The second half of the twentieth century was a tumultuous period that transformed the way Japanese view the world and act in it. This ideological transformation was driven by and reinforced institutional changes, economic development, political ferment and the dynamic tension between prevailing norms and shifting realities.
While focusing on transformation, this book is sensitive to the incremental and cumulative nature of change and how the past resonates powerfully in the present. Old verities linger and influence the patterns, pace and nature of ongoing changes.
This new edition of the classic Seminar Study considers the metamorphosis of modern Japan in the light of key events of the twentieth century, focusing on the economic miracle, the influence of Japan’s troubled past in Asia, the implications of the demographic time-bomb, the Third Transformation and the Lost Decade of the 1990s. With significantly updated chapters on the role of women and national security post-2001 and new chapters on judicial reforms, NPOs and Heisei Japan, this will be the most up-to-date look at contemporary Japan and its history.
Contents
Introduction to the Series
Publisher’s Acknowledgements?
Chronology
Who’s Who
Prime Ministers Since 1952
Glossary
Map
PART ONE BACKGROUND
1 INTRODUCTION
2 THE US OCCUPATION OF JAPAN, 1945-52
Enemies to Allies
What Went Wrong?
Democratization
The Reverse Course
The Legacies of Occupation
Hiroshima and Pearl Harbour
PART TWO ANALYSIS
3 POSTWAR POLITICS
The 1955 System
The Decline of Radicalism
Corruption
The Shadow Shogun
Sagawa Kyubin
Political Reform
The Changing Logic of Japanese Politics
4 THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE
The Development State
Favorable Factors
Adversarial Trade
A Dual Economy
Growth as Ideology
The Setting Sun
5 JAPAN AND ASIA: PAST AND PRESENT
A Lingering Legacy
Atonement and War Guilt
Textbooks and Masochistic History
Comfort Women
The Nanking Massacre
Contemporary Ties
Multilateral Participation
The Future
6 JAPANESE SECURITY
The US-Japan Alliance
The Reactive State
Transforming Japan’s Security Posture
A Normal Nation
North Korea (DPRK)
People’s Republic of China
Lingering Taboos – Article Nine and the Three Non-Nuclear Principles
7 WOMEN IN JAPAN
Divorce
Women and Work
The Labor Force Periphery
Education
Low Birth Rate
The Birth Control Pill
Sexploitation
8 DEMOGRAPHIC TIME BOMB
Family-based Elderly care
Nursing Care Insurance
Pension and Medical Care Solvency
Social Consequences
Further Reforms?
Labor Shortage and Immigration?
9 REQUIEM FOR JAPAN, INC.
The Lost Decade
The Emperor’s Death
The Burst Bubble
The Binge
Hangover
Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth Cult)
The Kobe Earthquake
Nuclear Mishaps and Misgivings
Symbols that Divide
Social Mores and Delinquency
Discrimination
10 PARADIGM SHIFT
A System that Soured
The Changing Employment Paradigm
The Unraveling Nexus
Under Construction
PART THREE ASSESSMENT
11 IN RETROSPECT
Transformation?
PART FOUR DOCUMENTS
1. THE 1947 CONSTITUTION
2. JOHN DOWER ON THE US OCCUPATION OF JAPAN
3. THE TREATY OF MUTUAL COOPERATION AND SECURITY BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE US, 19 JANUARY 1960
4. CHALMERS JOHNSON ON THE JAPANESE MIRACLE
5. End of the Miracle: Growing Disparities and Poverty
6. THE WAR APOLOGY RESOLUTION: THE PRIME MINISTER’S ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL DIET, 9 JUNE 1995
7. PRIME MINISTER MURAYAMA’S APOLOGY, 15 AUGUST 1995
8. REPARATIONS AND RECONCILIATION
9. KONO STATEMENT ON COMFORT WOMEN
10. THE NANKING MASSACRE
11. THE ODA CHARTER
12. BEYOND THE ASIAN CRISIS: SPEECH BY MR KIICHI MIYAZAWA
13. ON THE REVISION OF THE US–JAPAN SECURITY TREATY, 1960
14. JAPAN AND THE VIOLATION OF ITS NON-NUCLEAR PRINCIPLES
15. SHINTARO ISHIHARA ON JAPAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE US
16. THE 1997 GUIDELINES FOR US–JAPAN DEFENSE COOPERATION
17. NIXON ON US RELATIONS WITH JAPAN DURING THE COLD WAR
18. BECOMING A NORMAL NATION
19. THE GOVERNMENT’S POSITION ON ARTICLE NINE OF THE CONSTITUTION
20. HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN JAPAN.
21. THE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN IN JAPAN
22. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF AN AGING POPULATION
23. HEALTH CARE COSTS: OECD
24. IMMIGRATION AND THE DEMOGRAPHIC TIME BOMB
25. JAPAN’S THIRD TRANSFORMATION: PM KEIZO OBUCHI
26. SUICIDE TOLLS REMAINS HIGH
27. JAPAN’S ‘BIG BANG’
28. SOCIAL ORDER IN JAPAN
29. MULTI-ETHNICITY IN JAPAN
30. AINU RECOGNIZED BY GOVERNMENT
31. RICHARD KATZ ON THE RISE AND FALL OF JAPAN’S ECONOMIC MIRACLE
32. CHANGING EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM
33. INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
34. LAW SCHOOLS
35. PARADIGM SHIFT
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING?
REFERENCES
INDEX
· This updated edition now covers the period from 1945 – 2010 (whereas the previous edition covered the years 1952-2000). To reflect this change the text has undergone substantial revisions
· New chapter on Emperor Heisei's Japan
· The post 2001 security developments in chapter 6 have been fully updated
· Expanded coverage on recent economic malaise in chapter 4
· New assessment of Koizumi era
· New full colour plate section
· New documents have been added throughout
Professor Jeffrey Kingston is Director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan. His areas of expertise include the political economy and social history of modern Japan, modern Southeast Asia, regionalism in Asia, conflict and reconciliation, and law and social change. Professor Kingston's op-eds and book reviews appear in the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Japan Times and Bangkok Post. The BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, CBS, ABC, Time, Newsweek, AFP, AP, NHK, Asahi Shimbun, Voice of America and other media organizations interview him frequently.