Historiography, structure, and sources

In the past twenty years, more studies in Japan and the West have explored issues relating to gender, children, and childhood in Manchukuo and early Shōwa Japan, but studies that address the Manchukuo Young Girl Envoys are scarce, if any.Footnote ¹⁴ Japanese sociologist and folklore scholar, Koresawa Hiroaki, is arguably the only one who has specifically analyzed the subject.Footnote ¹⁵ One of his articles on the Envoys has an English translation in the 2017 edited collection, Child's Play.Footnote ¹⁶ From an angle of early Shōwa Japanese national awareness and media, Koresawa concludes that the Envoys were pawns for the Japanese government to “legitimize Japan's invasion of Asia” because the pure image of girls could signify “peace and friendship” and cover the reality of Manchukuo as a “mere product of the Japanese armed invasion.”Footnote ¹⁷ Considering the Envoys' visit to Japan a show that Manchukuo's Japanese authorities and the Japanese home government planned together, to “make Manchuria's independence a fact,” Koresawa deems the Envoys' appeal for inviting Japanese assistance a “self-targeted propaganda” toward the Japanese, to “fulfill contemporary Japanese people's desire of making Japan become a strong world power.”Footnote ¹⁸

Koresawa's observations are plausible by associating Japan's intensified expansions in China proper and East Asia between 1937 and 1945, but whether the Japanese home government, domestic and Kantō armies, and civil officials in Manchukuo had such expectations in 1932 is uncertain based on available sources on the Envoys in both Japanese and Chinese. Late Taishō and early Shōwa Japan in the 1920s and the 1930s had an identifying problem of political rivalry within and between different party and military factions, without mentioning the growing military interference in Japanese politics.Footnote ¹⁹ Political decisions that generated from such a chaotic situation, in the words of historian Kitaoka Shinichi, “brought about immense disaster on Japan and its neighbors.”Footnote ²⁰ Indeed, the Kantō Army invaded Manchuria in September 1931 due to dissatisfaction with the Japanese home government's domestic and foreign policies, and the government's refusal to let the Kantō Army expand the conflict after the Manchurian Incident broke out on September 18, 1931 prevented the army from annexing the region. Government constraint on the military nevertheless caused the assassination of Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi (犬養毅 1855–1932), who tended to solve Manchuria's problems within the framework of “the established international order” by making the region a “Japanese-Chinese joint venture,” in May 1932 by a group of soldiers from the Japanese Navy.Footnote ²¹ Facing pressures from the Japanese military, the League of Nations, and the Nanjing Nationalist government of China, “how to deal with the Manchurian Incident” and Manchukuo thus became a conundrum that Inukai's successor, Saitō Makoto (斎藤実 1858–1936), had to confront with extreme caution.Footnote ²² Such a tense situation facing the Japanese home government hardly left it spaces to satisfy contemporary Japanese people's so-called vanity with the Japanese creators of Manchukuo. Although few existing studies explicitly note and explore, Manchukuo had a hard core of Chinese leadership at least before 1937, and the Kantō Army initially relied heavily on the assistance of the country's Chinese-speaking forces to direct Manchukuo's development in the early 1930s and then spent years to dissolve them. Historian Yamamuro Shin'ichi would partially agree with this observation because he deems Manchukuo “the first time in history that the Japanese tried to coexist with those who had different language, customs, and values on a large scale.”Footnote ²³ When analyzing the Envoys, therefore, one cannot focus exclusively on the Japanese side and overlook the attitude of Manchukuo's Chinese-speaking population. Overcoming the constraints of conspiracy, the historical significance of the Envoys still requires serious empirical examination.

To restore a relatively complete picture of the Envoys from their creation to dismissal, this study contains three sections, although the first and the last sections have multiple headings. The first section examines relevant events prior to June 23, 1932, when the Envoys arrived at Tokyo, to review details behind their selection process and missions in Japan. The second section analyzes the Envoys' interactions with Tokyo's government institutions and civil organizations between June 24 and 29, comparing the receptions that they received from the Japanese home government and Tokyo's residents. The last section reviews the GSB's crisis and traces the Envoys' visit to Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, and Kobe before returning to Xinjing via Shimonoseki, Moji, Dairen, and Fengtian (奉天 present-day Shenyang) between June 30 and July 17, examining how local Japanese media viewed the Envoys and how domestic Chinese- and Japanese-language media in Manchukuo reported their return from Japan. It references relevant documents in the Japanese government-operated website, Center for Asian Historical Records (アジア歴史資料センター Ajia rekishi shiryō sentā), and newspapers in Manchukuo and Japan. Major Japanese-language newspapers include Asahi News, Tokyo Daily News, Ōsaka mainichi shinbun (大阪毎日新聞 Osaka daily news), and Manshū nippō (満州日報 Manchurian daily newspaper). The three Chinese-language newspapers that the study references are Taidong ribao (泰東日報 Eastern daily), Manzhou bao (滿洲報 Manchurian newspaper), and Shengjing shibao (盛京時報 Shengjing times); all of them enjoyed Japanese sponsorship since their publications in the 1900s and the 1920s and shared a pro-Japan standpoint after Manchukuo's creation.Footnote ²⁴ Incorporating these sources will allow historians to recover an almost forgotten – yet highly important – diplomatic and political history of Manchukuo.

