JAPAN AND THE "IRREPRESSIBLE EXPANSION" DOCTRINE
is undisputed, when weighed very carefully, that we may prove to be most refractory for assimiliation by another race. As a Japanese of manly spirit never will be swallowed up by the national characteristics of other peoples, the refutal is impossible.'
"The report of the Japan Sociological Society for 1915, said: "The present tendency is to drive Japan's surplus population into Korea and China, where density of population is almost as congested as in Japan, a movement which, if it continues, is likely to lead to a clash and war between Oriental races. … From a humane point of view it undoubtedly would be better for our emigration to distribute itself in Canada, the United States, South America, and Oceania, as is its present desire and natural tendency.'"
The foregoing excerpts from "Our Eastern Question" display Japanese thought on this subject as it existed at the beginning of the great war. Nothing has occurred since then to change any fundamentals of the question; but the collapse of Russia, the weakness and isolation of China, and the preoccupation of the Western Powers for a prolonged period, gave the militarist "expansion" party in Japan a fresh lease of power, and set it moving along the line of least resistance.
Economic Aspects of the Doctrine
Confining now Japan's "irrepressible expansion" doctrine to its practical delimitation at the Washington Conference (which is the Far East), its objects and reactions can be illustrated by analysis of some propositions that are advanced. One of these propositions is that Japan requires "access to" the raw materials and products of the Asian continent, especially to the products and resources of China. It has been stated that Japan is willing to con-
[12]
