From Reading Guidance to Thought Control: Wartime Japanese Libraries

Japanese public libraries failed to make a significant impact with either the state or the people for close to a half century after their introduction in the 1860s. The state was under too much pressure to modernize and militarize to see any value in funding a recreational facility that served personal needs, and librarians did little to market themselves to the people to increase their support base. It was not until the state began to see a role for librarians to provide ideological thought guidance through reading material that libraries began to receive more attention and support. But the library community was hesitant to abandon traditional library services (based on free reading by individuals) in favor of social education (guided reading of mandatory texts), and as a result libraries were not effective vehicles in the state’s moral suasion campaigns to ensure that all citizens were fully committed to the war effort. Introduction When midlevel officers in the Japanese army took “direct action” in Manchuria in September 1931, blowing up part of the South Manchurian Railway and blaming it on the Chinese so that they would have a good excuse to declare war, the Japanese nation entered into a period later known as the Fifteen Year War (1931–45). The uncontrolled impulses of various branches of the military, acting in the name of the emperor, could neither be restrained nor outwardly criticized, and they continued to propel the country toward full-scale war. Direct action by young military zealots at home led to a series of assassination attempts between 1932 and 1936, LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 55, No. 3, Winter 2007 (“Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change,” edited by W. Boyd Rayward and Christine Jenkins), pp. 551–569 © 2007 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois From Reading Guidance to Thought Control: Wartime Japanese Libraries