Using the pure heart of children to promote friendship: the Envoys' selection process

As its name suggests, the members of the Manchukuo Young Girl Envoys were all primary school and junior high school girls. Serving as Manchukuo's first official diplomats and carrying the mission of introducing the Japanese, particularly primary school children, to the ideals of Manchukuo, the Envoys caught the attention of both countries' media. Osaka Daily News on May 28, 1932 revealed that the Envoys were part of a project that Manchukuo's GSB conducted on promoting international recognition of Manchukuo, as “the pure heart of children could transcend national boundaries.”Footnote ²⁵ It authorized the School Affairs Division (学務課 Gakumu ka) of the South Manchuria Railway Company (SMR) to select competent candidates from Manchukuo's Han Chinese, Japanese, and Korean school girls.Footnote ²⁶ On June 3, 1932, the Division selected two Han Chinese, two Japanese, and two Korean girls from the ten candidates that it gathered from Manchukuo's primary and secondary schools and recommended them to the GSB; they became the Envoys' eventual members.Footnote ²⁷ The two Chinese girls are respectively Yang Yun (楊雲; born in April 1920), a first year student at the Changchun (Xinjing) Public School's higher division, and Lei Jingshu (雷靜淑; born in May 1920), a first year student at the Fengtian Public School's higher division. The two Japanese girls are Izumi Miyuki (和泉美幸; born in February 1921), a sixth year student at the Changchun West Square Primary School, and Tsuda Sumi (津田寿美; born in June 1920), a sixth year student at the Fengtian Kamo Primary School. The two Koreans are Kim Kunhee (金君姫; born in February 1920), a fifth year student at the Andong (Dandong) Normal School, and Yoo Boksoon (俞福順; born in November 1918), a fifth year student at the Fengtian Normal School.Footnote ²⁸ To protect and assist the Envoys in Japan, the GSB appointed Japanese woman Ishida Toyoko (石田豊子; unknown d.), the principal of the Dairen North Park Kindergarten, the Envoys' supervisor.Footnote ²⁹

The growing popularity of children in Japanese popular culture since the 1920s was a major reason behind the GSB's utilization of young girls for diplomacy. As newspapers, magazines, and movies gradually became Japanese people's affordable consumables in the 1920s, domestic media often highlighted children's roles in promoting friendship and peace especially after 1927, when the governments of Japan and the United States held a doll exchange ceremony between the two countries' schoolchildren for enhancing universal peace and Japan–America friendship.Footnote ³⁰ For Koresawa, the GSB tended to follow this newly emerged trend of children diplomacy by building upon the 1927 ceremony.Footnote ³¹ Adding the element of ethnicity for consideration because of Manchukuo's proclaimed ethnic diversity, the GSB planned to introduce the Japanese to this new country with exceptional school girls from the country's leading ethnicities.

School grades, morality, specialties, health, and Japanese language ability seemed to the major criteria of selection, while the social status of candidates' families was of minor concern. Yang Yun, the daughter of a Shandong grocer, “speaks fluent Japanese and can communicate with Japanese people without obstacles.”Footnote ³² Lei Jingshu, the daughter of a former Fengtian police officer, was “good at painting and embroidery; the fluency of her Japanese is hardly comparable among her classmates.”Footnote ³³ Izumi Miyuki, originally from Himeji (姫路), Hyōgo prefecture, was “good at learning and singing” and was currently “practicing her Manchurian language [Mandarin Chinese] ability.”Footnote ³⁴ Tsuda Sumi, the daughter of an employee at the Bank of Korea (朝鮮銀行 Chōsen ginkō) who was born in Fukuoka prefecture, was not only a “star at school proms given her specialities in singing and dancing” but also a “major force in school athletics” who had a “good school grade.”Footnote ³⁵ Kim Kunhee, born in Keijō (京城 present-day Seoul) and able to speak fluent Japanese, was the daughter of the Andong Korean Association's president. As a student with “excellent grades at school,” her “morality also serves as a model for the whole school's students.”Footnote ³⁶ Yoo Boksoon, born in Pyongyang and currently resided in Fengtian, “likes sports and has a strong body,” and was “good at writing in Japanese.”Footnote ³⁷ These girls with different familial backgrounds yet similar qualifications represented the Manchukuo government in Japan and interacted with Japan's officials and civilians.

