Breaking Open Japan

Breaking Open Japan PDF Author: George Feifer
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060884320
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415

Get Book Here

Book Description
On July 14, 1853, the four warships of America's East Asia Squadron made for Kurihama, 30 miles south of the Japanese capital, then called Edo. It had come to pry open Japan after her two and a half centuries of isolation and nearly a decade of intense planning by Matthew Perry, the squadron commander. The spoils of the recent Mexican Spanish–American War had whetted a powerful American appetite for using her soaring wealth and power for commercial and political advantage. Perry's cloaking of imperial impulse in humanitarian purpose was fully matched by Japanese self–deception. High among the country's articles of faith was certainty of its protection by heavenly power. A distinguished Japanese scholar argued in 1811 that "Japanese differ completely from and are superior to the peoples of...all other countries of the world." So began one of history's greatest political and cultural clashes. In BREAKING OPEN JAPAN, George Feifer makes this drama new and relevant for today. At its heart were two formidable men: Perry and Lord Masahiro Abe, the political mastermind and real authority behind the Emperor and the Shogun. Feifer gives us a fascinating account of "sealed off" Japan and shows that Perry's aggressive handling of his mission had far reaching consequences for Japan – and the United States – well into the twentieth if not twenty–first century.

Breaking Open Japan

Breaking Open Japan PDF Author: George Feifer
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060884320
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415

Get Book Here

Book Description
On July 14, 1853, the four warships of America's East Asia Squadron made for Kurihama, 30 miles south of the Japanese capital, then called Edo. It had come to pry open Japan after her two and a half centuries of isolation and nearly a decade of intense planning by Matthew Perry, the squadron commander. The spoils of the recent Mexican Spanish–American War had whetted a powerful American appetite for using her soaring wealth and power for commercial and political advantage. Perry's cloaking of imperial impulse in humanitarian purpose was fully matched by Japanese self–deception. High among the country's articles of faith was certainty of its protection by heavenly power. A distinguished Japanese scholar argued in 1811 that "Japanese differ completely from and are superior to the peoples of...all other countries of the world." So began one of history's greatest political and cultural clashes. In BREAKING OPEN JAPAN, George Feifer makes this drama new and relevant for today. At its heart were two formidable men: Perry and Lord Masahiro Abe, the political mastermind and real authority behind the Emperor and the Shogun. Feifer gives us a fascinating account of "sealed off" Japan and shows that Perry's aggressive handling of his mission had far reaching consequences for Japan – and the United States – well into the twentieth if not twenty–first century.

Structural Reform in Japan

Structural Reform in Japan PDF Author: Eisuke Sakakibara
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this candid book, Japan's former top financial diplomat asserts the urgent need for wholesale structural reform to revitalize the long-stagnant Japanese economy. Eisuke Sakakibara, whose influence over global currency markets earned him the nickname of Mr. Yen, envisions a social and economic revolution that encompasses all sectors of Japanese society. Sakakibara. Profitable investment opportunities are hard to find in the dysfunctional corporate sector, where costs are high and earnings continue to decline. The country's entrenched power elite - the Liberal Democratic Party, the bureaucracy, and vested interest groups - are threatened by reform efforts. It will be difficult to restore economic health to Japan until its political leaders are able to break the grip of this iron triangle and implement aggressive, widespread reforms.

Embracing Defeat

Embracing Defeat PDF Author: John W Dower
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393320275
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 692

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study of modern Japan traces the impact of defeat and reconstruction on every aspect of Japan's national life. It examines the economic resurgence as well as how the nation as a whole reacted to defeat and the end of a suicidal nationalism.

