Today’s word is:
尊皇攘夷
そんのうじょうい
“Son-no joh ee”Support the Emperor, Expel the Foreigners!
[prince support expel barbarian]
This was a slogan in the Meiji Era, when power was restored to the Emperor (previously the Shogun was in charge). Meiji’s supporters used this slogan to play on the feelings of xenophobia in Japan at the time.
A little ironically, Japan under Emperor Meiji became more westernized than it had been ever before. The sudden change would be one of the most radical trends in Japanese culture until General MacArthur’s invasion at the end of WWII. This same logic was used in Japanese East-Asian propaganda during Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in the 1931: let us help you expel whitey once and for all! Unfortunately for the Empire, this time it worked about as well as our description of “defending Freedom” in Iraq. Ignorance is Strength.