Japan in 1936–1945 as a Totalitarian State?

Abstract

Despite numerous comprehensive publications on the Japanese state and society in the 1930s and 1940s published to date, there is hardly any common ground among the researchers concerning the nature of the political system in early Shōwa era. This article examines the changes introduced in 1936–1945 Japan by the reformist and militarist clique while trying to address the question of whether or not those policies managed to make it a totalitarian state. The resulting conclusion is that Japan in 1936–1945 cannot be called a totalitarian state. In fact, it represented a classic type of modern authoritarian monarchy.