Breaking Barriers

Breaking Barriers PDF Author: Constantine Nomikos Vaporis
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173035
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Travel in Tokugawa Japan was officially controlled by bakufu and domainal authorities via an elaborate system of barriers, or sekisho, and travel permits; commoners, however, found ways to circumvent these barriers, frequently ignoring the laws designed to control their mobility, in this study, Constantine Vaporis challenges the notion that this system of travel regulations prevented widespread travel, maintaining instead that a “culture of movement” in Japan developed in the Tokugawa era. Using a combination of governmental documentation and travel literature, diaries, and wood-block prints, Vaporis examines the development of travel as recreation; he discusses the impact of pilgrimage and the institutionalization of alms-giving on the freedom of movement commoners enjoyed. By the end of the Tokugawa era, the popular nature of travel and a sophisticated system of roads were well established: Vaporis explores the reluctance of the bakufu to enforce its travel laws, and in doing so, beautifully evokes the character of the journey through Tokugawa Japan."

Japanese National Railways – Its Break-up and Privatization

Japanese National Railways – Its Break-up and Privatization PDF Author: Yoshiyuki Kasai
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900421397X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a rare look into the politics and economics of the largest and arguably most dramatic privatization undertaken in Japan. Yoshiuki Kasai, President of JR Central, guides readers through first-hand accounts of the history of JNR’s break-up, the political and internal obstacles faced in the reform process, and the major lessons drawn through his experiences. At the end of the book Kasai is joined by Diethelm Sack and Sir Steve Robson in a discussion of major issues encountered in railway reforms in Japan, Germany and the UK.

Tallgrass

Tallgrass PDF Author: Sandra Dallas
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1429917172
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book Here

Book Description
An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas, an unparalleled writer of our history, and our deepest emotions... During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes (and suspicions) turn to the newcomers, the interlopers, the strangers. This is Tallgrass as Rennie Stroud has never seen it before. She has just turned thirteen and, until this time, life has pretty much been what her father told her it should be: predictable and fair. But now the winds of change are coming and, with them, a shift in her perspective. And Rennie will discover secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things. Part thriller, part historical novel, Tallgrass is a riveting exploration of the darkest--and best--parts of the human heart.

Waste

Waste PDF Author: Eiko Maruko Siniawer
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501725858
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 411

Get Book Here

Book Description
No detailed description available for "Waste".

The Inland Sea

The Inland Sea PDF Author: Donald Richie
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
ISBN: 1611729165
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
"An elegiac prose celebration . . . a classic in its genre."—Publishers Weekly In this acclaimed travel memoir, Donald Richie paints a memorable portrait of the island-studded Inland Sea. His existential ruminations on food, culture, and love and his brilliant descriptions of life and landscape are a window into an Old Japan that has now nearly vanished. Included are the twenty black and white photographs by Yoichi Midorikawa that accompanied the original 1971 edition. Donald Richie (1924-2013) was an internationally recognized expert on Japanese culture and film. Yoichi Midorikawa (1915-2001) was one of Japan's foremost nature photographers.

A World of Empires

A World of Empires PDF Author: Edyta M. Bojanowska
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674985702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
Through the lens of a classic Russian travelogue, this historical study examines early globalization and Russia’s participation in the Imperial race. In the 1850s, American Commodore Matthew Perry embarked on a legendary expedition to open trade relations with Japan. Less well known is the Russian expedition that followed on his heels. Serving aboard the Russian Frigate Pallada was the novelist Ivan Goncharov, who turned his impressions into a bestselling book. In A World of Empires, Edyta Bojanowska uses Goncharov’s travelogue as a window onto mid-19th century global imperialism. Goncharov recounts experiences in Africa’s Cape Colony, Dutch Java, Spanish Manila, Japan, and the British ports of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, offering keen insight on imperial expansion, cooperation, and competition. Often overlooked in the history of European imperialism, Russia emerges here as an increasingly assertive empire, eager to position itself on the world stage and fully conversant with the ideologies of civilizing mission and race. Goncharov’s gripping narrative offers a unique eyewitness account of empire in action. Bojanowska’s illuminating analysis reveals both a zeal to emulate European powers and a determination to define Russia against them. A Financial Times Best History Book of the Year

Things Japanese

Things Japanese PDF Author: Basil Hall Chamberlain
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 580

Get Book Here

Book Description