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Empire of Hope Empire of Hope The Sentimental Politics of Japanese Decline David Leheny Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Copyright © 2018 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. First published 2018 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Leheny, David Richard, 1967– author. Title: Empire of hope : the sentimental politics of Japanese decline / David Leheny. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2018013765 (print) | LCCN 2018017540 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501729089 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501729096 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501729072 | ISBN 9781501729072 (cloth : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Political culture—Japan—History—20th century. | Political culture—Japan—History—21st century. | Emotions— Political aspects—Japan—History—20th century. | Emotions— Political aspects—Japan—History—21st century. | National characteristics, Japanese. | Japan—Politics and government—1989– Classifi cation: LCC JQ1681 (ebook) | LCC JQ1681 .L45 2018 (print) | DDC 306.20952—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013765 Cover image: Prime Minister Abe Shinzō appears as Super Mario at the closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, August 21, 2016. Used by permission of The Mainichi Newspapers. For Satsuki Takahashi Contents Acknowledgments ix Conventions xiv 1. Maybe They Will Smile Back 1 2. Souls of the Ehime Maru 27 3. Cheer Up, Vietnam 61 4. Cool Optimism 90 5. Staging The Empire of Light 117 6. The Peripheral U-Turn 144 7. Everything Sinks 184 Notes 195 Index 221 Acknowledgments In the process of writing this book, I incurred debts I can never repay, although I hope the many people who provided advice, assistance, and support are aware of the depth of my gratitude. Five institutional set- tings were especially important. At the time of the 2011 tsunami, I was completing a period as a visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University’s Institute for the Study of Global Issues, where I benefi ted immensely from the generous support of Yoshiko Ashiwa, Jonathan Lewis, and Kazuhito Onozuka, as well as advice from Ikuya Sato of Hitotsubashi’s School of Commerce. Yasuhiko Sugiyama was a sterling research assistant. I then spent six months at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Social Science, where friends and mentors such as Yuji Genda, Hiroshi Ishida, Naofumi Nakamura, Gregory Noble, and Shigeki Uno provided essential introduc- tions and insights that profoundly affected this work, even late in the drafting phase. Several years later, a summer affi liation with the Univer- sity of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia allowed me to do much of the research on Viet and Duc Nguyen, and my brilliant colleague