Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan

Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan PDF Author: Junji Banno
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350136220
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Since the beginning of the Meiji period when Japan evolved into a modern and powerful nation-state, ideas of empire and constitution imbued Japanese rule and progress. In Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan, Junji Banno expertly analyses how these conflicting concepts operated together in Japan from 1868 until 1937. By 'empire', Banno means the Japanese impetus to create its own empire; by 'constitution', he identifies Japanese efforts to create a constitutional government. In this book, Banno discusses the complicated relationship between these two concepts, ranging from incompatibility in some periods to symbiosis in others. Furthermore, understanding the complex and competing nature of these ideals, he persuasively reasons, is key to our understanding of why Japan and China went to war in 1937, leading to Pearl Harbor just four years later. Translated by eminent scholar Arthur Stockwin, Banno's highly accessible account of the dynamics of pre-war Japanese political history provides an engaging survey of imperialism and constitutionalism in modern Japan. It will be of vital importance to all scholars of modern Japanese history.

Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan

Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan PDF Author: Junji Banno
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350136220
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the beginning of the Meiji period when Japan evolved into a modern and powerful nation-state, ideas of empire and constitution imbued Japanese rule and progress. In Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan, Junji Banno expertly analyses how these conflicting concepts operated together in Japan from 1868 until 1937. By 'empire', Banno means the Japanese impetus to create its own empire; by 'constitution', he identifies Japanese efforts to create a constitutional government. In this book, Banno discusses the complicated relationship between these two concepts, ranging from incompatibility in some periods to symbiosis in others. Furthermore, understanding the complex and competing nature of these ideals, he persuasively reasons, is key to our understanding of why Japan and China went to war in 1937, leading to Pearl Harbor just four years later. Translated by eminent scholar Arthur Stockwin, Banno's highly accessible account of the dynamics of pre-war Japanese political history provides an engaging survey of imperialism and constitutionalism in modern Japan. It will be of vital importance to all scholars of modern Japanese history.

Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan

Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan PDF Author: Junji Banno
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350136212
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Defeating China - towards a 'small Empire' -- Demanding a constitutional system of government -- The Imo (Jingo) and Kapsin (Kōshin) incidents : 'Empire' once again -- The Sino-Japanese War : the birth of 'Empire' and the continuation of 'Constitution' -- Strong army and war weariness : Empire and Constitution before the Russo-Japanese War -- From the Russo-Japanese War to the First World War : struggle between 'Empire' and 'Constitution' -- From the Taishō political change to the Siemens affair : stagnation of 'Empire' and surge of 'Constitution' -- The twenty-one demands to China : 'Constitution domestically, 'Empire' domestically -- What happened between the two world wars? -- Three episodes between the two world wars -- Conclusion. Irresponsible 'Empire' without Constitution'.

Emperor of Japan

Emperor of Japan PDF Author: Donald Keene
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231518110
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 957

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Book Description
The renowned Japanese scholar “brings us as close to the inner life of the Meiji emperor as we are ever likely to get” (The New York Times Book Review). When Emperor Meiji began his rule in 1867, Japan was a splintered empire dominated by the shogun and the daimyos, cut off from the outside world, staunchly antiforeign, and committed to the traditions of the past. Before long, the shogun surrendered to the emperor, a new constitution was adopted, and Japan emerged as a modern, industrialized state. Despite the length of his reign, little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan’s history. In this vivid and engrossing biography, we move with the emperor through his early, traditional education; join in the formal processions that acquainted the young emperor with his country and its people; observe his behavior in court, his marriage, and his relationships with various consorts; and follow his maturation into a “Confucian” sovereign dedicated to simplicity, frugality, and hard work. Later, during Japan’s wars with China and Russia, we witness Meiji’s struggle to reconcile his personal commitment to peace and his nation’s increasingly militarized experience of modernization. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest. “Utterly brilliant . . . the best history in English of the emergence of modern Japan.”—Los Angeles Times

The Emperors of Modern Japan

The Emperors of Modern Japan PDF Author: Ben-Ami Shillony
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004168222
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
The book offers a fascinating picture of the four emperors of modern Japan, their institution, their personalities and their impact on the history of their country. Leading scholars from Japan and other countries have contributed essays which treat this subject from various angles.

Hirohito And The Making Of Modern Japan

Hirohito And The Making Of Modern Japan PDF Author: Herbert P. Bix
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061860476
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 832

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Book Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status. Influenced by an unusual combination of the Japanese imperial tradition and a modern scientific worldview, the young emperor gradually evolves into his preeminent role, aligning himself with the growing ultranationalist movement, perpetuating a cult of religious emperor worship, resisting attempts to curb his power, and all the while burnishing his image as a reluctant, passive monarch. Here we see Hirohito as he truly was: a man of strong will and real authority. Supported by a vast array of previously untapped primary documents, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan is perhaps most illuminating in lifting the veil on the mythology surrounding the emperor's impact on the world stage. Focusing closely on Hirohito's interactions with his advisers and successive Japanese governments, Bix sheds new light on the causes of the China War in 1937 and the start of the Asia-Pacific War in 1941. And while conventional wisdom has had it that the nation's increasing foreign aggression was driven and maintained not by the emperor but by an elite group of Japanese militarists, the reality, as witnessed here, is quite different. Bix documents in detail the strong, decisive role Hirohito played in wartime operations, from the takeover of Manchuria in 1931 through the attack on Pearl Harbor and ultimately the fateful decision in 1945 to accede to an unconditional surrender. In fact, the emperor stubbornly prolonged the war effort and then used the horrifying bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the Soviet entrance into the war, as his exit strategy from a no-win situation. From the moment of capitulation, we see how American and Japanese leaders moved to justify the retention of Hirohito as emperor by whitewashing his wartime role and reshaping the historical consciousness of the Japanese people. The key to this strategy was Hirohito's alliance with General MacArthur, who helped him maintain his stature and shed his militaristic image, while MacArthur used the emperor as a figurehead to assist him in converting Japan into a peaceful nation. Their partnership ensured that the emperor's image would loom large over the postwar years and later decades, as Japan began to make its way in the modern age and struggled -- as it still does -- to come to terms with its past. Until the very end of a career that embodied the conflicting aims of Japan's development as a nation, Hirohito remained preoccupied with politics and with his place in history. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan provides the definitive account of his rich life and legacy. Meticulously researched and utterly engaging, this book is proof that the history of twentieth-century Japan cannot be understood apart from the life of its most remarkable and enduring leader.

