Author: S. C. M. Paine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2017-03-06
Total Pages: 223
ISBN-13: 1107011957
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →An accessible, analytical survey of the rise and fall of Imperial Japan in the context of its grand strategy to transform itself into a great power.
Author: Frank Brinkley
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2014-08-23
Total Pages: 162
ISBN-13: 9781500909635
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book looks at the history of the Japanese empire up through the late 19th century. From the preface:"In the following pages the administrative and political events from the founding of the empire will be divided into three great series, or periods.The First Period, commencing with the birth of imperialism, covers the ages during which the Sovereign and the Administration were one. Speaking accurately, however, this period includes not only eras when administrative orders actually emanated from the Emperor, but also eras during which powerful families, like those of Oomi and Omuraji, controlled administrative affairs ; eras when the reins of state were restored to the Sovereign, and eras when they passed into the hands of regents and prime ministers ; eras when the administrative authority was exercised by the Throne, and eras when it was exercised by military nobles. But these minor distinctions are merged in the fact that throughout the period the power of Imperialism was paramount and the mandates of the Sovereign were effective in all parts of the realm.The Second Period is that during which the administrative power was wielded by military nobles ; in other words, the period of military autocracy. This period commences with the time when the Minamoto chieftain, Yoritomo, established a Shogunate at Kamakura, and concludes with the time when, Tokugawa having restored the administration to the Sovereign, the Edo Shogunate came to an end. During this period, the families controlling administrative affairs underwent many vicissitudes and the possession of the Shogunate often changed, but the general character of the national polity was feudal, and the repositories of administrative power were all military nobles. Hence the whole series of events is here included in one period.The Third Period is the modern era of Meiji. It is the period when administrative power has reverted to the Emperor ; when the Constitution has been promulgated ; when the Diet has been opened ; when representative institutions have wholly replaced autocratic ; when the ancient aspect of all things has been metamorphosed. Therefore it is here regarded as the Third Period.In the Occident, it is customary to divide the period of a nation's history into ancient, mediaeval, and modern. This method has of late begun to come into vogue in Japan also. It is doubtless a suitable method in the case of other countries. But in Japan the salient incidents of history do not lend themselves to the adoption of such a system of division. Therefore it is not followed in the compilation of these annals."
Author: Donald Keene
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2005-06-14
Total Pages: 957
ISBN-13: 0231518110
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →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
Author: Kenneth J. Ruoff
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2014-09-18
Total Pages: 263
ISBN-13: 0801471818
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In 1940, Japan was into its third year of war with China, and relations with the United States were deteriorating, but it was a heady time for the Japanese nonetheless. That year, the Japanese commemorated the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Empire of Japan. According to the imperial myth-history, Emperor Jimmu, descended from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, established the "unbroken imperial line" in 660 BCE. In carefully choreographed ceremonies throughout the empire, through new public monuments, with visual culture, and through heritage tourism, the Japanese celebrated the extension of imperial rule under the 124th emperor, Hirohito. These celebrations, the climactic moment for the ideology that was central to modern Japan's identity until the imperial cult's legitimacy was bruised by defeat in 1945, are little known outside Japan. Imperial Japan at Its Zenith, the first book in English about the 2,600th anniversary, examines the themes of the celebration and what they tell us about Japan at mid-century. Kenneth J. Ruoff emphasizes that wartime Japan did not reject modernity in favor of nativist traditionalism. Instead, like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, it embraced reactionary modernism. Ruoff also highlights the role played by the Japanese people in endorsing and promoting imperial ideology and expansion, documenting the significant grassroots support for the cult of the emperor and for militarism. Ruoff uses the anniversary celebrations to examine Japan's invention of a national history; the complex relationship between the homeland and the colonies; the significance of Imperial Japan's challenge to Euro-American claims of racial and cultural superiority; the role of heritage tourism in inspiring national pride; Japan's wartime fascist modernity; and, with a chapter about overseas Japanese, the boundaries of the Japanese nation. Packed with intriguing anecdotes, incisive analysis, and revelatory illustrations, Imperial Japan at Its Zenith is a major contribution to our understanding of wartime Japan.
Author: Paul Dull
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2012-12-12
Total Pages: 428
ISBN-13: 9781612512907
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →For almost 20 years, more than 200 reels of microfilmed Japanese naval records remained in the custody of the U.S. Naval History Division, virtually untouched. This unique book draws on those sources and others to tell the story of the Pacific War from the viewpoint of the Japanese. Former Marine Corps officer and Asian scholar Paul Dull focuses on the major surface engagements of the war—Coral Sea, Midway, the crucial Solomons campaign, and the last-ditch battles in the Marianas and Philippines. Also included are detailed track charts and a selection of Japanese photographs of major vessels and actions.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2020-08-30
Total Pages: 162
ISBN-13: 1473865506
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Nearly a century of Japanese Imperial rule, from the 1868 Meiji Restoration to the end of WWII, is explored in this sweeping history. Under Emperor Meiji’s rule, Imperial Japan established itself as a world power through rapid industrialization and militarization. Aligned with the Entente Powers during the First World War, Japan made a proposal for racial equality at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference—only to be overruled by American President Woodrow Wilson. In the 1920s, the empire began its military conquest of numerous countries and islands throughout Asia and the Pacific regions. Author Stephen Wynn examines Japan’s various military conflicts and colonial efforts, including its invasion of China that coincided with the Second World War. The book culminates with the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which finally brought about Japan’s surrender and the end of the war in Asia and the Pacific.
Author: David H James
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-11-01
Total Pages: 380
ISBN-13: 1136925465
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This volume is a history of the Japanese drive for the conquest of Greater East Asia. It includes an account of the Malayan campaign and the Fall of Singapore, followed by an outline of the dominant features of the campaign in S E Asia and the Pacific and ending with the attack on Japan and the unconditional surrender. As a prisoner in Tokyo, the author was able to observe the reactions of the people and the government to the bombing of Japan, and by revealing their overwhelming defeat, to dispose of the fiction that surrender was brought about by two atomic bombs. The outstanding value of the work is its analysis of the fundamental problems of Japan.
Author: Louise Young
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 1998-01-01
Total Pages: 509
ISBN-13: 0520923154
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In 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.
Author: Kate McDonald
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 2017-08-01
Total Pages: 272
ISBN-13: 0520967232
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Placing Empire examines the spatial politics of Japanese imperialism through a study of Japanese travel and tourism to Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan between the late nineteenth century and the early 1950s. In a departure from standard histories of Japan, this book shows how debates over the role of colonized lands reshaped the social and spatial imaginary of the modern Japanese nation and how, in turn, this sociospatial imaginary affected the ways in which colonial difference was conceptualized and enacted. The book thus illuminates how ideas of place became central to the production of new forms of colonial hierarchy as empires around the globe transitioned from an era of territorial acquisition to one of territorial maintenance.