Download or read book The Age of Hirohito written by Daikichi Irokawa and published by . This book was released on 1995-10 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989, the so-called Showa era (1926-1989) in Japanese history came to an end. With access to documents and source material previously unavailable, the history of Showa could be written in its entirety for the first time. This landmark assessment of modern Japan looks back over the seven decades of momentous changes encompassed by Emperor Hirohito's reign. Exploring these years from the atrocities of the Sino-Japanese war and WW2 to the stunning economic and political transformation in the postwar period, Irokawa offers his frank views on the changing lives of ordinary Japanese and the way in which those changes have shaped the emperor system.
Download or read book Hirohito And The Making Of Modern Japan written by Herbert P. Bix and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Showa written by Dorothy Hoobler and published by New York : Walker. This book was released on 1990 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of the Japanese emperor who began his long reign as a divine ruler and, after the devastating defeat of World War II, accepted his new role as "symbol of the state" and watched over the re-birth of Japan as a leader in the world.
Download or read book Hirohito written by Paul Manning and published by Bantam. This book was released on 1989 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An explosive reinterpretation of the history of 20th century Japanese expansionism, Hirohito goes beyond the myth of the remote figurehead and shows that Emperor Hirohito was actively involved in the direction of Japan's conduct in World War II.
Download or read book Showa written by Tessa Morris-Suzuki and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Showa, Japanese for 'radiant peace', was the name given to Emperor Hirohito's reign at his accession in 1926. This was the beginning of a significant period of growth of militarism, the Pacific war and the phenomenal post-war economic expansion of Japan. The first book to present modern Japanese history through the eyes of individuals, Showa presents the experiences of three individuals born at the beginning of this age, giving a unique inside view of Japan's recent history. Their experiences include training as a suicide pilot, being a draft evader during the Pacific War, a leader in the Communist Party, and a colonist in Korea, turned overnight in August 1945 from a member of the ruling elite into a refugee. First published in 1984, this title is part of the Bloomsbury Academic Collections series.
Download or read book Hirohito written by Edward Behr and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1990 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superbly documented, revisionist biography of Emperor Hirohito, the longest reigning monarch of the twentieth century, clearly establishies Hirohito as a war criminal. 8 page photo insert.
Download or read book Emperor of Japan written by Donald Keene and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005-06-14 with total page 957 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book Showa Japan written by Hans Brinckmann and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05-07 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan's momentous Showa era began in 1926, when Emperor Hirohito ascended the throne, and ended with his death in 1989. This was a tumultuous period in modern Japanese history--a time of great disaster and tremendous triumph for Japan. This book focuses on the post-war period in Japan when the nation stood at the zenith of her economic power. Today, the term Showa is shorthand for a glamorous period in which, all too briefly, Japan was the richest nation on earth and the envy of the developed world. A growing nostalgia for this period is now memorialized in Japan in a national holiday. It was an era of stratospheric growth which saw Japan's transition from an isolated, impoverished nation to a peaceful one holding an exalted position as the world's second largest economy. But what is the true meaning of the Showa era, and what is its legacy for the Japanese today? In Showa Japan, Hans Brinckmann provides a clear-eyed exploration of the Showa period as it really was--not just a time of wondrous change but of wild excesses that would eventually come crashing down with the bursting of Japan's economic bubble--exactly as occurred in the rest of the world, but almost 20 years earlier! From the heights of extravagance to the lean years that followed, Brinkmann, a long-time resident of Japan, examines the impact of the Showa era and its aftermath on every aspect of Japanese society. Featuring dozens of period photographs, interviews, and a wealth of factual information and personal reflections, this book provides an in-depth portrait of a Japan that once was--as well as a blueprint for one that might still be, if only the lessons of the past could be learned.
Download or read book Hirohito The Sh wa Emperor in War and Peace written by Ikuhiko Hata and published by Global Oriental. This book was released on 2007-07-12 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a most important new work of Japanese scholarship on Emperor Hirohito, the English edition having been long delayed following the untimely death of distinguished American historian Marius B. Jansen (Emeritus Professor, Princeton) in December 2000, who had been actively collaborating with David Noble in the translation of Hata Ikuhiko's original study in Japanese, first published in 1984.
Download or read book Hirohito and War written by Peter Wetzler and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1998-02-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The debate over Emperor Hirohito's accountability for government decisions and military operations up to the end of the World War II began before the end of the war and has continued even after his death. This book documents this controversy while providing insights into the Showa emperor's role in military planning in imperial Japan. It argues that Hirohito both knew of and participated in such planning and offers evidence that he was informed well in advance of the planned attack on Pearl Harbor. Using Japanese primary sources, this text aims to show that Hirohito's participation in the decision-making process was entirely consistent with his intellectual background and his passionate belief in the significance of the imperial tradition for the Japanese polity (kokutai) in prewar Japan.
