Komura Jutaro and His Time

After the Meiji Restoration, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Russo-Japanese War, Japan found itself occupying a prominent position in the global arena. Komura Jutaro, whom Mutsu Munemitsu had chosen as his successor, served on the Katsu Taro cabinet and set to forging a plan for Japan’s continental development in opposition to Russia, considering the influence of the United States and Britain. Komura accurately judged that Japan had no other option than war with Russia, given his piercing insights into Russia’s intentions, and that recognition enabled the Empire of Japan to stay on the right track. All the other merits and demerits of Komura’s diplomacy are directly connected to the merits and demerits of the steps taken by the Empire of Japan that eventually led to the country’s defeat in World War II. Komura’s diplomacy thus calls into question Japan’s national strategy itself: consistently pursuing independent diplomacy instead of entrusting Japan’s fate to collaboration with the Anglo-American world and, in Asia, expanding Japan’s exclusive sphere of influence beyond the Korean Peninsula deep into the Asian continent.