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Japan's Living Politics: Grassroots Action and the Crises of Democracy
by Tessa Morris-SuzukiThe first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed a rise of populism and decline of public confidence in many of the formal institutions of democracy. This crisis of democracy has stimulated searches for alternative ways of understanding and enacting politics. Against this background, Tessa Morris-Suzuki explores the long history of informal everyday political action in the Japanese context. Despite its seemingly inflexible and monolithic formal political system, Japan has been the site of many fascinating small-scale experiments in 'informal life politics': grassroots do-it-yourself actions which seek not to lobby governments for change, but to change reality directly, from the bottom up. She explores this neglected history by examining an interlinked series of informal life politics experiments extending from the 1910s to the present day.
Japan's Managed Globalization: Adapting to the Twenty-first Century
by Ulrike Schaede William W. GrimesAs Japan moves from a "catch-up" strategy to a post-developmental stage, it is changing its actions and reactions both in terms of international political economy and domestic policy issues. The current changes in Japan can best be understood as following a path toward "permeable insulation." Japan's government and economic system continue to insulate domestic businesses from full competition and the rigor of market forces, but this insulation is also permeable because a decline in state power vis-a-vis the private sector since the 1990s has combined with a decline in the solidarity of private institutions (such as keiretsu or trade associations) to make strategies of insulation much less rigid and uniform. As a result of the "permeable insulation," Japan's response to the global and domestic challenges of the 1990s is neither one of full acceptance nor rejection of global standards and practices. Instead, the basic scheme is one of pragmatic utilization of new rules and circumstances to continue industrial policies of promotion or protection in a new post-developmental era. By bringing together in-depth case studies of eight critical issue areas, this book looks at Japan's responses to globalization and move toward "permeable insulation." Part 1 introduces the reader to the concept of "permeable insulation" and provides a detailed review of past practices and changes in policy. Part 2 deals with international trade issues, Japan's compliance with and resistance to global trade rules, and the domestic interests visible in Japan's compliance. Part 3 focuses on domestic measures and policies that Japanese firms have used to adapt to the changes, within Japan and abroad, triggered by globalization and liberalization.
Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period (Studies of the East Asian Institute #1)
by Carol GluckIdeology played a momentous role in modern Japanese history. Not only did the elite of imperial Japan (1890-1945) work hard to influence the people to "yield as the grasses before the wind," but historians of modern Japan later identified these efforts as one of the underlying pathologies of World War II. Available for the first time in paperback, this study examines how this ideology evolved. Carol Gluck argues that the process of formulating and communicating new national values was less consistent than is usually supposed. By immersing the reader in the talk and thought of the late Meiji period, Professor Gluck recreates the diversity of ideological discourse experienced by Japanese of the time. The result is a new interpretation of the views of politics and the nation in imperial Japan.
Japan's New Imperialism (Japan In The Modern World Ser.)
by Rob StevenA full scale examination of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War - the events that led to it, the Cold War aftermath, and the implications for the region and beyond.
Japan's New Left Movements: Legacies for Civil Society (Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) East Asian Series)
by Takemasa AndoThe Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident that followed the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan shocked the world. In the wake the of the disaster, questions were asked as to why Japanese antinuclear movements were not able to prevent those with vested interests, such as businesses, bureaucrats, the media and academics, from facilitating nuclear energy policies? Taking this question as its starting point, this book looks more widely at the development and powerlessness of Japanese civil society, and seeks to untangle this intersection between social movements and civil society in postwar Japan. Central to this book are the Japanese New Left movements that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, and the impact they have had on civil society and politics. By focusing on a key idea that a wide range of new leftists shared – the self-revolution in ‘everydayness’ – Takemasa Ando shows how these groups did not seek immediate change in the realms of politics and legislation, but rather, it was believed that personal transformation would lead to broader social and political change. By reconsidering the relationship between Japanese New Left movements of the 1960s and later social movements, this book crucially connects the constructive and disruptive legacies of the movements, and in doing so provides valuable insights into the powerlessness that plagues Japanese civil society today. Presenting a comprehensive picture of the New Left movements and their legacies in Japan, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars working in the fields of Japanese politics, Japanese history, and Japanese culture and society.
