Eugenics in Showa Japan

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Eugenics in Shōwa Japan was an outgrowth of the worldwide eugenics movement of the early 20th century. Legal measures were supported by certain politicians and movements that sought to increase the number of healthy Japanese, while simultaneously decreasing the number of people suffering mental retardation , disability, genetic disease and other conditions that led to them being viewed as "inferior" contributions to the Japanese gene pool.^[1][2].

Originally brought to Japan through German influence, eugenics during the early Japanese Shōwa period had similarities to Nazi Eugenics, as well as those in the United States (see Buck v. Bell), both of which were developing around the same time. Predominately this included legislation for forced sterilization of "inferior" persons.

Opposition to the eugenics movement persisted amongst several right-wing ultra-nationalist factions, including members of the Diet of Japan and obstetricians, who perceived eugenics as suggesting that the Japanese people were only animals, not people of divine origin as believed by the Japanese national Shinto tradition. ^[3]

Contents 1 Origins 2 Leprosy Policies 3 Eugenic Policies 4 After the Greater East Asia war 5 Abolition of eugenics laws 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Origins

According to Jennifer Robertson of the University of Michigan, eugenism, as part of the new scientific order, was introduced in Japan "under the aegis of nationalism and empire building" ^[4]. She identify the "positive eugenism", promoted by Shigenori Ikeda, which refers to "the improvement of circumstances of sexual reproduction and thus incorporates advances in sanitation, nutrition and physical education into strategies to shape the reproductive choices and decisions of individual and families" ^[5] and the "negative eugenism". The later, promoted by Hisomu Nagai, "involves the prevention of sexual reproduction, through induced abortion or sterilization among people deemed unfit". ^[5] "Unfit" included people such as alcoholics, lepers, the mentally ill, the physically disabled, and criminals. ^[5]

[edit] Leprosy Policies

The Leprosy Prevention laws of 1907, 1931 and 1953, the last one only repealed in 1996, permitted the segregation of patients in sanitarium where forced abortions and sterilization were common, even if the laws did not refer to it, and authorized punishmement of patients "disturbing peace" as most Japanese leprologists believed that vulnerability to the disease was inheritable. ^[6] There were a few Japanese leprologists such as Noburo Ogasawara who argued against the "isolation-sterilization policy" but he was denounced as a traitor to the nation at 15th conference of the Japanese Association of Leprology in 1941. ^[7] Under the colonial Korean Leprosy prevention ordinance, Korean patients were also subjected to hard labor ^[8].

[edit] Eugenic Policies

Ikeda (池田 林儀), a journalist who had been sent to Germany, started the magazine Eugenics movement (優生運動) in 1926. In 1928, he promoted the 21 December as the "blood-purity day" (junketsu de) and sponsored free blood-test at the Tokyo Hygiene laboratory. ^[9]

Nagai, the "Doctor of Eugenics", assumed the position of chief director of The Japanese Society of Health and Human Ecology (JSHHE), which was established in 1930. ^[10]

By early 1930s' detailed "eugenic marriage" questionnaires were printed or inserted in popular magazines for public consumption. ^[11] Promoters like Ikeda were convinced that these marriage surveys would not only insure the eugenic fitness of spouses but also help avoid class differences that could disrupt and even destroy marriage. The goal was to create a database of individuals and their entire households which would enable eugenicists to conduct in-depth surveys of any given family's genealogy. ^[12]

The Race Eugenic Protection Law was submitted from 1934 to 1938 to the Diet. After four amendments, this draft was promulgated as a National Eugenic Law (ja:国民優生法, Kokumin Yusei Hō^?) in 1940 by the Konoe government ^[13]. This law limited compulsory sterilization to "Inherited mental disease", promoted genetic screening and restricted birth control access ^[14]. According to Matsubara Yoko, from 1940 to 1945, 454 people were sterilized in the Japanese Empire under this law.^[15]

There were also campaigns to ensure reproduction amongst the "intelligent or superior elements" in the population.^[3]

Family center staff also attempted to discourage marriage between Japanese women and Korean men who had been recruited from the peninsula as laborers following its annexation by Japan in 1910. In 1942, a survey report argued that «the Korean laborers brought to Japan, where they have established permanent residency, are of the lower classes and therefore of inferior constitution...By fathering children with Japanese women, these men could lower the caliber of the Yamato minzoku».» ^[16]

Eugenism was criticized by some Shinto ultranationalists as it seemed to treat Japanese people, considered of divine origin, as animals to be "bred". ^[17] According to Nagai Hisomu, the Japanese Army's ignorance and dismissal of the science behind eugenics also stalled the spread of eugenic ideology.^[18]

[edit] After the Greater East Asia war

One of the last eugenic measures of the Shōwa regime was taken by the Higashikuni government. On 19 August 1945, the Home Ministry ordered local government offices to establish a prostitution service for allied soldiers to preserve the "purity" of the "Japanese race". The official declaration stated that : «Through the sacrifice of thousands of "Okichis" of the Shōwa era, we shall construct a dike to hold back the mad frenzy of the occupation troops and cultivate and preserve the purity of our race long into the future...» ^[19] Such clubs were soon established by cabinet councillor Yoshio Kodama and Ryoichi Sasakawa.

In postwar Japan, the Eugenic Protection Law (ja:優生保護法, Yusei Hogo Hō^?) was enacted in 1948 to replace the National Eugenic Law of 1940^[20]. The main provisions allowed for the surgical sterilization of women, when the woman, her spouse, or family member within the 4th degree of kinship had a serious genetic disorder, and where pregnancy would endanger the life of the woman. The operation required consent of the woman, her spouse and the approval of the Prefectural Eugenic Protection Council. The law also allowed for abortion for pregnancies in the cases of rape, leprosy, hereditary-transmitted disease, or if the physician determined that the fetus would not be viable outside of the womb. Again, the consent of the woman and her spouse were necessary. Birth control guidance and implementation was restricted to doctors, nurses and professional midwives accredited by the Prefectural government. The law was also amended in May 1949 to allow abortions for economic reasons at the sole discretion of the doctor, which in effect fully legalized abortion in Japan. ^[21]

Despite the unambiguous wording of the law, the law was used by local authorities as justification for measures enforcing forced sterilization and abortions upon people with certain genetic disorders, as well as leprosy, as well as an excuse for legalized discrimination against people with physical and mental handicaps. ^[22]

[edit] Abolition of eugenics laws

Laws that decreed compulsory sterilization of the disabled were abolished with the approval of the Mother's Body Protection Law ((母体保護法, Mother's Body Protection Law^?) on June 18, 1996 ^[22].

[edit] See also

• Nazi eugenics
• Reproductive rights
• Margaret Sanger
• Marie Stopes
• Japanese nationalism

[edit] References