Text: Geography Hot Speaker
Edited by a geographic hothorn
Preamble:
The country is not big, but the ambition is not small, and it is the unanimous evaluation of Japan in the world. Although it is nicknamed "small island country" by everyone, the cherry blossom country has absolute confidence in terms of land area. During World War II, it even followed Germany's clamor and vowed to "buy the whole of the United States".
Don't think they're daydreaming. At its peak, the entire territory of Southeast Asia was within the territory of Japan, and its ideal territory was even more shocking. Do you want to know how crazy this country really is? Today we will talk about the "homeland dream" that Japan had in those years.
You would never dare to imagine that Japan, which is only a "caterpillar in front of a rooster", once stood at the peak of its land area. Not to mention achieving the goal of 20 times the territorial expansion, it has also extended its ideal territory to the entire "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" when it already covers an area of 7 million square kilometers.
From today's perspective, it is not difficult to see that there is a world of difference between what Japan says and what it actually does. After all, from the snow on the top of Mt. Fuji for sushi sashimi to the lights on the puppet anime Tokyo Tower, the Yamato nation has taken its own keywords to the extreme.
If you want to talk about something else, it's really rude. Even if we are born pure, in the face of the land area in black and white, no matter how we count with our fingers, when facing this neighboring country in the real sense, we can't help but come out of our mouths with four words: the land of projectiles.
This is not the traditional blood of the Chinese people that is holding up the façade of a great country. As the third largest country in the world in terms of land area, it is normal for us to look down on the one-third of an acre of land in our neighbors.
After all, the island country in the literal sense of the word is not only long and narrow in shape, but also has a territorial area of only 378,000 square kilometers. When the full dozen is counted, there are more than 100 million people active in that land. As long as we take out one Yunnan Province, we can do it easily.
Not to mention that in addition to Yunnan Province, we still have Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, which have a larger area, have not yet taken out, and they are also worthy of all countries to come out in turn to say that they are not ashamed of Japan's "national dream" that is not strong but is arrogant.
But in the face of ridicule, Japan did not feel ashamed at all. In the face of everyone's surprisingly unanimous title of "land of projectiles", it is explained like this: the territory is not good, then you count the territorial waters and try again?
No wonder it's so arrogant. As the famous "land of a thousand islands", Japan has four large islands: Hokkaido, Kitashu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and if other unknown islands are added, its water area accounts for 3,091 square kilometers, and the territorial sea area is as high as 310,000 square kilometers.
In the case of frenzied land reclamation, so much so that it has a coastline of up to 33,899 kilometers, it is a little untenable to say that it is small. After all, even the big country next to it does not have such a vast sea area.
What's more, the Yamato nation, which was active in history textbooks, was far richer than it is now.
What does that mean? Let's start with this set of data. In 1879, the Ryukyus abolished the feudal domain, changed its name to Okinawa, and threw itself into the arms of Japan. That year, the land area of the Yamato nation was 360,000 square kilometers. In just 63 years, its land area has increased 20 times, reaching the highest peak in history, with a territory of more than 7 million square kilometers.
With a little knowledge of geography, we know that even if Mt. Fuji is flattened by crustal movement alone, it will not be possible to achieve such a huge land area surge. In other words, in waging this beautiful battle of territorial turnaround, Japan must have used some means that could not be put on the table.
For example, wars of aggression.
As the number one fan of Huaxia, this country, which we once called the "Japanese slave country", has always been proud of being with us. In the course of the long years, they learned from the Chinese civilization, and took the state of etiquette as an example, silently paying tribute during the New Year's Festival, and sharing a piece of the soup of the economy of a large country.
But after blindly nodding and bowing, this nation that "stresses small things and loses great righteousness" began to have its own ideas. After seeing the grand occasion of the coming of all nations, the envoy kneeling beside him had an idea. He felt that what they really wanted to learn should also be the coming of all nations. But unlike us, they want all the nations to come to the court, and they want all the nations to take them for themselves.
Therefore, in 1868, after the wave of the Meiji Restoration, the Yamato people, who officially entered the capitalist era, really felt that they had some extraordinary abilities.
In order to draw a clear line with the nurse next to him as soon as possible, the Yamato nation shouted the slogan of "opening up thousands of miles of waves, spreading the power of the country in all directions", and took the lead in aiming the gun at his former example.
At that time, because he was forcibly taken to Japan, the Ryukyu king had to accept Japanese control over him. Although it was still nominally a vassal state of ours, after tasting the sweetness, the Restorationists openly annexed Ryukyu and declared that they would use this land as the boundary, "the southern gate of the Eijin Imperial Kingdom."
As the saying goes, it is up to the owner to beat a dog. As the ruling country of the Ryukyus in the true sense of the word, after seeing the little arro next to us so unscrupulous, we should stand up and teach Sakura Country a lesson.