Japan's Ocean Borderlands: Nature and Sovereignty (Cambridge Oceanic Histories)
by Paul KreitmanDesert islands are the focus of intense geopolitical tensions in East Asia today, but they are also sites of nature conservation. In this global environmental history, Paul Kreitman shows how the politics of conservation have entangled with the politics of sovereignty since the emergence of the modern Japanese state in the mid-nineteenth century. Using case studies ranging from Hawai'i to the Bonin Islands to the Senkaku (Ch: Diaoyu) Isles to the South China Sea, he explores how bird islands on the distant margins of the Japanese archipelago and beyond transformed from sites of resource extraction to outposts of empire and from wartime battlegrounds to nature reserves. This study examines how interactions between birds, bird products, bureaucrats, speculators, sailors, soldiers, scientists and conservationists shaped ongoing claims to sovereignty over oceanic spaces. It considers what the history of desert islands shows us about imperial and post-imperial power, the web of political, economic and ecological connections between islands and oceans, and about the relationship between sovereignty, territory and environment in the modern world.
Japan's Options for the 1980s (Routledge Library Editions: Japan)
by Radha SinhaJapan’s economic success since the 1950s created a range of serious domestic and international problems which threaten the stability of the country. Within Japan at the start of the 1980s there was a strong mood on the right for remilitarization to give the nation the super-power status her economic performance justified. Outside Japan, there was increasing pressure from the West to make her conform to Western strategic interests. Against the background of these crucial issues the book analyzes the economic, political and military options open to Japan. Focussing on the interconnecting themes of foreign harassment and domestic economic disorder, the author points out many areas of similarity between Japan of the 1930s and Japan of the 1980s.
Japan's Outcaste Abolition: The Struggle for National Inclusion and the Making of the Modern State (Asia's Transformations)
by Noah Y. McCormackThe Tokugawa Shogunate, which governed Japan for two and a half centuries until the mid-1860s, classed people into hierarchically ranked status groups (mibun). The early Tokugawa rulers legally established these status groups through the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries, adapting and clarifying existing customary divisions between warriors, peasants, artisans, and merchants. Subsequently, during the two and a half centuries of Tokugawa rule, status laws backed by coercive force worked to limit social mobility between groups and regulate relations between people of different status. This book begins by examining the origins and evolution of the outcaste groups within the Tokugawa status order. It then looks into the complex processes leading up to the abolition of outcaste status and the institution of legal equality in 1871 under the Meiji regime, and analyzes subsequent practices and theories of social discrimination against firstly ‘former outcastes’ and ‘New Commoners’ and then ‘Burakumin’. Finally, it analyses the tactics and strategies of liberation adopted at local and national levels by anti-discrimination movements in Meiji Japan. Detailing the history of early-modern Japanese outcastes into the post-abolition era, Japan’s Outcaste Abolition explores the dynamics of national inclusion, social exclusion, and the making of disciplined modern subjects. It will therefore be of great interest to students and scholars of Japanese history, culture and society, social history and Asian studies.
Japan's Pacific War: Personal Accounts of the Emperor's Warriors
by Peter Williams‘I had no qualms fighting the Australians, just as I have killed without remorse any of the Emperor’s enemies: the British, the Americans and the Dutch’, so admits Takahiro Sato in this ground-breaking oral history of Japan’s Pacific War. Thanks to years of research and over 100 interviews with veterans, the Author has compiled a fascinating collection of personal accounts by former Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen. Their candid views are often provocative and shocking. There are admissions of brutality, the killing of prisoners and cannibalism. Stark descriptions of appalling conditions and bitter fighting blend with descriptions of family life. Their views on the prowess of the enemy differ with some like air ace Kazuo Tsunoda who believed the Australians ‘worthy’. Some remain unrepentant while others such as Hideo Abe are ashamed of his part in Japan’s war of aggression. The result is a revealing insight into the minds of a ruthless and formidable enemy which provides the reader with a fresh perspective on the Second World War.