Regional autonomy matters to Manchukuo: the Envoys' identifying mission in Japan

To request Japanese recognition of Manchukuo required articulation of the country's national ideals in front of the Japanese people, something that served as the Envoys' primary mission in Japan. One can find relevant clues in news reports. For example, Tsuda Sumi suggested during a local welcome ceremony in Osaka on June 30, 1932 that Manchukuo “will advance through its new national ideals.”Footnote ³⁸ Koresawa Hiroaki also agrees that the Envoys tended to “spread the spirits of Manchukuo's national foundation among the young boys and young girls of Japan,” although he does not analyze what the so-called “spirits of Manchukuo's national foundation” were.Footnote ³⁹

To identify the ideals that the GSB wished the Envoys to convey in Japan, one should reference the pamphlet Dai Manshūkoku no shōjo yori (大満州国の少女より From greater Manchukuo's young girls), a 20-page document that the Envoys distributed along their journey in Japan. Issued by the GSB as a non-commercial product, the opening Chinese plain-language poem revealed its observation of Manchukuo's national ideals:

“Territorial defense and civil pacification” are the key words in this poem, a term that Manchuria's media in late 1931 and early 1932 frequently referenced, to justify the region's separation from China proper. Referring to the territory and population of Manchuria, it contained a sense of autonomy and isolationism.Footnote ⁴¹ Kasagi Yoshiaki (笠木良明 1892–1955), the head of the GSB, supported the decentralization of power in government and urged Manchukuo's Japanese civil officials to treat the “establishment of mutual trust and the spreading of morality” as their dogma and “respect local customs” with “a heart of passion” when assisting and guiding the country's Chinese-speaking residents to develop autonomy.Footnote ⁴² By acquiring the assistance of the Japanese home government and population, the Japanese would make Manchuria, according to the pamphlet, From Greater Manchukuo's Young Girls, a territory that had “buried 200,000 Japanese warriors [who were sacrificed during] the Sino-Japanese War [of 1894–95], the Russo-Japanese War [of 1904–05], and the Manchurian Incident [of 1931],” a “paradise of mankind and the birthplace of universal peace.”Footnote ⁴³

Unable to represent Manchukuo's Chinese-speaking residents: the Envoys' Japanese-oriented image

Understanding the ideal that the GSB made the Envoys spread in Japan generates a question: to what extent did that ideal resonate with the ambitions of Manchukuo's Chinese-speaking government leaders, particularly Chief Executive Aixin-Jueluo Puyi (愛新覺羅溥儀 1906–1967; the last Qing emperor) and Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu (鄭孝胥 1860–1938)? Little might be the answer to that question. One may find evidence in the documents that the Envoys brought to Japan, Nihon no shōjo ni okuru (日本の少女に贈る To the young girls of Japan), a Japanese-language letter that the GSB requested the Envoys to distribute in Japan. It invited “the little national citizens” of Japan to use their “warm hands to hold the hands of our country's little national citizens,” to “make each ethnicity of [Manchukuo] enjoy a benevolent and caring life” under Japan's assistance.Footnote ⁴⁴ News reports in Manchukuo and Japan initially claimed that Puyi drafted the letter, yet they soon all contended Zheng to be the author; a revised version of the letter secretly switched several first-person phrases by Puyi to a third person.Footnote ⁴⁵

Neither Puyi nor Zheng understood Japanese, and neither person acknowledged children's political values. Based on Puyi's conversations with Japanese political and military figures between 1932 and 1938 that his interpreter Hayashide Kenjirō (林出賢次郎 1882–1970) recorded, Puyi primarily strove to revive his monarchical status in 1932 and 1933.Footnote ⁴⁶ Although Zheng indeed supported regional autonomy in his writings, one could hardly find evidence of his interest in using children for diplomacy.Footnote ⁴⁷ In his diary on June 17, 1932, the day when the Envoys visited Zheng before departing from Xinjing for Japan, for example, Zheng mentioned the visit with one sentence: “six girls that the GSB will send to Japan for introducing [the Japanese to Manchukuo] come to visit me.”Footnote ⁴⁸ One month later, on July 17, Zheng wrote, “the six girls that the GSB dispatched have returned from Japan and come to visit me.”Footnote ⁴⁹ These sentences, besides a note on the Envoys' ethnicities in his work diary (院錄 yuanlu) on June 9, 1932, constituted Zheng's observation of the Envoys.Footnote ⁵⁰ Apparently, the GSB not only failed to consult with Puyi, Zheng, and other Chinese-speaking officials on such an important diplomatic mission but also lacked a consistent idea on how to present the new Manchukuo in the Japanese home islands.

Knowing that the GSB lacked consultation with Manchukuo's Chinese-speaking officials on dispatching the Envoys, one might expect the GSB to at least make the girls reflect Manchukuo's proclaimed cultural diversity on their way to Japan, yet the result was disappointing. After reaching Fengtian via train in the afternoon of June 18, 1932, the Envoys' supervisor, Ishida Toyoko, took the girls to the Japanese Kantō Army's headquarter and reported to Honjō Shigeru (本庄繁 1876–1945), the army's commander, their visit to Japan.Footnote ⁵¹ They then went to worship at the Fengtian Shintō Shrine and at the local Japanese Monument of Loyal Souls (忠霊塔 chūrei tō), to pray for the success of their mission.Footnote ⁵² After reaching Dairen in the morning of June 19, the Envoys immediately went to worship at the Dairen Shintō Shrine for the same purpose before attending several welcome ceremonies that local Japanese media held for them.Footnote ⁵³ Departing from the port of Dairen via the Japanese merchant ship Ussuri on June 20 and docking at the port of Moji on June 22, the Envoys all dressed in their so-called ethnic clothing and wore the same white pantyhose and black belt shoes.Footnote ⁵⁴ Yang Yun and Lei Jingshu dressed in the same dotted “orange-color Manchurian clothes and tea-color skirt,” and Kim Kunhee and Yoo Boksoon dressed in a traditional “Korean-style white clothes and black skirt.”Footnote ⁵⁵ Unlike the Chinese and the Korean sides, Izumi Miyuki and Tsuda Sumi wore a “plain white Western-style dress” and carried a white hat in hand.Footnote ⁵⁶ In the words of Koresawa, such arrangements arguably tried to “demonstrate Japan's modernization” and capability of assisting the newly created Manchukuo.Footnote ⁵⁷ This was without doubt the GSB's intention (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. The Manchukuo Young Girl Envoys in Xinjing, June 17, 1932. The six girls in the front row from left to right are respectively Lei Jingshu, Yang Yun, Izumi Miyuki, Tsuda Sumi, Kim Kunhee, and Yoo Boksoon. The woman to Lei's left is Ishida Toyoko. The tallest man in the middle of the back row is Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu, and the man to the right of Zheng with glasses is Kasagi Yoshiaki.

