Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

174 • MANIFEST DESTINY
A third point of significance derives from the ineffectiveness of the
international reaction to the Manchurian Incident. Recognizing its inability
to take the fight to the Japanese, the Chinese government at
Nanjing appealed to the United States and to the League of Nations.
Working on the mistaken assumption that the Japanese cabinet—
most notably Foreign Minister Kijūrō Shidehara—might rein in the
nation’s unruly soldiers, both the League and the United States at first
treaded softly. By the closing days of 1931, however, the Japanese
army had occupied most of Manchuria in defiance of world opinion.
Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson responded on 7 January by issuing
his “non-recognition doctrine,” which refused to recognize any
changes in China brought about by force and in violation of the Open
Door policy. Stimson’s non-recognition doctrine, however, was not
backed by the threat of force and as such it left no impression on
Japanese forces in Manchuria. The nominally independent state of
Manchukuo was created later that year.
MANIFEST DESTINY. The political, economic, cultural, and even
moral ideology of Americans during the 19th century that they had
the right to expand across North America at the expense of the indigenous
inhabitants, chiefly Mexicans and Native Americans. From
1803 to 1853, the nation increased its territory by 300 percent
through conquests, purchases, and diplomacy. The high point of
Manifest Destiny came in the 1840s, when the controversy over
Texas and the resulting Mexican–American War led to the U.S. acquisition
of vast southwest and Pacific territories. Commodore
Matthew Perry’s mission to Japan in 1853–1854 for trade and diplomatic
relations can be viewed as an extension of the ideology of
Manifest Destiny. In the second half of the 19th century, the U.S.
continued to expand by acquiring the territories of Alaska, Hawaii,
and the Philippines. See also CALIFORNIA.
MANJIRO (ALSO KNOWN AS MANJIRO NAKAHAMA, JOHN
MANJIRO, AND JOHN MUNG; 1827–1898). Manjiro is the most
well-known and romanticized Japanese castaway sailor. Shipwrecked
in 1841, Manjiro and four other young fisherman were rescued by
Captain William Whitfield, then commanding a whaling vessel in the
Pacific. Manjiro and the other Japanese castaways were taken to