Japan's Postwar (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies)
by Michael Lucken Anne Bayard-Sakai Emmanuel Lozerand J. A. A. StockwinHistorical surveys of postwar Japan are usually established on the grounds that the era is already over, interpreting "postwar" to be the years directly proceeding World War II. However, the contributors to this book take a unique approach to the concept of the postwar epoch and treat it as a network of historical time frames from the modern period, and connect these time capsules to the war to which they are inextricably linked. The books strength is in its very interdisciplinary approach to examining postwar Japan and as such it includes chapters centred on subjects as diverse as politics, poetry, philosophy, economics and art which serve to fill the blanks in the collective cultural memory that historical narratives leave behind. Originally published in French, this new translation offers the English speaking world important access to a major work on Japan which has been greatly enriched by the translator’s great accuracy and knowledge of English, French and Japanese language, history and culture. Japan's Postwar will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese Studies and Modern Japanese History as well as historians studying the world after 1945.
Japan's Postwar History
by Gary D. AllinsonJapan's Postwar History presents the first integrated analysis of the social, economic, and political changes that Japan has experienced since 1945. Drawing on more than three decades of first-hand experience with the country, Gary D. Allinson depicts a dynamic, often turbulent history and illuminates its impact on individuals, families, and communities. Between 1932 and 1952, war, devastation, and foreign occupation caused significant changes in Japan. However, the society that emerged during the 1950s still resembled its prewar predecessor in many ways, according to Allinson. Thereafter, by exploiting a fortunate combination of domestic and international conditions the Japanese people ushered in twenty years of extensive development. Growth created problems as well as profits and imposed some wrenching adjustments after the world economic crises of 1973 and 1979. Nonetheless, Japanese society steadily assimilated the benefits of affluence, Allinson argues. Until worldwide recession drew Japan into a severe economic downturn in the late 1980s, it continued to adapt to the social and political demands of a rich nation enmeshed in a global economy. By the mid-1990s, Japan had reached the end of a cycle of historical change. Plagued with uncertainty and striving to find a formula for regeneration, Japan once again found itself confronting the dilemmas of inequality, instability, and insecurity.
Japan's Postwar Party Politics
by Masaru KohnoIn this sophisticated theoretical work, Masaru Kohno presents a systematic reexamination of the evolution of party politics in Japan since the end of the second World War. Because of the long one-party dominance by the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan's parliamentary democracy has often been viewed as unique in the developed world, and most of the existing studies of Japanese party politics have addressed such determinants as its political culture, historical background, and socio-ideological cleavages. According to the author, these explanations do not adequately account for some of the most important changes that took place in Japanese party politics during the postwar period. This study advances an alternative set of interpretations based on a microanalytic approach that highlights the incentive and bargaining power of individual political actors, and their competitive and strategic behavior under existing institutional constraints. According to Kohno, the evolution of political life in postwar Japan depends on the same factors that are acknowledged to be at work in other industrialized nations. He reveals, through detailed case studies of government formation processes and statistical examinations of candidate nomination patterns, that the microanalytic approach can establish forward-looking and internally consistent interpretations of the postwar development of Japanese party politics. Because Japan has usually been treated as a country of unique cultural, historical, and societal characteristics, the analyses of this study point to the broader applicability of the microanalytic approach in the field of comparative politics, especially for the exploration of party competition in advanced industrial democracies.
