| Date | November 2018 | Marks available | 4 | Reference code | 18N.1.BP.TZ0.10 |
| Level | Both SL and HL | Paper | Paper 1 - first exams 2017 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Analyse | Question number | 10 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Source J
Chokyuro Kadono, a leading Japanese businessman and commentator, who had significant interests in Manchuria and China, writing in the article “A Businessman’s View of the Lytton Report” in the Japanese magazine Gaiko Jiho (November 1932).
As has been officially declared by the Imperial Government more than once, Japan has no territorial ambitions in Manchuria. Japan has given formal recognition to Manchuria as an independent state [Manchukuo], assuring it full opportunity for growth and organization ... At the same time, Japan hopes thereby to rescue Manchukuo from the destruction caused by China’s internal disorders and give it opportunity to attain free development, so that it may be able to play its part in easing the world’s economic difficulty by offering a very safe and valuable market in the Far East. This aspect of Japan’s policy should have been quite clear to the Lytton Commission. But unfortunately, the Lytton Report makes an altogether inadequate estimate of Manchuria’s economic value, and entirely fails to do justice to the previously mentioned motive of Japan in recognizing Manchukuo … Japan is fully prepared, in view of the position she rightly occupies among the nations of the world, to do her best to support China in her work of unification and reconstruction to the end that peace may thereby be assured in the Far East. This aspect of Japan’s policy should have been quite clear to the Lytton Commission.
[Source: adapted from A businessman’s view of the Lytton Report, Chokiuro Kadono, published in The Herald of Asia,
Tokyo October 1932; http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1083&context=moore]
With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the value and limitations of Source J for an historian studying Japan’s response to the Lytton Report in the early 1930s.
Markscheme
Value:
- It is a contemporary source that offers the perspective of a leading Japanese businessman of the events in Manchuria.
- The source offers information on the justifications of the Japanese for their actions in Manchuria.
- The writer is familiar with the region and is basing his views on his knowledge of it.
Limitations:
- Many Japanese people believed the Lytton Report harmed their national interests. The author is Japanese, and therefore he may have shared these views.
- As a leading businessman with significant interests in the area his view may be partial.
The source is from 1932 when events were still unfolding, and the writer may not be aware of the ongoing developments.
The focus of the question is on the value and limitations of the source. If only value or limitations are discussed, award a maximum of [2]. Origins, purpose and content should be used as supporting evidence to make relevant comments on the values and limitations. For [4] there must be at least one reference to each of them in either the values or the limitations.
