Japan emerged from World War I as a Pacific power, having obtained numerous Pacific islands as mandates from the League of Nations. Throughout World War I, Japan gathered intelligence from official visits to the navies of Japan’s World War I allies, particularly the British Royal Navy.
When General Baron Giichi Tanaka became prime minister in 1927, a renewed aggressive policy toward China began. During this decade, Japan emerged as an industrialized nation. A clash arose between those who favored Westernization and conservative forces who opposed what they saw as invasive Western influence. By the 1930s, conservative, and militaristic, forces won the struggle, laying the foundations for another conflict in Manchuria, and eventually the Pacific.
Lawrence of Manchuria
Substantial Japanese industrial investments still remained in Manchuria following the Russo-Japanese War. Major General Kenji Doihara, also known as “Lawrence of Manchuria,” led Japan’s renewed intelligence efforts in Manchuria. According to author Richard Deacon, Doihara “remains as preeminently the ablest intelligence officer Japan ever had in Manchuria.”
Doihara’s operatives were responsible for the alleged Chinese sabotage of the Japanese-owned South Manchuria Railroad. Claiming Chinese responsibility for the sabotage, the Japanese Army seized the arsenals of Mukden and several neighboring cities, forcing Chinese troops to withdraw from the area. The occupation of Mukden marked the start of Japanese occupation of the rest of Manchuria. Japan set up a puppet state known as Manchukuo, which they occupied until 1945.
A Recruitment Pitch
Resistance to Doihara and his network was not encouraged, as evidenced by this recruitment pitch from Doihara: “I want you to work for my intelligence agency. I am not inviting you to do so. I am telling you that from now on you are going to work for Japan. This is wartime … and any attempt at flight on your part will be treated as desertion and will be punished with death. My aim is to eliminate every organization or society which is not sincerely friendly to the Japanese.” Fear of Doihara spread throughout China and several Chinese generals were executed on charges of spying for him.
Kempei Tai
Meanwhile, Japan’s domestic intelligence organizations gained heightened importance as a result of the war with China. Formed in 1881, the military’s Kempei Tai was in charge of counterintelligence operations both in Japan and occupied territories. By the time World War II broke out, the Kempei Tai numbered 30,000. Officer recruits were required to have 6 years of military experience and then to pass rigorous mental and physical examinations. The Kempei Tai was also responsible for the interrogation of Allied prisoners of war.
Thought Police
The Kempei Tai were later augmented by the creation of the Special Higher Police, the Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu, or Tokko (“Thought Police”). The Tokko, a branch of Japan’s Ministry of Justice, was formed in 1901 as the Kempei Tai’s civilian counterpart. In 1930, the Thought Police announced that they would welcome information provided by ordinary Japanese citizens. Civilians began spying on neighbors, and house servants reported comments made by their employers. Between 1933 and 1936, over 50,000 people were arrested by the Tokko, charged with having “dangerous thoughts.”
Sources:
Richard Deacon, Kempei Tai: A History of the Japanese Secret Service. New York: Beaufort Books, Inc., 1983.
Doihara's Recruitment Pitch: Hansen, James H., Japanese Intelligence: The Competitive Edge. Washington, DC: NIBC Press, 1996.
In October 1941, the Kempei Tai and Tokko moved on a Soviet spy network in Japan. For more information, read "Richard Sorge and Espionage in Japan: A Soviet Spy Network Infiltrates the Japanese Government."
Cleve Gray - Cleve Gray is a former intelligence analyst and has worked as an associate editor for the Marine Corps Gazette magazine. He has lived in ...
