Japanese Ultranationalism
In the years leading up to World War II, ultranationalists worked to rid Japan of democracy and to make the country a one-party state ruled by the military. Although Emperor Hirohito - the Son of Heaven - was revered, he was not involved in politics. The commanders of Japan's armed forces decided on the country's national interests and made most of the decisions that took Japan into World War II. Military leaders, for example, made the decision to invade China and to capture territory belonging to other countries. They wanted raw materials to keep Japanese industries going, as well as markets for Japanese products. They justified this territorial expansion by saying that Japan was only doing the same thing as the United States and the colonial powers of Europe had already done. In 1941, General Tojo Hideki became prime minister and transformed Japan into a military dictatorship. An aggressive ultranationalist, Tojo promised that the country would dominate Asia through military might.