46 - Imperial Japan pt. 16 - Precursors to the JCP, and Katayama Sen vs. Masahiko Amakasu

Today I discuss the various groups and influences that led to the creation of the Japanese Communist Party, and its first theorist, Katayama Sen. I discuss his life, the 1922 Comintern Conference, and track the functional end of the Japanese anarchist movement, leading us to discuss Masahiko Amakasu. I talk about Amakasu's role in Manchuria, the Manchukuo Film Association, and his production of China Nights aka Shanghai Nights (1940), and hate on another academic for a bit. Luckily, the story of Masahiko Amakasu as a good ending. Song: The Internationale (in Japanese)