Download or read book Showa written by Carol Gluck and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 1990 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Showa - the six-decade period of Emperor Horihito's reign, which began in 1926 and ended with his death in 1989 - accounts for fully half of Japan's modern history. It was a turbulent time of aggressive and catastrophic war, defeat and foreign occupation, domestic transformation and spectacular growth. The end of Showa provided and occasion for the Japanese to confront their past and the roots of their present success.
Download or read book Emperor Hirohito and Sh wa Japan written by Stephen S. Large and published by London ; New York, NY : Routledge. This book was released on 1992 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emperor Hirohito reigned for more than sixty years, yet we know little about him or the part he really played in the turbulent history of Showa Japan. Stephen Large draws on a wide range of Japanese and Western sources in his study of Emperor Hirohito's political role in Showa Japan (1926-89). This analysis focuses on key events in his career such as the extent to which he bore responsibility for Japanese aggression in the Pacific in 1941, and explains why Hirohito remains such a contested symbol in Japanese post war politics.
Download or read book Emperor Hirohito written by Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-28 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading "It was not clear to me that our course was unjustified. Even now I am not sure how historians will allocate the responsibility for the war." - Emperor Hirohito The man known to most of the world as Emperor Hirohito ruled during some of the most tumultuous years in Japanese history. When he came to the throne in 1926, he inherited control of a country which had only recently emerged as a major industrial and world power, and through the aggressive expansion and wars of the 1930s, Hirohito was at the head of one of the world's foremost powers. Throughout the maelstrom of World War II, he remained in power, a distant and, to most outsiders, inscrutable factor in the rise of the Japanese Empire. Before and during the war, many people in America and elsewhere believed that Emperor Hirohito was at least partly responsible for both the confrontational Japanese approach to foreign affairs, and for the often brutal conduct of the Japanese armed forces during the wars which followed. As such, when the war ended, there were plenty of calls for the emperor to be indicted for war crimes along with other senior figures in Japan. However, a new feeling emerged at that time, suggesting that in reality Hirohito had been little more than a figurehead taken along by a tide of militarism, helpless to intervene or influence the course of events. Modern scholarship suggests that neither of these views of Hirohito is entirely true. At the time he came to the throne, the emperor was revered as a semi-divine figure, and his influence on every level of Japanese political and military life was undeniable and considerable. Although the emperor generally did not express his will through the issuance of direct orders, the displeasure of the emperor was something which every senior member of the military and political sphere sought strenuously to avoid. In this context, to imagine Hirohito as a helpless puppet, a purely constitutional monarch manipulated by ruthless politicians and generals, is an error. Indeed, he was always an active participant in the most important events before and during Japan's war against the Allies. In hindsight, it's clear that the image of Hirohito as a powerless figurehead emerged as part of a legend deliberately created by America and its allies following the war to help maintain a peaceful occupation of Japan. With the dawn of the Cold War, Japan was needed as an ally, allowing it to serve as a potential bulwark against Soviet expansion in Southeast Asia. Rebuilding Japan into a strong and stable power became a priority, and for this, Hirohito was needed to provide continuity and a form of rule to which the Japanese people were accustomed. Thus, Hirohito went on to rule throughout the astonishing Japanese economic recovery in the 1950s and 1960s, all the way until his death in 1989. The new constitution imposed by America after the war was framed around the monarchy, and to justify keeping Hirohito in power, it was necessary to demonstrate that he had not been personally culpable for Japanese aggression or military brutality. This was so successful that for many years few historians disputed this version of history. It was only relatively recently that new works have concluded that the personality and influence of the Japanese emperor were far greater than this post-war invention suggested. Today, most modern historians agree that Hirohito was neither a helpless dupe nor an aggressive hawk who drove Japan into war - his role was more complex, and his personality played a far more significant role than either of these simplified views would suggest. This book looks at the role of the enigmatic leader in the rise, fall and rebirth of modern Japan. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Emperor Hirohito like never before.
Download or read book The Emperors of Modern Japan written by Ben-Ami Shillony and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book In the Realm of a Dying Emperor written by Norma Field and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-02-09 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, Japanese newspapers had to use a special, exalted word to refer to his death, and had to depict his life uncritically, as one beginning in turbulence but ending in magnificent accomplishment. To do otherwise would have exposed them to terrorism from the vigilant right wing. Yet this insightful book by a Japanese-American scholar who grew up in both cultures reveals the hidden fault lines in the realm of the dying emperor by telling the stories of three unlikely dissenters: a supermarket owner who burned the national flag; an aging widow who challenged the state's "deification" of fallen soldiers; and the mayor of Nagasaki, who risked his career and his life by suggesting that Hirohito bore some responsibility for World War II.
Download or read book Hirohito written by Osanaga Kanroji and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Early Modern Japan written by Conrad Totman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1995-08 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A survey of Japan's early modern period (1568-1868) that blends political, economic, intellectual, literary, and cultural history. It also introduces a fresh ecological perspective, covering natural disasters, resource use, demographics, and river control.
