The Japanese expedition to Tibet was an intelligence mission undertaken by in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

in 1939.

Background

From 1918 to 1922, Japan began conducting secret operations in the

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

area. Japanese Genyosha agents operated undercover in

Hami Hami (Kumul) is a prefecture-level city in Eastern Xinjiang, China. It is well known as the home of sweet Hami melons. In early 2016, the former Hami county-level city was merged with Hami Prefecture to form the Hami prefecture-level city with t ...

and other cities to gain information about the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in ...

in Central Asia. During the 1930s, the Imperial Intelligence Services was interested in gaining in-depth intelligence about

and Xinjiang. In the

Kantogun ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = Apri ...

headquarters, a series of undercover operations was organized, and Jinzō Nomoto was one of those to be sent on such missions.

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

also sent expeditions to the same areas in Xinjiang.

Expedition

In 1935, Jinzō Nomoto, from

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

, was sent to Manchukuo and was posted to an intelligence unit in the Japanese

Kantogun ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = Apri ...

Army as a Mongolian-language research student specializing in

Central Asian Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former S ...

issues. In May 1939, during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, Nomoto secretly entered

by disguising himself as a Mongolian and accompanying a Tibetan monk. He began an 18-month intelligence-gathering mission that collected information regarding the social conditions, culture, religion, and local policies of the natives by personal interviews with local residents. He submitted the intelligence mainly to the Intelligence Army Bureau and left the area in October 1940. The

Muslim Chinese Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. Muslims are a minority group in China, representing 1.6-2 percent of the total population (21,667,000- 28,210,795) according to various estimates. Though Hui people, Hui Muslims are the ...

(Dungan) General

Ma Bufang Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general. General Ma started an industrialization pro ...

was an obstruction to Japanese agents trying to contact the Tibetans and was labeled as an "adversary" by a Japanese agent.

Aftermath

Other agents continued secret moves in the area by meeting local

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

tribesmen to organize infiltrations, sabotage, and disturbances in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

on the North West Frontier in case of a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

invasion of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Another alleged interest in the Tibet area was the recovery of all information related to ancient powers related in Tibetan mythology, Tibetan legends. Jinzō Nomoto published his memoirs on his experiences in his Tibetan mission during the war in 2001 as ''Tibet Underground 1939''(チベット潜行1939).

References

*Jinzō Nomoto, Edited by Yuyusha Publishing Co.
Russian and Japanese Involvement with Pre-Communist Tibet: The Role of the Shambhala Legend
{{Tibet topics History of Tibet 1939 in Japan, Japanese Expeditions from Japan 1939 in Tibet Japan–Tibet relations Second Sino-Japanese War Asian expeditions

Background

Expedition

Aftermath

See also

References