Source: Kasagi Yoshiaki ihō roku kankōkai, ed., Kasagi Yoshiaki ihō roku [Works of the deceased Kasagi Yoshiaki] (Tokyo: Kasagi Yoshiaki ihō roku kankō kai, 1960), no page number.

Without highlighting Manchukuo's cultural diversity, domestic Japanese media emphasized Izumi and Tsuda after the Envoys' arrival. While Asahi News reported Izumi's words at Moji on inviting the Japanese to “keep a prolonged friendly relationship with” the residents of Manchukuo on June 22, Tokyo Daily News published a nursery rhyme that Tsuda, “the number one dancer and singer” in the group, composed before reaching Tokyo via train in the evening of June 23.Footnote ⁵⁸ Revealing her excitement of revisiting Japan, Tsuda wrote, “Receiving the farewell flag/cutting off its tape [and making it] flutter in the wind. With cheers/[we] are heading to nostalgic Japan. The young girl envoys/going to the enjoyable and pleasant Japan. Farewell; farewell/we are coming. Long live; long live/see you again.”Footnote ⁵⁹ Describing Japan with the adjectives nostalgic, enjoyable, and pleasant, Tsuda associated her excitement of returning home with the cheers of presenting Chinese-speaking and Japanese schoolchildren when the Envoys departed from Dairen for Japan. From a political perspective, contemporary Japanese readers may deem the poem a description of Manchukuo's kinship relation with Japan: the Yamato ethnicity of Japan were parents, and the ethnic minorities of Japan, mainly Koreans and Taiwanese, and the Chinese-speaking ethnicities of Manchukuo were children. The “children” of Japan now returned home, to request the assistance of their “parents” in Tokyo for constructing the new country.

A clumsy expression of Japan–Manchukuo friendship: the Envoys in Tokyo

Following rigorous daily schedules that the Tokyo Municipal Government made, the Envoys conducted diplomacy in Tokyo between June 24 and 29 and resided in the Imperial Hotel (帝国ホテル Teikoku hoteru), excluding an arranged holiday visit to Nikkō (日光), Tochigi prefecture, on June 28. Attending several welcome ceremonies that different municipal and civil associations held for them from morning to afternoon every day, the girls hardly had time to rest. For instance, the June 24 schedule made them visit and worship at the imperial palace and the Meiji and Yasukuni shrines respectively at 9:20 AM, 10:30 AM, and 11 AM.Footnote ⁶⁰ Without a break, they visited the mayor at the Tokyo municipal government at 11:30 AM and had a lunch with him.Footnote ⁶¹ In the afternoon, between 1 PM and 3:30 PM, they attended a welcome ceremony at Hibiya Public Hall with representatives of Tokyo's primary school students, before attending another two ceremonies at 4:30 PM and 7 PM in different places.Footnote ⁶²

Although having fewer ceremonies to attend from June 25 to 29, they followed the municipal government's strict regulations and could not act freely. The government always transported the girls by car, and during welcome ceremonies, the girls mechanically read the letter that Zheng Xiaoxu reportedly wrote for Japan's young girls and sang the anthem of Manchukuo's creation.Footnote ⁶³ This is perhaps why Yoo Boksoon, one of the Korean members of the Envoys, suggested that they “know little about Tokyo's cityscape,” despite having stayed in the city for five days.Footnote ⁶⁴ Observing the Envoys' dense schedules in Tokyo, Koresawa suggests that the adult planners behind those events used the girls to advance their own objectives and disregarded the girls' feelings.Footnote ⁶⁵ Yoo's suggestion supports his view.

