In search of new facts: interwar Japanese military intelligence activities in the Baltic states and Finland: 1918–1940

This thesis is the world’s first ever academic work clarifying the interwar Japanese military intelligence activities in the Baltic Sea region. These activities can be divided into three periods: 1) Planning and Research (1919–1931), 2) Nurturing Friendships (1932–1937), and 3) Joint Intelligence Operations (1937–1940). In the first period, the Japanese Army estimated the effects of the intelligence activities in the region, mainly against the Soviet Union. There were several Japanese Army officers such as Captain Komatsubara and Major Obata stationed in Tallinn to observe the Soviet political situation. And, as tensions between Japan and the Soviet Union rose in the early 1930s, the Japanese Army formulated a special guideline to initiate the regional intelligence operation in 1932. In this ‘Plan of 1932’, Estonia and Finland were named as potential hubs for Japanese intelligence activities. According to the plan, the Japanese sent student officers to the both countries, and also to Latvia, to nurture friendships with the Japanese Army. In the late 1930s, the situation surrounding the Plan of 1932 saw a drastic change in terms of Japanese diplomatic relations with China and the Soviet Union. The plan became a more aggressive ‘espionage offensive’ against the Soviet Union while promoting Japanese righteousness in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). In 1938, a new guideline for the Japanese Army’s foreign intelligence operations was formulated. In this Plan of 1938, the Japanese attempted to gain a decisive victory against the Soviet Union through various stratagems. However, their intelligence operations, jointly organised by the Estonian and German intelligence services probably failed, and in consequence they did not affect the international political situation of the late 1930s.Tämä opinnäyte on maailman ensimmäinen akateeminen työ, joka selkeyttää Japanin sotienvälisiä sotilastiedustelutoimintaa Itämeren alueella, erityisesti Baltian maissa ja Suomessa. Tuona aikana japanilaisten alueella toiminta voidaan jakaa kolmeen jaksoon: 1) suunnittelu ja tutkimus (1919–1931), 2) ystävyyden vaaliminen (1932–1937) ja 3) yhteiset tiedustelutoimet (1937–1940). Ensimmäisellä ajanjaksolla Japanin armeija arvioi alueen tiedustelutoiminnan vaikutuksia pääasiassa Neuvostoliittoa vastaan. Tallinnaan oli sijoitettu useita Japanin armeijan upseereita, kuten kapteeni Komatsubara ja majuri Obata tarkkailemaan Neuvostoliiton poliittista tilannetta. Ja koska Japanin ja Neuvostoliiton väliset jännitteet olivat kasvaneet 1930-luvun alkupuolella, Japanin armeija laati erityisen ohjeen alueellisen tiedustelutoiminnan aloittamiseksi vuonna 1932. Vuoden 1932 suunnitelmassa Viro ja Suomi nimettiin potentiaalisiksi keskuksiksi Japanin tiedustelutoimintaan. Suunnitelman mukaan japanilaiset lähettivät opiskelijaupseereja molempiin maihin ja myös Latviaan edistämään ystävyyttä Japanin armeijan kanssa. 1930-luvun lopulla vuoden 1932 suunnitelmaan liittyvä tilanne muuttui dramaattisesti Japanin diplomaattisissa suhteissa Kiinan ja Neuvostoliiton kanssa. Suunnitelmasta tuli aggressiivisempi painotuksenaan ”vakoiluhyökkäys” Neuvostoliittoa vastaan edistäen samalla japanilaisten vanhurskautta toisessa Kiinan ja Japanin sodassa (1937–45). Vuonna 1938 laadittiin uusi ohje Japanin armeijan ulkomaan tiedusteluoperaatioille. Japanilaiset yrittivät tässä vuoden 1938 suunnitelmassa saavuttaa ratkaisevan voiton Neuvostoliittoa vastaan eri juonien avulla. Heidän Viron ja Saksan tiedustelupalvelun yhdessä järjestämät tiedusteluoperaatiot kuitenkin ilmeisesti epäonnistuivat, joka seurauksena suunnitelma ei lopulta vaikuttanut 1930-luvun lopun kansainväliseen poliittiseen tilanteeseen

The Interwar Japanese Intelligence Activities in the Baltic States: 1918-1940

This article aims to unveil the truths of the interwar Japanese intelligence activities in the Baltic States. Starting from the publication of Yuriko Onodera’s memoir ‘In the Shore of the Baltic Sea’ in 1985, the activities began to catch scholarly attentions. The activities were partially covered in some of the previous academic publications, such as a general picture of Japanese intelligence plan ‘1932’ in Kuromiya & Mamoulia (2016). However, this is the first-ever article to provide a perspective of the activities of the Japanese military attaché office in Riga.</p

