Young China Club, 1940; Wikimedia Commons.

In 1906, following Japan’s victory in the  in the Russo-Japanese War, San Francisco required children of Japanese descent to attend racially segregated schools.  In 1931, after the annexation of Manchuria, many American citizens called for American economic intervention to pressure Japan to leave China.  In 1937, with the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Nanking Massacre, the majority of Western public opinion was strongly in favor of China.

A notable exception was the  Pacific Movement of the Eastern World which viewed Japan as the champion of all non-white peoples, promising equality and land distribution for all.