers and expected to behave humbly and respectfully toward all Japanese. Most of the VOC chiefs succeeded in making themselves "beloved and pleased" by bearing every condition imposed by the Japanese and telling them whatever they liked to hear. Any VOC chief who failed to properly "butter-up" the Japanese and caused friction was quickly replaced.

Dutch behavior toward the Japanese on Deshima and Dutch attitudes towards local populations elsewhere in East Asia were as different as night and day. VOC contracts with local chiefs were highly advantageous to the Dutch and if local "savages" dared to complain or, worse, dared to violently resist the Company, it hit back with a heavy hand. For example, after eight VOC employees died during a Chinese attack against the settlement at Provintien on Formosa, the Dutch military took revenge for the shedding of "Dutch Christian blood" by killing between two and three thousand Chinese in a twelve day period. Deshima proved that business could be conducted differently. If the Japanese saw no advantage to the Dutch presence, they would have expelled them just as they had the Portuguese. Likewise, if the situation had not proved so profitable to the Dutch, they would never have stayed. The different approach taken with the Japanese proved the Dutch understood that one could earn just as much profit with a little "buttering up," as by shedding blood.

The sudden move toward national seclusion legitimized and strengthened the shogun's authority domestically and effectively removed Japan as an active participant in the Ming Chinese tribute system in East Asia. The momentous decision to embark on a policy of seclusion and isolation excluded Japan from the rapid advances in science, technology and industry that took place in the Western world over the next two hundred fifty years. Except for trade with the Ryukyu Islands and Choson, which was confined to Satsuma and Tsushima Island respectively, the only foreign trade permitted was with the Dutch and Chinese on Deshima Island. Japan closed its door to the outside world and kept it closed until the mid-nineteenth century. Unlike Choson however, the Japanese kept a small crack in the door. That small crack was Deshima.

http://www.koreanhistoryproject.org/Ket/C14/E1404.htm

[John Parslow]

Hello W1indmiill


I read somewhere - Jim Marrs The Third Reich I think (but don't quote me) that the US wanted to test the atom bomb. They had the money and the Germans had the technology and that between the Germans giving up and Japan being bombed sky high they wanted to see what it could do. They were scared that Japan would surrender before they had a chance to use it. Whether that is true or another propaganda story I don't know. Nobody comes out of war smelling like roses . . . except for the poor civilians in Japan who, even today, are affected by the fallout of this terrible weapon. Let's nobody do it again huh?

I also seem to recall reading somwhere a long time back that the Japanese tried to surrender two weeks before America dropped those atom bombs. I just cant recall where I may have read it though so no proof ...

All the best. JP :cool:

[Lord Sidious]

Hello W1indmiill


I read somewhere - Jim Marrs The Third Reich I think (but don't quote me) that the US wanted to test the atom bomb. They had the money and the Germans had the technology and that between the Germans giving up and Japan being bombed sky high they wanted to see what it could do. They were scared that Japan would surrender before they had a chance to use it. Whether that is true or another propaganda story I don't know. Nobody comes out of war smelling like roses . . . except for the poor civilians in Japan who, even today, are affected by the fallout of this terrible weapon. Let's nobody do it again huh?

I also seem to recall reading somwhere a long time back that the Japanese tried to surrender two weeks before America dropped those atom bombs. I just cant recall where I may have read it though so no proof ...

All the best. JP :cool:

The Japanese had been trying to negotiate terms since September 1944.