Author: George Feifer
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060884320
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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
Author: George Feifer
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060884320
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060884320
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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 Barriers
Author: Constantine Nomikos Vaporis
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173035
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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."
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173035
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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."
Breaking Into Japanese Literature
Author: Giles Murray
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781568364155
Category : Japanese language
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
This is a graded reader for Japanese literature. There are 7 stories, 4 by Soseki and 3 by Akutagawa, representing 3 different reading levels. In each case the story is presented in Japanese and English with a running dictionary of terms used. An audio version of the stories is available as MP3 files on the Internet.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781568364155
Category : Japanese language
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
This is a graded reader for Japanese literature. There are 7 stories, 4 by Soseki and 3 by Akutagawa, representing 3 different reading levels. In each case the story is presented in Japanese and English with a running dictionary of terms used. An audio version of the stories is available as MP3 files on the Internet.
The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma
Author: Emily Roxworthy
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824865049
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
In The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma, Emily Roxworthy contests the notion that the U.S. government’s internment policies during World War II had little impact on the postwar lives of most Japanese Americans. After the curtain was lowered on the war following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many Americans behaved as if the “theatre of war” had ended and life could return to normal. Roxworthy demonstrates that this theatrical logic of segregating the real from the staged, the authentic experience from the political display, grew out of the manner in which internment was agitated for and instituted by the U.S. government and media. During the war, Japanese Americans struggled to define themselves within the web of this theatrical logic, and they continue to reenact this trauma in public and private to this day. The political spectacles staged by the FBI and the American mass media were heir to a theatricalizing discourse that can be traced back to Commodore Matthew Perry’s “opening” of Japan in 1853. Westerners, particularly Americans, drew upon it to orientalize—disempower, demonize, and conquer—those of Japanese descent, who were characterized as natural-born actors who could not be trusted. Roxworthy provides the first detailed reconstruction of the FBI’s raids on Japanese American communities, which relied on this discourse to justify their highly choreographed searches, seizures, and arrests. Her book also makes clear how wartime newspapers (particularly those of the notoriously anti-Asian Hearst Press) melodramatically framed the evacuation and internment so as to discourage white Americans from sympathizing with their former neighbors of Japanese descent. Roxworthy juxtaposes her analysis of these political spectacles with the first inclusive look at cultural performances staged by issei and nisei (first- and second-generation Japanese Americans) at two of the most prominent “relocation centers”: California’s Manzanar and Tule Lake. The camp performances enlarge our understanding of the impulse to create art under oppressive conditions. Taken together, wartime political spectacles and the performative attempts at resistance by internees demonstrate the logic of racial performativity that underwrites American national identity. The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma details the complex formula by which racial performativity proved to be a force for both oppression and resistance during World War II.
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824865049
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
In The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma, Emily Roxworthy contests the notion that the U.S. government’s internment policies during World War II had little impact on the postwar lives of most Japanese Americans. After the curtain was lowered on the war following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many Americans behaved as if the “theatre of war” had ended and life could return to normal. Roxworthy demonstrates that this theatrical logic of segregating the real from the staged, the authentic experience from the political display, grew out of the manner in which internment was agitated for and instituted by the U.S. government and media. During the war, Japanese Americans struggled to define themselves within the web of this theatrical logic, and they continue to reenact this trauma in public and private to this day. The political spectacles staged by the FBI and the American mass media were heir to a theatricalizing discourse that can be traced back to Commodore Matthew Perry’s “opening” of Japan in 1853. Westerners, particularly Americans, drew upon it to orientalize—disempower, demonize, and conquer—those of Japanese descent, who were characterized as natural-born actors who could not be trusted. Roxworthy provides the first detailed reconstruction of the FBI’s raids on Japanese American communities, which relied on this discourse to justify their highly choreographed searches, seizures, and arrests. Her book also makes clear how wartime newspapers (particularly those of the notoriously anti-Asian Hearst Press) melodramatically framed the evacuation and internment so as to discourage white Americans from sympathizing with their former neighbors of Japanese descent. Roxworthy juxtaposes her analysis of these political spectacles with the first inclusive look at cultural performances staged by issei and nisei (first- and second-generation Japanese Americans) at two of the most prominent “relocation centers”: California’s Manzanar and Tule Lake. The camp performances enlarge our understanding of the impulse to create art under oppressive conditions. Taken together, wartime political spectacles and the performative attempts at resistance by internees demonstrate the logic of racial performativity that underwrites American national identity. The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma details the complex formula by which racial performativity proved to be a force for both oppression and resistance during World War II.
