Dealing with the past

The climax of Japanese colonialism was perhaps the instigation of the Imperial subjectification policy [ko¯minka seisaku] during the SinoJapanese war in July 1937.1 Of course, prior to this as well, Japan developed its territorial expansionism and assimilation policy [do¯ka seisaku] for example, but the Imperial subjectification policy was the supreme imperative to totally eliminate the ethnicity [minzokusei] of those colonized and force them into becoming Imperial subjects [ko¯koku shinmin].