was 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 ...

scientist and early advocate of Japanese

Westernization Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...

. He is considered the founder of the "Greater

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

" concept. Satō attempted to synthesize Western science (especially

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

) with Japanese political and philosophical thought. His ideas contributed to the early modern consolidation of the religion of

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

, especially in the form of State Shinto. In his 1825 treatise ''Tenchūku'', Satō argued that the cosmology in the '' Kojiki'' was both indigenous to Japan and the most compatible of all world religions with astronomy. He extended the Western model, however, by arguing that Shinto provided additional explanations for astronomical phenomenon that had not yet been explained by Western astronomy. Satō advocated an authoritarian government based on Western science and political institutions. In his ''Keizai yōryaku'' (''The Epitome of Economy''), he wrote that "The rationale of economy is to manage the realm, develop goods, make domains affluent, and succor everyone." Satō considered the Western European

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...

s to be a threat that Japan needed to counter by radical economic and military reforms, as well as imperial expansion along Western European lines. His 1823 work ''A Secret Strategy for Expansion（宇内混同秘策）'' called for Japanese world domination, describing how China should be conquered via

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

. He suggested that the Japanese government embark on "

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

and agricultural undertakings" on uninhabited islands in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

. He also said that the Japanese government should take the

Ryūkyū The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara, Amami Islands, Amami, Okinawa Islands, Okinawa, and Sakis ...

as a base to attack and capture

Luzon Island Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, ...

by surprise, then use Luzon as a base for its "southward advance" to seize

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

and other places, ultimately spreading its "military might" in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. He believed that Japan should "adopt suitable means of aggression and annexation" to "increase its

national interest The national interest is a sovereign state's goals and ambitions (economic, military, cultural, or otherwise), taken to be the aim of government. Etymology The Italian phrase ''ragione degli stati'' was first used by Giovanni della Casa around ...

s." This became the first draft of Japan's " southward advance" strategy.

References

*Wang Ping. "Co-Prosperity is False, Aggression is True" Renmin Ribao, July 19, 2005 *Ienaga, S. ''The Pacific War, 1931-1945''.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 1978 1769 births 1850 deaths Kokugaku scholars Japanese writers of the Edo period New Imperialism Deified Japanese people 19th-century agronomists 18th-century agronomists 18th-century Japanese philosophers 19th-century Japanese philosophers {{Japan-bio-stub

See also

References