Peak Japan
Author: Brad Glosserman
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1626166706
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
The post-Cold War era has been difficult for Japan. A country once heralded for evolving a superior form of capitalism and seemingly ready to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy lost its way in the early 1990s. The bursting of the bubble in 1991 ushered in a period of political and economic uncertainty that has lasted for over two decades. There were hopes that the triple catastrophe of March 11, 2011—a massive earthquake, tsunami, and accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant—would break Japan out of its torpor and spur the country to embrace change that would restart the growth and optimism of the go-go years. But several years later, Japan is still waiting for needed transformation, and Brad Glosserman concludes that the fact that even disaster has not spurred radical enough reform reveals something about Japan's political system and Japanese society. Glosserman explains why Japan has not and will not change, concluding that Japanese horizons are shrinking and that the Japanese public has given up the bold ambitions of previous generations and its current leadership. This is a critical insight into contemporary Japan and one that should shape our thinking about this vital country.
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1626166706
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
The post-Cold War era has been difficult for Japan. A country once heralded for evolving a superior form of capitalism and seemingly ready to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy lost its way in the early 1990s. The bursting of the bubble in 1991 ushered in a period of political and economic uncertainty that has lasted for over two decades. There were hopes that the triple catastrophe of March 11, 2011—a massive earthquake, tsunami, and accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant—would break Japan out of its torpor and spur the country to embrace change that would restart the growth and optimism of the go-go years. But several years later, Japan is still waiting for needed transformation, and Brad Glosserman concludes that the fact that even disaster has not spurred radical enough reform reveals something about Japan's political system and Japanese society. Glosserman explains why Japan has not and will not change, concluding that Japanese horizons are shrinking and that the Japanese public has given up the bold ambitions of previous generations and its current leadership. This is a critical insight into contemporary Japan and one that should shape our thinking about this vital country.
Japanese National Railways – Its Break-up and Privatization
Author: Yoshiyuki Kasai
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900421397X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900421397X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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.
Embracing Defeat
Author: John W Dower
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393320275
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 692
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.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393320275
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 692
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.
A World of Empires
Author: Edyta M. Bojanowska
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674985702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674985702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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
Waste
Author: Eiko Maruko Siniawer
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501725858
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 411
Book Description
No detailed description available for "Waste".
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501725858
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 411
Book Description
No detailed description available for "Waste".
Finding Japan
Author: Anne Shannon
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 1927051568
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
In contrast to the widely known experiences of Asian immigrants who came to Canada, this book looks at movement in the opposite direction. Using text and images, it is a collection of stories about how Canadians “found Japan,” the first place they reached when travelling westward across the Pacific. These connections began as early as 1848, when the adventurous son of a Hudson’s Bay Company trader tempted fate by smuggling himself, disguised as a shipwrecked sailor, into the closed and exotic land of the shoguns. He was followed by an intriguing cast of characters—missionaries, educators, businessmen, social activists, political figures, diplomats, soldiers and occasional misfits—who experienced a rapidly changing Japan as it underwent its remarkable transformation from a largely feudal society to a modern state. Now, when the world is becoming more Asia-centric, Finding Japan provides glimpses into an earlier era that challenged conventional perceptions about Canadian connections across the Pacific.
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 1927051568
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
In contrast to the widely known experiences of Asian immigrants who came to Canada, this book looks at movement in the opposite direction. Using text and images, it is a collection of stories about how Canadians “found Japan,” the first place they reached when travelling westward across the Pacific. These connections began as early as 1848, when the adventurous son of a Hudson’s Bay Company trader tempted fate by smuggling himself, disguised as a shipwrecked sailor, into the closed and exotic land of the shoguns. He was followed by an intriguing cast of characters—missionaries, educators, businessmen, social activists, political figures, diplomats, soldiers and occasional misfits—who experienced a rapidly changing Japan as it underwent its remarkable transformation from a largely feudal society to a modern state. Now, when the world is becoming more Asia-centric, Finding Japan provides glimpses into an earlier era that challenged conventional perceptions about Canadian connections across the Pacific.