Serving as Manchukuo's government representatives, the Envoys symbolized the country's infantile status for Tokyo's media. Emphasizing the vulnerable image of children, Ishida Toyoko, the girls' supervisor, during an interview on June 24 in Tokyo portrayed Manchukuo as an “infant who has just learnt to stand” and who needed “Japan's care.”Footnote ⁶⁶ The Envoys' curious behaviors helped bolster such an image. After arriving at the peripheral area of the imperial palace – their first destination in Tokyo – on the morning of June 24, “the girls were filled with excitement and gratitude and jumped out like a spring from the car that they took when it stopped.”Footnote ⁶⁷ They then saluted toward the direction of the palace with a deep bow and lowered their heads in prayer before shouting “long live” in Japanese three times under Ishida's leadership.Footnote ⁶⁸ The girls were initially excited, as they “jumped out like a spring from the car that they took,” arguably because they expected to tour the center of the Japanese Empire, not worshiping it. This is evident in their own words during an interview in Dairen on July 15, 1932. The Envoys complained that Japan's photographers “refused to give us freedom” and frequently asked the Envoys to lower their heads and shout “long live” in Tokyo.Footnote ⁶⁹ Domestic Japanese readers, however, would likely associate the Envoys' excitement after reaching the Tokyo imperial palace with respect for Japan's imperial clan based on their subsequent worships.

Japanese political figures in Tokyo likewise tended to disregard the Envoys' status as Manchukuo's diplomats. Saitō Makoto, the Japanese Prime Minister, refrained from discussing politics and diplomacy when the Envoys visited him on June 25 and instead asked the latter about their impressions of Japan.Footnote ⁷⁰ Pleasantly recalling their trip to the famous commercial street of Ginza (銀座) the previous night, the Envoys responded to Saitō's question “in a granddaughter-like tone,” saying, “Japan's sceneries really amazed us.” Saitō hastily ended the conversation, saying, “Try to visit more places; do not to catch a cold.”Footnote ⁷¹ The Envoys' most important visit in Tokyo ironically ended in discussion of Japan's scenery.

It is rather unfair to criticize the Japanese home government for downplaying the girls if one considers the earlier arrival of the Concordia Association's representatives and the forthcoming visit of Manchukuo's Minister of Communications, Ding Jianxiu. Departing from Fengtian on June 18, 1932 and reaching Tokyo on June 21 – two days before the Envoys' arrival, the Concordia Association's representatives contained fifteen adult Chinese and Japanese members.Footnote ⁷² Besides “introducing Japanese political figures to the spirits of Manchukuo's national foundation and [the country's] politics and objectives, to enhance the existing friendly relationship between the two countries,” the representatives requested “Japan, a country with shared race and culture,” to recognize Manchukuo as a legitimate country.Footnote ⁷³ Sharing virtually identical objectives with the Envoys, the Association's representatives met Prime Minister Saitō and other Japanese government leaders on June 21 and stated their appeals; this likely reduced the significance of the Envoys for Tokyo.Footnote ⁷⁴ Other than the fifteen members in Tokyo, the Concordia Association simultaneously sent two more teams across the Japanese home islands, except for Hokkaidō, to promote Japanese recognition of Manchukuo.Footnote ⁷⁵ Considering the scope of the Association's teams, without mentioning the fact that their leader Yu Jingyuan (于靜遠 1898–1969) was the son of a central promoter of Manchukuo's creation, Yu Chonghan (于冲漢 1871–1932), the Envoys paled in front of the former. Ding Jianxiu, whose missions were to “request Japan's recognition of Manchukuo and to invite Japanese investment in Manchukuo's industries,” visited Tokyo on July 1, 1932 with sixteen members, including the head of Manchukuo's Supreme Court, Lin Qi (林棨 1885-?), and interacted with the Japanese home government.Footnote ⁷⁶

Receiving three visits from Manchukuo in two weeks, even a modern researcher might struggle identifying whom the three teams respectively represented with hindsight and sources from different perspectives, let alone the Japanese home government in June 1932, which did not recognize Manchukuo until September 1932. It is thus not surprising for the government to prioritize the adult visitors and marginalize the girls, especially because the girls vaguely comprehended their missions in Japan. One may realize this from Yoo Boksoon's words on June 19, 1932 in Dairen. Speaking to local Japanese journalists, Yoo revealed that the Envoys did not “begin to discuss whom [they] should meet and what [they] should say after reaching Japan” until meeting each other for the first time on June 17 in Xinjing.Footnote ⁷⁷ This explains why one can hardly find relevant texts of their words other than travel impressions in Japan's news reports, while Manchukuo's Chinese news reports virtually ignored the girls' activities in Japan.Footnote ⁷⁸

Instead of promoting Japanese understanding of the significance of regional autonomy and mutual trust and assistance between the residents of Manchukuo and the Japanese to Manchukuo's prosperity, the Envoys in Tokyo unintentionally portrayed Manchukuo as a fragile country that could hardly survive without Japanese supervision. Asahi News strengthened such an impression by praising the Envoys for “wonderfully finishing the mission of promoting friendship” between Japan and Manchukuo on June 30, the next day of their departure from Tokyo for Osaka.Footnote ⁷⁹ On the other side of the ocean, the GSB might have more or less regretted its decision of using young girls to conduct diplomacy after observing the Envoys' behaviors in Tokyo, although this observation lacks direct evidence. However, it had no opportunities to refine future diplomatic strategies because the institution collapsed following the Envoys' departure from Manchukuo due to operations of its Japanese political rivals in the State Council, particularly Komai Tokuzō (駒井徳三 1885–1961). This sudden change in Manchukuo's inner circle foreshadowed the Envoys' obscurity in the later years of Manchukuo.

