The German Nazi Party: a model for Japan’s ‘New Order’ 1940–1?

The establishment of a single-party system in Japan in October 1940 has been seen as an imitation of the Fascist and Nazi dictatorships in Europe (Shigemitsu 1958: 199). Later studies, however, have come to the conclusion that after a longer struggle the organization had become rather toothless and did not change Japan’s power structure very much (Akagi 1984; Berger 1977; Ito 1983). It is the aim of this chapter to examine which individuals and groups within the movement pressing for single-party rule in Japan followed either the German or the Italian model, and what kind of political orientation finally prevailed.