The Political History of Modern Japan

The Political History of Modern Japan PDF Author: Kitaoka Shinichi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429808461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Spanning the 130-year period between the end of the Tokugawa Era and the end of the Cold War, this book introduces students to the formation, collapse, and rebirth of the modern Japanese state. It demonstrates how, faced with foreign threats, Japan developed a new governing structure to deal with these challenges and in turn gradually shaped its international environment. Had Japan been a self-sufficient power, like the United States, it is unlikely that external relations would have exercised such great control over the nation. And, if it were a smaller country, it may have been completely pressured from the outside and could not have influenced the global stage on its own. For better or worse therefore, this book argues, Japan was neither too large nor too small. Covering the major events, actors, and institutions of Japan’s modern history, the key themes discussed include: Building the Meiji state and Constitution. The establishment of Parliament. The First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. Party Politics and International Cooperation. The Pacific War. Development of LDP politics. Changes in the international order and the end of the Cold War. This book, written by one of Japan's leading experts on Japan's political history, will be an essential resource for students of Japanese modern history and politics.

The Making of Modern Japan

The Making of Modern Japan PDF Author: Marius B. Jansen
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674039106
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 933

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Book Description
Magisterial in vision, sweeping in scope, this monumental work presents a seamless account of Japanese society during the modern era, from 1600 to the present. A distillation of more than fifty years’ engagement with Japan and its history, it is the crowning work of our leading interpreter of the modern Japanese experience. Since 1600 Japan has undergone three periods of wrenching social and institutional change, following the imposition of hegemonic order on feudal society by the Tokugawa shogun; the opening of Japan’s ports by Commodore Perry; and defeat in World War II. The Making of Modern Japan charts these changes: the social engineering begun with the founding of the shogunate in 1600, the emergence of village and castle towns with consumer populations, and the diffusion of samurai values in the culture. Marius Jansen covers the making of the modern state, the adaptation of Western models, growing international trade, the broadening opportunity in Japanese society with industrialization, and the postwar occupation reforms imposed by General MacArthur. Throughout, the book gives voice to the individuals and views that have shaped the actions and beliefs of the Japanese, with writers, artists, and thinkers, as well as political leaders given their due. The story this book tells, though marked by profound changes, is also one of remarkable consistency, in which continuities outweigh upheavals in the development of society, and successive waves of outside influence have only served to strengthen a sense of what is unique and native to Japanese experience. The Making of Modern Japan takes us to the core of this experience as it illuminates one of the contemporary world’s most compelling transformations.

Kita Ikki and the Making of Modern Japan

Kita Ikki and the Making of Modern Japan PDF Author: Brij Tankha
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004213651
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This important new study of Kita Ikki, one of Japan’s influential pre-war idealogues, focuses on the twin poles of nationalism and socialism that inform his three principal works, located always in the context of the dominance of Western imperialism at that time. The three works are ‘The National Polity and Pure Socialism’ (Kokutairon oyobi junsei shakai shugi), in which he explores the nature of the modern Japanese state and its characteristics, ‘The Unofficial History of the Chinese Revolution’ (Shina kakumei gaishi), written to correct what he perceived as Japan’s misguided policy towards China, and ‘The Fundamental Principles for the Reorganization of Japan’ (Nihon kaizo hoan taiko) , which was said to have influenced the young army officers of the Imperial Way Faction who attempted the 26 February 1936 coup to bring about direct imperial rule. The coup failed and Kita was executed the following year for his involvement as the so-called ‘intellectual inspiration’. The second half of the book contains the first complete English translation (by Brij Tankha) of ‘The Fundamental Principles for the Reorganization of Japan’, providing the reader with an opportunity to hear the voice of an early twentieth-century Japanese intellectual confronting the challenge of the West’s domination and its implications for Japan; in so doing Kita helped galvanize support for an agenda involving Japan’s own imperial mission and the pathway to a ‘new Japan’.

The Constitution of the Empire of Japan

The Constitution of the Empire of Japan PDF Author: Japan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutions
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description


Race for Empire

Race for Empire PDF Author: Takashi Fujitani
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520950364
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
Race for Empire offers a profound and challenging reinterpretation of nationalism, racism, and wartime mobilization during the Asia-Pacific war. In parallel case studies—of Japanese Americans mobilized to serve in the United States Army and of Koreans recruited or drafted into the Japanese military—T. Fujitani examines the U.S. and Japanese empires as they struggled to manage racialized populations while waging total war. Fujitani probes governmental policies and analyzes representations of these soldiers—on film, in literature, and in archival documents—to reveal how characteristics of racism, nationalism, capitalism, gender politics, and the family changed on both sides. He demonstrates that the United States and Japan became increasingly alike over the course of the war, perhaps most tellingly in their common attempts to disavow racism even as they reproduced it in new ways and forms.