Regional autonomy faced obstacle: power operations behind the GSB's downfall

On June 27, 1932, the Manchukuo State Council decided during that day's cabinet meeting to abolish the GSB; it officially announced the decision in the country's government bulletin on July 5.Footnote ⁸⁰ Official Manchukuo narratives depicted the GSB as a “necessary government institution when the country was created.” However, because “this institution has accomplished its duty, it is no longer necessary for the government to preserve it,” concluded the narrative.Footnote ⁸¹ If the GSB became useless, so did the Envoys. This is perhaps why Manchukuo's media all refrained from highlighting the Envoys' status as Manchukuo's first government representatives when they returned from Japan in mid July 1932.

To explain the reasons behind the GSB's downfall, it is necessary to analyze its frictions with Manchukuo's other Japanese leading forces. As a supervisory institution in the State Council that aimed to “help different ministries and departments smoothly execute their policies,” the GSB was meant to “promote the spirits of Manchukuo's national foundation,” to “kindly cultivate people's character and support,” and to “spread the thoughts of regional autonomy” in Manchukuo.Footnote ⁸² Members of the GSB mostly originated from Kasagi Yoshiaki's Greater Magnificent Peak Society (大雄峯会 Daiyūhō kai), a Japanese youth organization that Kasagi created with a group of graduates from the Tokyo Imperial University who worked for the SMR in November 1930 in Dairen. Even if GSB officials were not exclusively Japanese, one cannot find evidence of Chinese-speaking ethnicities' involvements in the institution's decision-making circle.

Cooperating with the Kantō Army to restore regional order after the former invaded the region in September 1931, Kasagi strove to cultivate the Chinese-speaking population of Manchuria's ability of autonomy with the Greater Magnificent Peak Society's members.Footnote ⁸³ Disappointing with the political situation of Japan, where bureaucratic autocracy and capitalist monopoly prevailed for Kasagi, he deemed indulgence the culprit and argued for the importance of cultivating individual officials' “self-discipline” (治己 jiki), literally the embrace of the decentralization of power, to the “eradication of others’ sufferings.”Footnote ⁸⁴ To prevent Manchukuo from repeating the “mistakes” of contemporary Japan, Kasagi managed to create the GSB to the Kantō Army's consent in March 1932 and incorporate the members of the Society to serve as GSB officials, while those who failed to enter the GSB “all managed to serve in Manchukuo's other government institutions.”Footnote ⁸⁵ To preserve the vitality of the new country, Kasagi actively engaged in introducing to the Japanese population his ideal of regional autonomy after heading the GSB and overtly conceptualized those who opposed such an ideal in the Manchukuo state as “ambitious jackal politicians.”Footnote ⁸⁶

Such a provocative narrative alarmed Komai Tokuzō, a former employee of the SMR and the head of Manchukuo's General Affairs Board (總務廳 Ch: Zongwu ting; Jp: Sōmu chō) – an executive institution in the State Council that handled the country's confidential, human, statistical, and accounting affairs besides managing “affairs beyond the duties of other departments.”Footnote ⁸⁷ Unlike Kasagi, Komai envisioned centralizing ruling power for the State Council and making Japanese officials direct Manchukuo's development. He insisted that “China's separation of regional powers was the cause of its unrest and corruption.”Footnote ⁸⁸ Portraying Kasagi and his men in the GSB as a group of power hungry officials who “wanted to fulfill their private interests,” Komai encouraged the Kantō Army to abolish the GSB, writing that “one could not expect the new country to develop in a healthy way” without “taking tough measures” on Kasagi's force.Footnote ⁸⁹ Sharing Komai's ambition of supervising Manchukuo with Japanese bureaucrats and considering the GSB a threat to the Kantō Army's manipulation of Manchukuo from behind the scenes, the army's commander, Honjō Shigeru, endorsed Komai's suggestion and decided to abolish the GSB on June 20, 1932 – the day when the Envoys sailed to Japan from Dairen.Footnote ⁹⁰ Arguably planning to marginalize the GSB's messengers with a candidate from the Manchukuo government, Komai facilitated the visit of the Manchukuo Minister of Communications, Ding Jianxiu, to Japan on the same day and encouraged Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu “not to reject that decision.”Footnote ⁹¹

The Concordia Association's interference in Komai's and Kasagi's contest further confused Manchukuo's chaotic political situation on the Japanese side in June 1932. Created initially as a civil organization and gradually the sole party of Manchukuo, the Concordia Association's Japanese organizers and members mostly came from an opposing force to Kasagi's Greater Magnificent Peak Society, the Manchuria Youth League (満州青年連盟 Manshū seinen renmei). Because Kasagi refused to cooperate with the League in promoting Manchukuo's autonomy and prevented the latter from joining the GSB, the League formed the Concordia Association in June 1932, to spread its ideal of promoting ethnic harmony between the ethnicities of Manchukuo and Japan and to confront Kasagi.Footnote ⁹² To snatch an opportunity for presenting its own views of Manchukuo in Japan, the Association preceded the GSB by reaching Japan earlier with a larger visiting group, a point that Koresawa covers in his analysis.Footnote ⁹³ Such an intense power struggle surrounding Komai, Kasagi, and the Concordia Association in June 1932 generated three visits to Japan, something that went beyond the Kantō Army's control. Because the Manchukuo government had yet to announce the GSB's dismissal until July 5, 1932, Komai could not name Ding Jianxiu a “government representative” when he left from Manchukuo for Japan on June 28, as Ding's, the Envoys', and the Association's objectives in Japan were virtually identical. Without realizing the ongoing power struggles on the Japanese side in Manchukuo's government, let alone understanding their own subtle situation, the Envoys continued their trip in Japan and headed to Osaka in the evening of June 29, 1932.