Japan's Quest for Stability in Southeast Asia: Navigating the Turning Points in Postwar Asia (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series)
by Taizo MiyagiMore than any other region in the world, Asia has witnessed tremendous change in the post-war era. A continent once engulfed by independence and revolution, and later by the Cold War and civil war, has now been transformed into the world’s most economically dynamic region. What caused this change in Asia? The key to answering this question lies in the post-war history of maritime Asia and, in particular, the path taken by the maritime nation of Japan. Analysing the importance of Japan’s relationship with Southeast Asia, this book therefore aims to illustrate the hidden trail left by Japan during the period of upheaval that has shaped Asia today—an era marked by the American Cold War strategy, the dissolution of the British Empire in Asia, and the rise of China. It provides a comprehensive account of post-war maritime Asia, making use of internationally sourced primary materials, as well as declassified Japanese government papers. As such, Japan's Quest for Stability in Southeast Asia will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese Politics, Asian Politics and Asian History.
Japan's Re-emergence as a 'Normal' Military Power (Adelphi series)
by Christopher HughesIs Japan re-emerging as a normal, or even a great, military power in regional and global security affairs? This Adelphi Paper assesses the overall trajectory of Japan’s security policy over the last decade, and the impact of a changing Japanese military posture on the stability of East Asia. The paper examines Japan’s evolving security debate, set against the background of a shifting international environment and domestic policymaking system; the status of Japan’s national military capabilities and constitutional prohibitions; post-Cold War developments in the US Japan alliance; and Japan’s role in multilateral regional security dialogue, UN PKO, and US-led coalitions of the willing. It concludes that Japan is undoubtedly moving along the trajectory of becoming a more assertive military power, and that this trend has been accelerated post-9/11. Japan is unlikely, though, to channel its military power through greatly different frameworks than at present. Japan will opt for the enhanced, and probably inextricable, integration of its military capabilities into the US Japan alliance, rather than pursuing options for greater autonomy or multilateralism. Japan’s strengthened role as the defensive shield for the offensive sword of US power projection will only serve to bolster US military hegemony in East Asia and globally.
Japan's Response to Crisis and Change in the World Economy (Routledge Revivals)
by Michèle SchmiegelowOriginally published in 1986, after a period of global changes and financial crisis in the majority of industrialised countries, this book explores how Japan’s economy seemed to maintain its success. This study provides an overview of the Japanese case and the main schools of thought that arose from it by dealing with export-related issues such as reforms in foreign exchange and trade control laws and the internationalisation of Japan’s financial markets as well as more domestic issues such as employment and wages. This title will be of interest to students of Asian Studies and Economics.
Japan's Secret War: How Japan's Race to Build its Own Atomic Bomb Provided the Groundwork for North Korea's Nuclear Program
by Robert K. WilcoxThis groundbreaking investigation reveals how a secret atomic weapons program in WWII Japan led to today’s North Korean security crisis.Japan’s Secret War explores one of the least-known, yet highly significant episodes of World War II: Japan’s frantic race to develop its own atomic bomb. Journalist and historian Robert Wilcox then shows how Japan’s efforts evolved into North Korea’s nuclear program and the looming threat it presents to mankind.After decades of research into national intelligence archives in the US and abroad, Wilcox presents a detailed account of Japan’s version of the Manhattan Project. He traces its development from inception to the possible detonation of a nuclear device in 1945. Wilcox weaves a fascinating portrait of the secret industrial complex where Japan’s atomic research culminated. And it is there that North Korea, following the Japanese defeat, salvaged what remained and fashioned its own nuclear program.“Japan’s Secret War is still spellbinding. It is intriguing and disturbing, and Robert Wilcoxdeserves high praise for his meticulous research.” —Historynet.com
Japan's Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century
by Andrew L OrosFor decades after World War II, Japan chose to focus on soft power and economic diplomacy alongside a close alliance with the United States, eschewing a potential leadership role in regional and global security. Since the end of the Cold War, and especially since the rise of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s military capabilities have resurged. In this analysis of Japan's changing military policy, Andrew L. Oros shows how a gradual awakening to new security challenges has culminated in the multifaceted "security renaissance” of the past decade.Despite openness to new approaches, however, three historical legacies-contested memories of the Pacific War and Imperial Japan, postwar anti-militarist convictions, and an unequal relationship with the United States-play an outsized role. In Japan’s Security Renaissance Oros argues that Japan’s future security policies will continue to be shaped by these legacies, which Japanese leaders have struggled to address. He argues that claims of rising nationalism in Japan are overstated, but there has been a discernable shift favoring the conservative Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party. Bringing together Japanese domestic politics with the broader geopolitical landscape of East Asia and the world, Japan’s Security Renaissance provides guidance on this century’s emerging international dynamics.
