Episode 609 – The Final Frontier, Part 5

December 26, 2025

In the last episode of 2025: a bomb “mysteriously” goes off just outside Mukden during the evening of September 18, 1931. Less than six months later, Manchuria becomes an “independent country.” Japan’s government loses complete control over the army, all over the issue of its new “Manchurian Lifeline.” And suddenly, for some reason, the last emperor of China is back!

Sources

Yamamuro, Shinichi. Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion

Matsusaka, Yoshihisa. The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932

Mitter, Rana. The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China

Young, Louise. Japan’s Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism

Images

The section of the Mukden rail line where the bomb that triggered the invasion of Manchuria was planted.
Japanese “experts” assessing the “railway sabotage” ostensibly performed by Chinese dissidents and used as an excuse to invade Manchuria in 1931. In fact, the bombs had been planted by radical Japanese Army officers who seized the pretext for an invasion.
Japanese troops entering Shenyang (a city in Manchuria) in 1931. 

Puyi, the last Emperor of China/First and only Emperor of Manchukuo/Manzhouguo

Puyi being inaugurated as “Chief Executive” of Manchuria in March, 1932.
Ishiwara Kanji, architect of the Mukden Incident, in 1934