The faint flame before extinguishment: the Envoys in Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe

At 8:56 AM, on June 30, 1932, the Envoys arrived at Osaka via train from Tokyo to the welcome of local journalists, primary school girls, and representatives of the city's female associations.Footnote ⁹⁴ After changing into Japanese kimono in the hotel where they resided, the Envoys took three cars that the Osaka municipal government prepared for them and visited the Osaka prefectural government, Osaka Castle, and the headquarters of Osaka Daily News, Osaka Asahi News, and the Fourth Regiment in the morning. After a lunch with the city's mayor, in the afternoon, they attended a welcome ceremony with 1,200 local primary school girls and several municipal officials.Footnote ⁹⁵ During the ceremony, Tsuda Sumi, one of the Envoys' Japanese members, spoke on behalf of the Envoys and thanked “Japan for its bright and righteous heart,” while Izumi Miyuki, the other Japanese member, and Yang Yun, one of the Envoys' Han Chinese members, successively read Zheng Xiaoxu's letter in Japanese and Mandarin; other members' activities are unknown due to a lack of information.Footnote ⁹⁶

Although domestic Japanese news reports rarely revealed the Envoys' feelings for conducting diplomacy in Japan, one could find clues in their scattered words. Unable to bear the pressure for their dense daily schedules, Kim Kunhee, one of the two Korean members, cried out with “two other members” before reaching Osaka on July 1, saying, “I have left home for too long; now I really miss my mother and brother” in Andong. Mentioning her schoolwork, Kim suggested in tears, “If I do not go home quickly, to prepare for my forthcoming test, my grade will go down. I want to go back; I want to go back.”Footnote ⁹⁷ Lei Jingshu during an interview in Dairen on July 15 suggested that she “happily jumped on the deck when the ship [that the Envoys took] reached the Dairen Port” on July 14 because she wanted to “go home as soon as possible.”Footnote ⁹⁸ Compared with news reports on the Envoys' articulation of Japan–Manchukuo friendship, Kim's and Lei's words better reflect the thoughts of the Envoys' non-Japanese members. While Osaka Daily News tried to highlight the Envoys' innocence with Kim's complaint, and the Manchurian Daily Newspaper recorded the Envoys' July 15 interview in Dairen without comments, they allow historians to better comprehend these girls' attitude toward their mission in Japan. From this perspective, the GSB's experiment of cultivating multi-ethnic children diplomacy ended in failure.

The Envoys' rigorous daily activities in Tokyo generated unpleasant memories for them, but they eventually managed to relax and enjoy Japan's sceneries after reaching Kyoto and Kobe between July 5 and 11. Spending four days to interact with Osaka's schoolchildren and different civil organizations and one day to visit Nara on July 3, the Envoys reached Kyoto in the morning of July 5 and resided in the city for five days.Footnote ⁹⁹ Compared with their rushed daily life in Tokyo and Osaka, the Envoys had more leisure time in Kyoto. For example, they visited the Kyoto imperial palace, the Uzumasa (太秦) film studio, and the famous scenic site of Arashiyama (嵐山) on July 6 under the Kyoto municipal government's arrangement.Footnote ¹⁰⁰ On July 9, they climbed the Buddhist mountain of Hiei (比叡) and boarded an excursion boat on Lake Biwa (琵琶湖), Japan's largest freshwater lake, after descending Mt. Hiei via cable car.Footnote ¹⁰¹ In Kobe, on July 10, the Envoys toured the seaside parks of Suma (須磨) and Maiko (舞子) besides ascending Mt. Rokkō (六甲) via cable car.Footnote ¹⁰² Yoo Boksoon excitedly told journalists that she had “never seen the ocean before,” while Izumi Miyuki nostalgically recalled her hometown of Himeji.Footnote ¹⁰³ Under such a pleasant atmosphere, the Envoys boarded the steamboat Baikal (ばいかる) on July 11 in Kobe and left Japan for Dairen via Shimonoseki and Moji, without realizing the changing environment in Manchukuo's highest ruling strata.Footnote ¹⁰⁴