Japan's Shifting Status in the World and the Development of Japan's Medical Insurance Systems
by Yoneyuki SugitaThis book explains the origins and early developments of Japanese medical insurance systems from the 1920s to the 1950s. It closely examines the changes in the systems and the symbiotic relationship between Japan’s status in international relations and the development of domestic medical insurance systems. While previous studies have regarded the origins and development of Japanese medical insurance systems as merely a domestic issue and pay little attention to the role or effects of international affairs, this book closely examines the changes in these systems by looking at the enactment of the Health Insurance Law in 1922, the establishment of the National Health Insurance in 1938, the epoch-making reforms of 1942, numerous plans in the early Allied occupation period, and Japan’s social security plan in 1950. In doing so, it shows that there was indeed a symbiotic relationship between Japan’s status in international relations and the changing nature of domestic medical insurance systems. It also reveals that Japan’s status in international relations set the framework within which interested groups, primarily the government, made rational choices. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and students who have an interest in the Japanese medical insurance systems.
Japan's Subnational Governments in International Affairs (The University of Sheffield/Routledge Japanese Studies Series)
by Purnendra JainThis book moves away from the common belief that Japan’s international relations are firmly the preserve of the national government in Japan’s highly centralised political system. Examining examples of subnational governments (SNGs) across Japan the book uncovers a significant and generally unrecognised development in Japanese politics: SNGs are ever more dynamic international actors as national borders ‘weaken’ across the world. Exploring what Japanese SNGs do, where they do it, and why, the book considers the implications of these factors for Japan’s international relations and domestic politics. By bringing to light the scope and consequences of the international actions of Japan’s SNGs, this book provides a more accurate and nuanced understanding of the country's foreign policy, at a time when it is pursuing a broader and more active profile in international affairs.
Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism
by Louise YoungIn this first social and cultural history of Japan's construction of Manchuria, Louise Young offers an incisive examination of the nature of Japanese imperialism. Focusing on the domestic impact of Japan's activities in Northeast China between 1931 and 1945, Young considers "metropolitan effects" of empire building: how people at home imagined and experienced the empire they called Manchukuo. Contrary to the conventional assumption that a few army officers and bureaucrats were responsible for Japan's overseas expansion, Young finds that a variety of organizations helped to mobilize popular support for Manchukuo--the mass media, the academy, chambers of commerce, women's organizations, youth groups, and agricultural cooperatives--leading to broad-based support among diverse groups of Japanese. As the empire was being built in China, Young shows, an imagined Manchukuo was emerging at home, constructed of visions of a defensive lifeline, a developing economy, and a settler's paradise.
Japan's Ultimate Martial Art
by Darrell Max CraigPredecessor of Judo and precursor of today's ultimate fighting styles, Jujitsu is a martial art developed by the elite samurai class during Japan's feudal days. For centuries, this method of unarmed self-defense proved so successful in combat that it was kept secret and taught to a select few. Based on the author's study with instructors of the Tokyo police department, this book features the traditional techniques of Jujitsu, also known as Ju-Jiutsu. Chapter by chapter, it addresses and demonstrates Kaisho Goshin Budo Taiho Jitsu Ryu (Tokyo police/ self-defense/ martial way/ body techniques). Specific techniques covered include the use of hands, throwing an opponent, attacking vital points with strikes and kicks, and the use of weapons such as the staff. Though designed to accompany training, this fascinating book also serves as a remarkable illustrated guide to the secret art of samurai self-defense.