The problem, however, was that at that time, we had already entered a period of melancholy and incompetent Qing government. The national strength is not strong, and it is still too busy to take care of itself, and it is simply unable to respond to the tragedy of the Ryukyus.
In this way, after the annexation of the Ryukyus, the Sakura Kingdom, which was successfully added to the meal, opened its own path of territorial expansion.
In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded the island;
In 1905, Tsarist Russia was defeated in the war against Japan, and half of Sakhalin Island and the entire Korean Peninsula were owned by the Japanese.
In 1910, the Japan-Korea Merger Treaty came into effect, the Korean Empire collapsed, and the Korean Peninsula was included in the pockets of the Japanese side.
In 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, and after the fall of Northeast China, North China, East China, and South China all fell;
In 1940, Japan won the game against France, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia changed hands, and half of the Indochina Peninsula was occupied by the Japanese army.
In 1941, the Pacific War broke out, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and Thailand, the only independent Southeast Asian country, fell to Japanese rule;
In 1942, Southeast Asian countries such as Burma, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, as well as the Solomon Islands and Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, also became Japanese territory.
Relying on constantly provoking wars, the vassal countries that used to be timid have realized their "dream of becoming a rich country" step by step. In just over 70 years, 20 countries have been hacked.
Seeing a large number of land names changed, Japan was very happy. Because it saw the wind and made the rudder take advantage of the fire to rob, but it mistakenly overestimated its actual ability, believing that it was worthy of the reputation of a world power. Even if the territory has reached an unprecedented maximum, they are not satisfied.
In order to further possess fertile land, the greedy invaders once again drew up their ideal territory and declared to the world that they were bound to build a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".
Therefore, after occupying our eastern seaboard, the Yamato nation decided to march on the whole of Siberia and take the Sea of Okhotsk and the Arctic Ocean into its pocket.
No man is content. No matter how good your appetite is, you must have a matching stomach and intestines to cooperate with digestion. In the face of the world's wealth and wealth, some people have completely forgotten how many pounds and taels they weigh.
So at the peak of their proudest spring, they finally waited for their own catastrophe.
Speaking of which, we have to revisit this nation that "talks about small courtesies and loses great righteousness": after conquering the city, their first reaction is not to appease the people, but to kill frantically to satisfy their dream of being the overlord.
Even if we don't understand "The Art of War", we know that those who win the hearts of the people win the world. Especially for Japan, which has been busy annexing new territories, if you take the next bite before you have time to swallow the food, there is a high probability that you will spit out all the food you have eaten.
In this way, Japan, which acted too tyrannically and made enemies everywhere, reaped the fierce resistance of the surrounding people as it wished. Coupled with their own limited strength, they took too big a step, so after being pointed at the muzzle of the united gun, this former king withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
And the "Potsdam Proclamation" is the truest sorrow of the death knell. After the end of World War II, Japan, as the defeated party, had no choice but to stop its unrealistic plan for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and truthfully tell all its territorial plans, including China, Britain, and the United States, about all its territorial plans.
In other words, if one of these nine countries does not agree, Japan's plan will be considered invalid. For the "overlord" who has always relied on petty theft to make his fortune, the truth is too cruel.
You may say, why bother in the first place if you knew today. If Japan had not planned to expand its territory in the first place, it would have been able to live in the shade of the Oriental tree.
So, is this really the case?
Putting Japan out in its entirety, we may be able to try to understand these two "had to do" of Japan.
Almost all of Japan's island chain is located in the Pacific Rim Seismic Zone. Such a special geographical structure is destined for the Yamato nation to live forever in fear of precariousness. Because I don't know when I open my eyes and have nothing,
It is only then that they have developed a national character that is compatible with domineering and hideousness. Once they have confirmed that the situation is within their control, it is inevitable for them to launch an invasion and expand outward, and actively seek other habitable places.
There are many volcanoes in Japan, and eruptions are the norm. Although Mt. Fuji is a great vantage point, Japan is also plagued by volcanoes. Due to years of volcanic erosion, Japan's natural resources are meagrely. Coupled with the fact that it is not rich in land area, contradictions quietly appear. Once abundance becomes a luxury, it is doomed to be unable to achieve self-sufficiency on its own territory, and its desires and greed for other countries are formed.
But then again, no matter how embarrassed you are, it should not be a reason to inflict suffering on others. As a country that has always pursued stealing chickens and dogs, and has never been willing to put everything on the table, the Yamato nation is really not a friendly neighbor.
Although the vigorous "ideal territorial plan" has been defeated, who can guarantee that this naturally restless nation will not start with the advantageous ocean area and stage the former stealing beams and pillars again?