ABSTRACT
In April 1938, after the army invaded central China, the Diet passed the National General Mobilization Law, which included a ban on publications "containing items which hinder the national general mobilization." In May 1938 Prime Minister Konoe gave Araki the education portfolio to appease the political right and show support for the "Movement for Mobilizing the Popular Spirit" behind the military offensives in China. Shortly after taking office Minister of Education Araki summoned all the imperial university presidents to a meeting in Tokyo and lectured them on the need to "mobilize the spirit of the nation" through "self-discipline and self-reflection." Eventually, in 1937, a national spiritual mobilization campaign was announced by Prime Minister Konoe. Faculty spokesmen also summoned up one of the most cherished values of the conservatives: the "spirit of familialism" that they claimed nurtured the university as an "independent society of colleagues.".
