What group took control of Japan after 1930?

Answer 1

To the outside world, Hirohito was the emperor and thus, by definition, the dictatorial leader of Japan. However, there were many political groups in Japan vying for power, especially after 1930. The war with China created a huge split in the Japanese political structure. The army wanted to keep fighting in China. They demanded more and more resources be devoted to this campaign. The army had captured much of north and coastal China by 1935. This area was organized by the Japanese to supply much of the Japanese army, so that the campaign became self supporting to some extent. Meanwhile, the leadership in Japan proper, mainly industrialists and trading interests, desired more secure raw material sources and markets in which to sell finished goods. Since these areas were mainly in Java, Malaysia, Burma, Formosa and similar areas, this group desired a powerful navy. Naval proponents thus saw, not China, but the USA, Britain, France and the Netherlands as their primary enemies, since these nations controlled the extensive colonies in the areas Japan coveted. This situation was never resolved in Japan. The Chinese war went on. The navy got larger and ultimately confronted the various colonial powers noted above. The army never gave the navy the troops necessary to properly fight the war with the west. The Japanese homeland never gave the China based armies the resources necessary to finish the land war (and possibly enable it to confront the land based Soviet forces in Siberia). Likely the split in the Japanese system also created a delay in their ability to negotiate an end to fighting. Since Japan had lost its fleet, was isolated, starving and without oil or other resources - all by late 1944 - many leaders wanted to seek terms and surrender. However the China based army was still unbeaten and quite strong. They wanted the war to continue and could not sympathize with their Japan based comrades. Thus the war drug on for nearly another year - a year which saw many Japanese cities bombed and burned and nearly a million Japanese civilian killed. Given the obstacles it faced, this fractured Japanese system achieved remarkable results and conquered a vast empire. However it was inevitable that this empire would falter once the western powers organized their resources and tried to retake their lost empires.

Answer 2

Hirochito