FACTS CLARIFIED?: THE INTERWAR ESTONIAN-GERMAN-JAPANESE INTELLIGENCE COOPERATION

This article takes up the joint Estonian-Japanese intelligence operation against the Soviet Union in the late 1930s and attempts to recreate a full picture of the operation through never-used primary sources in the Estonian National Archives. Between 1938 and 1940, the Japanese Army organized operations to infiltrate the émigré agents into the Soviet territory near Pskov, in cooperation with the Estonian intelligence service.</p

The Inter-War Japanese Military Intelligence Activities in the Baltic States: 1919-1940

First Editio

Conventions, quotas, refugees: European jews in 1938–1945

The Évian Conference of July 1938 was a historic event in the history of European Jews. The delegates from 32 countries all around the world failed to reach an agreement regarding the acceptance of Jewish refugees from Germany and former Austria. Ultimately, the failed conference led to the genocide of the Jewish refugees in the 1940s. Meanwhile, at the time of the conference, the German military intelligence service (Abwehr) under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris has been actively organizing intelligence operations against the Soviet Union in Estonia together with the local Estonian and Japanese intelligence services. Contrary to the persecution of the Jews in the Third Reich, the Germans employed the émigrés for intelligence operations against the Soviet Union. The author of the article tried to sum up the trilateral intelligence activities of Estonia, Germany and Japan, which could be helpful in understanding or analyzing the Évian Conference from a different perspective.</p

APSEC 2016 Conference Proceedings

This article sheds light on the pre-war military relations between the Baltic States andJapan throughout 1930s. At first, Hobbesian sense of ‘fears’ against Communismrealized the bilateral and trilateral cooperation in military intelligence sector. Themutual respects ever since the Russo-Japanese War connected the two distant entities.Although its main task, toppling the Soviet regimes in Georgia and Ukraine, wasnever succeeded, there were some notable achievements and it should be consideredas one of the most successful Japanese intelligence activities in the pre-war period.However, this fruitful relationship suddenly came to an end by the Soviet invasion ofthe Baltic States in June 1940.</p

Significance of Plant-induced Solubilization of Soil Nitrogen: A Case of Komatsuna Plants Grown in Fertilized Soils

Plant-induced solubilization of soil nitrogen (N) is a key process for plants to utilize the recalcitrant form of N. Toevaluate its contribution to plant uptake, the factors affecting the contribution and the forms of N solubilized by plants, we analyzed the results of a pot experiment in which komatsuna (Brassica rapa L. var. peruviridis) was grown in 3 different soils applied with 5 types of sewage sludge as a source of N for plants. The amount of N solubilized by plants, which was defined experimentally as the difference in the amount of solubilized N between the planted and unplanted treatments, varied with the soil types more than the types of sewage sludge. This accounted for 30% (Arenosol), 15% (Fluvisol) and 1.6% (Andosol) of the amount of N uptake on average. These percentages were high when the level of soil soluble N after the experiment was below approximately 30 mg kg-1. Sequential analyses of insoluble N in soil after the experiment indicated the occurrence of plant-induced solubilization of both bio-soluble and acid-soluble N in many of the Arenosol and Fluvisol treatments and that of acid-soluble N in the Andosol treatments. The plant-induced solubilization in the Andosol resulted in the accumulation of more labile bio-soluble N rather than enhanced plant uptake. For komatsuna grown in fertilized soil, the depletion of soluble N in the root zone seems to be important for the increase in the contribution of the plant-induced solubilization to uptake but not for the occurrence of the solubilization

Succinyl-CoA-based energy metabolism dysfunction in chronic heart failure

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of death and repeated hospitalizations and often involves cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the underlying mechanisms largely remain elusive. Here, using a mouse model in which myocardial infarction (MI) was induced by coronary artery ligation, we show the metabolic basis of mitochondrial dysfunction in chronic HF. Four weeks after ligation, MI mice showed a significant decrease in myocardial succinyl-CoA levels, and this decrease impaired the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) capacity. Heme synthesis and ketolysis, and protein levels of several enzymes consuming succinyl-CoA in these events, were increased in MI mice, while enzymes synthesizing succinyl-CoA from α-ketoglutarate and glutamate were also increased. Furthermore, the ADP-specific subunit of succinyl-CoA synthase was reduced, while its GDP-specific subunit was almost unchanged. Administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid, an intermediate in the pathway from succinyl-CoA to heme synthesis, appreciably restored succinyl-CoA levels and OXPHOS capacity and prevented HF progression in MI mice. Previous reports also suggested the presence of succinyl-CoA metabolism abnormalities in cardiac muscles of HF patients. Our results identified that changes in succinyl-CoA usage in different metabolisms of the mitochondrial energy production system is characteristic to chronic HF, and although similar alterations are known to occur in healthy conditions, such as during strenuous exercise, they may often occur irreversibly in chronic HF leading to a decrease in succinyl-CoA. Consequently, nutritional interventions compensating the succinyl-CoA consumption are expected to be promising strategies to treat HF