Incidents in interwar Japan

During the interwar period in Japan, "incident" (事件) became a common euphemism for wars, coups, and other events of a politically sensitive or sensational nature. Using "incident" rather than more specific terms allowed Japanese journalists to maintain the appearance of neutrality while avoiding potential censorship. Prominent examples include the "Manchurian Incident" (the invasion of Manchuria), the "China Incident" (the Second Sino-Japanese War), and the "Nanjing Incident" (the Nanjing Massacre).

Explanation
Historian S.C.M. Paine gave the following explanation for the frequent usage of "incident": "The Japanese call these turning points 'incidents,' and the Chinese have adopted this nomenclature. They range from strikes to coup attempts, to assassinations, to regional wars. The word usage suggests a fork in the road and a choice that forever forecloses certain alternatives. Generally, such incidents are named by date or place, as if to absolve human beings of any responsibility for them."

This vague and abstract manner of describing events had its roots in the peculiar form of self-censorship common in the Japanese media of the time. During the rice riots of 1918, a newspaper named the Ōsaka Asahi shinbun had run an editorial criticizing press censorship directed against journalists reporting on the riots. The government responded by threatening to shut down the paper and the Ōsaka asahi eventually issued an apology. That event, together with the attitude that taking a firm political stance was "civically unworthy partisanship", led most newspapers in Japan to maintain a strict "impartial and non-partisan" editorial line. Another factor encouraging the use of the vague language was the lack of information that the Japanese media had on the details of events as they occurred. In the immediate aftermath of the February 26 incident, for example, the government declared a total blackout of information to the press.

Despite the general air of self-censorship, some Japanese journalists commented on the euphemistic naming of major events. In the political debate that followed the assassination of Zhang Zuolin by two Kwantung Army officers, the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun wrote:

"Despite the fact that the incident in question quite clearly refers to the assassination of Zhang Zuolin, it is labeled 'a certain grave incident,' and the like. This in itself seems to suggest that there are already grave suspicions against our nation and it is to no small extent giving rise to disadvantageous implications for Japan's foreign affairs."