Thomas Cleary on "Lords of the Samurai"

[Andy_S]

Zhong-kui:

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2. Regarding Japan's descent into darkness, its been quite well documented,
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Can you recommend a source? I am seriously interested. Most works I have come across skate across the late Meiji period and the early years of the 20h century and blame the brutality of 1930s Japanese society on "Bushido."

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Basic research into the rise of State Shinto, the effect of the Great Depression, the Spanish Influenza, alteration of labor laws, changes in Japanese educational structure, and other elements are fairly indicative of the changes in Japanese society.
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Certainly, the Depression would have had an effect - as they did in other lands, notably Germany. A militaristic education system is of considerable interest to me as I live in a land of voracious nationalism, and most observors point out that state education is the font of this. And yes, it was the Japanese who introdued modern education to Korea....

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The other point to consider is this. The Russo-Japanese war did not contact any large bases of civilian population, nor a mass mobilization of some of the more ignorant Japanese masses.
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As for not contacting large bases of civilian population: Not entirely true. There were engagements on Korean soil (a Japanese amphibious landing at Inchon, for eg...something that would occur again in 1950...) and land battles just outside Mukden and Port Arthur. According to Wiki, some 20,000 Chinese died; presumably collateral damage.

Perhaps more critically, in the Russo-Japanese war, the Chinese were NOT members of an enemy populace. There again, the Japanese victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5 was not marked by the shocking atrocities perpetrated on the Chinese people in the 1930s and 40s.

Also, the army and navy officers of 1904-1905 war would have been those who trained - or at least, set in path the training - of those who led the mass army of the 1930s - which has some of the 20th century's worst atrocities to its discredit.

Though I grant you, the issues you cite above were most certainly transforming Japan's wider society at this point.