Japan, a non-autarkic nation dependent on imported resources, could not rationally envision war against the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands. Hideki Tojo’s testimony clarifies the structural constraints imposed by bloc economies and resource monopolies.

2017-06-17.
This is a continuation of the previous chapter.
As mentioned earlier, Japan was unable to produce raw materials such as oil and iron ore on its own.
Triggered by the high tariffs imposed by the United States in 1930, the global economy became fragmented into blocs, and it is said that world trade volume fell by nearly half in just one year from 1930 to 1931.
Although it does not appear in the testimony, there was a term at the time known as “autarky.”
This is translated as a “self-sufficient economic unit,” meaning a territory capable of surviving as a modern nation without imports or exports.
As also appears in the testimony, the “haves” referred to autarkic states, which at the time included the United States, Britain—whose colonies covered one quarter of the globe—the Netherlands, which held Indonesia as territory, as well as France and the Soviet Union.
Tojo consistently argued that Japan was a non-autarkic nation.
If necessary resources could be imported from abroad, this would not have been a problem, but under the bloc economy of the time, such imports were difficult, and this awareness was constantly present in Tojo’s mind.
Therefore, Tojo never conceived of fighting against the United States, Britain, or the Netherlands, which controlled raw materials.
The “have-nots,” coincidentally, were the three countries of the Tripartite Pact devised by Yosuke Matsuoka: Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Germany itself believed that it would have to advance into Romania in order to secure oil.
To be continued.