When the flame went out: the Envoys' return to Manchukuo

On July 14, 1932, at noon, the Envoys arrived at the port of Dairen via Baikal, finishing their twenty-days visit in Japan. After disembarking from Baikal, they went to worship at the Dairen Shintō Shrine, to report the success of their mission.Footnote ¹⁰⁵ Attending several welcome ceremonies that local media held for them on July 15, the Envoys left Dairen for Fengtian via train at 10 PM on that day and reached Fengtian the next morning to the welcome of “countless Japanese and Manchurian students who waved the national flags of Japan and Manchukuo.”Footnote ¹⁰⁶ Before leaving the city for Xinjing in the evening of July 16, the Envoys worshiped at the Japanese Monument of Loyal Souls and the Fengtian Shintō Shrine besides visiting Kantō Army commander Honjō Shigeru and “different public institutions and newspaper offices.”Footnote ¹⁰⁷ In the morning of July 17, at 7 AM, the Envoys finally reached Xinjing via train; those primary school girls who came to greet them on the platform continuously shouted “long live” arguably in both Mandarin and Japanese and “waived Japan's and Manchukuo's flags in their hands” after the Envoys' arrival.Footnote ¹⁰⁸ After a brief rest, at noon, the Envoys greeted the former head of the GSB, Kasagi Yoshiaki, and talked with him for about 100 minutes before visiting Chief Executive Puyi, Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu, and several municipal institutions in the afternoon.Footnote ¹⁰⁹ At 4:30 PM, the Manchukuo government announced the Envoys' dismissal and let them return to their homes across Manchukuo, signifying the end of the country's first, and to some extent clumsy, official interaction with a foreign country.Footnote ¹¹⁰

Given the GSB's abolishment, domestic news reports in Manchukuo refrained from stressing the Envoys' status as diplomats after their return from Japan, while the country's Chinese-speaking population ignored the girls. Rather than discussing diplomacy, for example, Japanese journalists of the Manchurian Daily Newspaper during their interview with the Envoys in the afternoon of July 15 in Dairen asked the latter about their favorite places and persons and the most delightful, interesting, amazing, challenging, and confusing things in Japan.Footnote ¹¹¹ The Envoys in their answers mostly noted Kyoto and Kobe for pleasant memories and Tokyo for complaint. Except for Lei Jingshu, whose favorite places were Nikkō and Nara, all the other members liked Kyoto the most: Kim Kunhee recalled her visit to Arashiyama and Mt. Hiei, while Yang Yun mentioned the trip to Lake Biwa.Footnote ¹¹² While Japanese media in Manchukuo tried to avoid associating themselves with Komai Tokuzō's and Kasagi Yoshiaki's forces by portraying the Envoys' visit to Japan as a study trip, the country's Chinese-language media were not interested in intervening in a power struggle between the Japanese. The famed Shengjing Times, for instance, merely mentioned the Envoys' return with several sentences.Footnote ¹¹³ With dissatisfaction, Supervisor Ishida Toyoko unpleasantly suggested during an interview with the Chinese-language newspaper Eastern Daily in Dairen on July 15 that “the Manchukuo side never organized any welcome ceremonies” for the girls before their departure; she said, “we are absolutely not Japanese-dispatched messengers.” Clarifying the girls' will of “contributing to Manchukuo's development,” Ishida criticized Manchukuo's Chinese-speaking population for their indifference and contended that the girls should “thank the Japanese rather than the Manchurians.”Footnote ¹¹⁴ Arguably trying to raise the newspaper's fame across Manchukuo's Chinese readers by reporting Ishida's complaint, as Eastern Daily was the only Chinese media that held a welcome ceremony for the Envoys after their return, which made Ishida and the girls feel “extremely exciting” and helped them “relieve [their] fatigue” in Ishida's words, the newspaper nevertheless exposed the Envoys' insignificant status for Manchukuo's Chinese-speaking residents.Footnote ¹¹⁵ To interpret a hidden message of this report, if the Envoys want to thank the Chinese-speaking side, they should thank Eastern Daily because this newspaper cared about their journey in Japan.

No matter whom the Envoys should thank, they unfortunately represented a losing force on the Japanese side of Manchukuo's government leaders and thus could not leave a conspicuous mark in the country's official history. Kasagi Yoshiaki might have rethought strategies for future children diplomacy based on the Envoys' lessons if he remained in power, yet neither his rival, Komai Tokuzō, nor the Kantō Army, appreciated children's diplomatic potential. Worse, the country's Chinese-speaking government leaders were reluctant to cooperate with Kasagi for realizing his ideal of promoting regional autonomy under Japanese supervision; they instead watched Komai and the army subvert the former in June 1932 arguably because for them, Kasagi's stay or removal were irrelevant to their own interests. Although Komai and the Concordia Association managed to drive Kasagi out of Manchukuo's inner circle, neither side benefited from it in the long term. While the former quit the General Affairs Board in October 1932 mainly due to conflicts with Zheng Xiaoxu, the latter suffered repressions under the leadership of Koiso Kuniaki (小磯国昭 1880–1950; the Kantō Army's chief of staff between August 1932 and March 1934) until 1936, when the Kantō Army decided to cultivate the Association as Manchukuo's dominant party.Footnote ¹¹⁶

The Envoys were perhaps the most tragic figures in this power contest. For one thing, they enjoyed little personal freedom throughout their journey in Manchukuo and Japan besides having to repeat narratives that they vaguely understood. For another, their interactions in Japan offered no returns for them and instead became a negative asset that the Manchukuo government tried to eliminate for the following thirteen years because one had to recall Kasagi and his ideals when discussing the Envoys. Selected by the state and abandoned by the state, these six silent and obedient girls failed to secure a proper space for themselves in the ephemeral history of Manchukuo and became a group of mostly forgotten participants in the country's creation.