Discussion
On June 11, 2024, the 284th Japan Expert Seminar was held in a hybrid format. With 11 attendees on-site and 19 online participants, Ham Yejae, a lecturer in the Department of History at Ewha Womans University, delivered a presentation titled "The National Strength of the General Mobilization Era: The Regime of Healthy People (健民) and Kyojōrensēi (居常鍊成)." The contents of the presentation are summarized below.
The presenter first explained the research on Japan's national physical mobilization during the wartime period. With the aim of ensuring smooth war execution, policies and measures were implemented to recognize the physical bodies of the populace (human resources) as targets for mobilization and to maintain and enhance their basic physical abilities. The presentation covered the acceptance of the total war concept, the recognition of human resources, the capabilities of human resources, the problem of declining national physical strength, and the political and social discussions surrounding these issues. Furthermore, the concepts of the "Regime of Healthy People" and "Kyojōrensēi" were introduced, and the structure of the "Regime of Healthy People" was elaborated in detail. Finally, it was concluded that the formation of the "Regime of Healthy People" made "Kyojōrensēi" possible, adapting to changes in the war situation. As a future task, the presenter suggested researching the relationship between the healthy people movement in Korea and Taiwan, examining the differences in the concept of "healthy people," similarities or differences in purposes and methods.
After the presentation, a Q&A session followed. Questions were raised about guidelines/manuals individuals could follow for physical training in the absence of a leader, the definition of a weak body, whether training varied by profession/target group, and the strong Confucian spirit of the Regime. The session concluded after the presenter responded to these questions.
