Empire of Japan (culture, religion and education)
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The ancient Japanese culture was rich in theatre, poetry and short stories. This in some ways conflicted with the portions of the culture based in the military, feudal society and emperor worship. It resulted in sometimes brutal oppression of the lower classes but also served to foster the development of Bushido, which personified gallantry.
The pre-war militarization of Japan resulted in persecution of intellectuals in the pursuit of military development. This was seen as some as a destructive force for the culture of Japan that had rivaled that of the Western nations.
Foreigners in Japan were often impressed with the culture, but considered the Japanese people themselves to be of little military threat due to their stature and perceived weakness. In 1894 and then again in 1905, however, Japan displayed considerable military prowess in her conflicts with China and Russia. Their culture was such that women were perceived almost as dolls, and virtual slaves. The lack of successful invasions of the Japanese islands and their xenophobia resulted in an extremely homogenous population, lacking virtually any racial diversity.
In 1940 there was no official state religion, but this was soon changed as the government assumed control of all religious organizations and ordered that all Christians integrate into this theological structure. A majority of the population integrated into either one of the 12 Buddhist organizations or one of the 13 Shinto minor sects. The government officially joined the Shinto religion and organized a "State Shinto". This unified the imperial and nationalist traditions. This resulted in further consolidation of national religious and military policy and as a result the persecution of any non-conformists.
The national education system was consolidated in order to provide a loyalty among all generations. There were roughly 1,000,000 children in the secondary education system; 530,000 in technical schools and another 73,000 in the universities (which were consolidated from the National University of Tokyo and the Imperial University of Tokyo. These rates were comparable to German and western attendance numbers. The goal of this consolidated education system was the furthering of the national military goals.