Japan's Ultimate Martial Art
by Darrell Max CraigPredecessor of Judo and precursor of today's ultimate fighting styles, Jujitsu is a martial art developed by the elite samurai class during Japan's feudal days. For centuries, this method of unarmed self-defense proved so successful in combat that it was kept secret and taught to a select few. Based on the author's study with instructors of the Tokyo police department, this book features the traditional techniques of Jujitsu, also known as Ju-Jiutsu. Chapter by chapter, it addresses and demonstrates Kaisho Goshin Budo Taiho Jitsu Ryu (Tokyo police/ self-defense/ martial way/ body techniques). Specific techniques covered include the use of hands, throwing an opponent, attacking vital points with strikes and kicks, and the use of weapons such as the staff. Though designed to accompany training, this fascinating book also serves as a remarkable illustrated guide to the secret art of samurai self-defense.
Japan's War Memories: Amnesia or Concealment? (Routledge Revivals)
by George HicksFirst published in 1997, this volume responds to attention in recent years which has been belatedly directed towards reviving World War II issues involving Japan. This study deals first with the manner in which such issues so long fell into abeyance under Cold War conditions, while tracing the vast and varied writing on the war which meanwhile appeared within Japan. Evolving Japanese views on the war are largely focused on debate over the revision of the postwar constitution, especially its renunciation of "war potential". The book also contains the first overview of the decades-long litigation within Japan on the screening of textbooks, especially on the war.
Japan's War: Hirohito’s Holy War Against the West
by Stewart Binns'A superbly revealing account of a dreadful and profoundly sad war' ALASTAIR CAMPBELL'This extraordinary book gives us a unique insight into why and how Japan fought such an appalling war' NICK HEWERA new perspective on Japan during the Asia-Pacific War, using remarkable first-hand Japanese source material.Even after eighty years since the end of a conflict that killed thirty-five million people, there remains deeply-felt bitterness and anger about the way the Asia-Pacific War was fought, especially by the Japanese. The war in the East stretched from Hawaii to India - with Japanese forces attacking Singapore, China and Malaysia, as well as bombing the north coast of Australia. The Allied forces, led by the US, waged an island-by-island counteroffensive that eventually saw the invasion of the Japanese homeland. Japan has been vilified for the countless examples of its cruelty to civilians and prisoners of war. These criticisms have led to a backlash in Japan, where many deny that the accusations are true. By going back to the origins of modern Japan, and by using only Japanese accounts, Japan's War: Hirohito's Holy War against the West offers a powerful account of the conflict and explains in detail why the Japanese conducted the war in the way that they did.
Japan's War: Hirohito’s Holy War Against the West
by Stewart Binns'A superbly revealing account of a dreadful and profoundly sad war' ALASTAIR CAMPBELL'This extraordinary book gives us a unique insight into why and how Japan fought such an appalling war' NICK HEWERA new perspective on Japan during the Asia-Pacific War, using remarkable first-hand Japanese source material.Even after eighty years since the end of a conflict that killed thirty-five million people, there remains deeply-felt bitterness and anger about the way the Asia-Pacific War was fought, especially by the Japanese. The war in the East stretched from Hawaii to India - with Japanese forces attacking Singapore, China and Malaysia, as well as bombing the north coast of Australia. The Allied forces, led by the US, waged an island-by-island counteroffensive that eventually saw the invasion of the Japanese homeland. Japan has been vilified for the countless examples of its cruelty to civilians and prisoners of war. These criticisms have led to a backlash in Japan, where many deny that the accusations are true. By going back to the origins of modern Japan, and by using only Japanese accounts, Japan's War: Hirohito's Holy War against the West offers a powerful account of the conflict and explains in detail why the Japanese conducted the war in the way that they did.