Modern Japan: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

177 Pages·2009·2.09 MB·English

by  Christopher Goto-Jones

ModernJapan:AVeryShortIntroduction
VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONSareforanyonewantingastimulating
andaccessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,and
havebeenpublishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide.
Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsin
history,philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.TheVSIlibrary
nowcontainsover200volumes—aVeryShortIntroductiontoeverything
fromancientEgyptandIndianphilosophytoconceptualartand
cosmology—andwillcontinuetogrowtoalibraryofaround300titles.
VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow:
AFRICANHISTORY THECELTS BarryCunliffe
JohnParkerandRichardRathbone CHAOS LeonardSmith
AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham
ANDELECTIONS L.SandyMaisel CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson
THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead
CharlesO.Jones Citizenship RichardBellamy
ANARCHISM ColinWard CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY
ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw HelenMorales
ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY JuliaAnnas CLASSICS
ANCIENTWARFARE MaryBeardandJohnHenderson
HarrySidebottom CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward
ANGLICANISM MarkChapman THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon
THEANGLO-SAXONAGE JohnBlair CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore
ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia CONTEMPORARYART
ANTISEMITISM StevenBeller JulianStallabrass
TheApocryphalGospels CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY
PaulFoster SimonCritchley
ARCHAEOLOGY PaulBahn COSMOLOGY PeterColes
ARCHITECTURE AndrewBallantyne THECRUSADES ChristopherTyerman
ARISTOTLE JonathanBarnes CRYPTOGRAPHY
ARTHISTORY DanaArnold FredPiperandSeanMurphy
ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland DADAANDSURREALISM
THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY DavidHopkins
MichaelHoskin DARWIN JonathanHoward
ATHEISM JulianBaggini THEDEADSEASCROLLS
AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick TimothyLim
Autism UtaFrith DEMOCRACY BernardCrick
BARTHES JonathanCuller DESCARTES TomSorell
BESTSELLERS JohnSutherland DESIGN JohnHeskett
THEBIBLE JohnRiches DINOSAURS DavidNorman
THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea DOCUMENTARYFILM
BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright PatriciaAufderheide
BUDDHA MichaelCarrithers DREAMING J.AllanHobson
BUDDHISM DamienKeown DRUGS LeslieIversen
BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown THEEARTH MartinRedfern
CAPITALISM JamesFulcher ECONOMICS ParthaDasgupta
CATHOLICISM GeraldO’Collins EGYPTIANMYTH GeraldinePinch
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN HUME A.J.Ayer
PaulLangford IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden
THEELEMENTS PhilipBall INDIANPHILOSOPHY SueHamilton
EMOTION DylanEvans INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary
EMPIRE StephenHowe INTERNATIONALMIGRATION
ENGELS TerrellCarver KhalidKoser
ETHICS SimonBlackburn INTERNATIONALRELATIONS
THEEUROPEANUNION PaulWilkinson
JohnPinderandSimonUsherwood ISLAM MaliseRuthven
EVOLUTION JOURNALISM IanHargreaves
BrianandDeborahCharlesworth JUDAISM NormanSolomon
EXISTENTIALISM ThomasFlynn JUNG AnthonyStevens
FASCISM KevinPassmore KABBALAH JosephDan
FEMINISM MargaretWalters KAFKA RitchieRobertson
THEFIRSTWORLDWAR KANT RogerScruton
MichaelHoward KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner
FOSSILS KeithThomson THEKORAN MichaelCook
FOUCAULT GaryGutting law RaymondWacks
FREEWILL ThomasPink LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews
FREESPEECH NigelWarburton LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller
THEFRENCHREVOLUTION LOCKE JohnDunn
WilliamDoyle LOGIC GrahamPriest
FREUD AnthonyStorr MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner
FUNDAMENTALISM MaliseRuthven THEMARQUISDESADE JohnPhillips
galaxies JohnGribbin MARX PeterSinger
GALILEO StillmanDrake MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers
GAMETHEORY KenBinmore Themeaningoflife
GANDHI BhikhuParekh TerryEagleton
Geography MEDICALETHICS TonyHope
JohnMatthewsandDavidHerbert MEDIEVALBRITAIN
GEOPOLITICS KlausDodds JohnGillinghamandRalphA.Griffiths
GERMANLITERATURE Memory JonathanK.Foster
NicholasBoyle MODERNART DavidCottington
GLOBALCATASTROPHES MODERNCHINA RanaMitter
BillMcGuire MODERNIRELAND SeniaPaˇseta
GLOBALWARMING MarkMaslin MODERNJAPAN Christopher
GLOBALIZATION ManfredSteger Goto-Jones
THEGREATDEPRESSIONANDTHE MOLECULES PhilipBall
NEWDEAL EricRauchway Mormonism
HABERMAS JamesGordonFinlayson RichardLymanBushman
HEGEL PeterSinger MUSIC NicholasCook
HEIDEGGER MichaelInwood MYTH RobertA.Segal
HIEROGLYPHS PenelopeWilson NATIONALISM StevenGrosby
HINDUISM KimKnott nelsonmandela
HISTORY JohnH.Arnold EllekeBochmet
HistoryofLife MichaelBenton THENEWTESTAMENTAS
HistoryofMedicine LITERATURE KyleKeefer
WilliamBynum NEWTON RobertIliffe
THEHISTORYOFTIME Leofranc NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner
Holford-Strevens NINETEENTH-CENTURY
HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside BRITAIN ChristopherHarvie
HOBBES RichardTuck andH.C.G.Matthew
HUMANEVOLUTION BernardWood NORTHERNIRELAND
HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham MarcMulholland
nuclearweapons ROUSSEAU
JosephM.Siracusa RobertWokler
THEOLDTESTAMENT RUSSELL A.C.Grayling
MichaelD.Coogan RUSSIANLITERATURE
PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose CatrionaKelly
PAUL E.P.Sanders THERUSSIANREVOLUTION
PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig S.A.Smith
PHILOSOPHYOFLAW SCHIZOPHRENIA
RaymondWacks ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone
PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE SCHOPENHAUER
SamirOkasha ChristopherJanaway
PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards Scienceandreligion
PLATO JuliaAnnas ThomasDixon
POLITICALPHILOSOPHY Scotland RabHouston
DavidMiller Sexuality V´eroniqueMottier
POLITICS KennethMinogue SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer
POSTCOLONIALISM SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt
RobertYoung SOCIALANDCULTURAL
POSTMODERNISM ANTHROPOLOGY
ChristopherButler JohnMonaghanandPeterJust
POSTSTRUCTURALISM SOCIALISM MichaelNewman
CatherineBelsey SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce
PREHISTORY ChrisGosden SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor
PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY THESPANISHCIVILWAR
CatherineOsborne HelenGraham
PSYCHIATRY TomBurns SPINOZA RogerScruton
PSYCHOLOGY GillianButlerand Statistics DavidJ.Hand
FredaMcManus STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill
THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion TERRORISM CharlesTownshend
QUANTUMTHEORY THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford
JohnPolkinghorne TRAGEDY AdrianPoole
RACISM AliRattansi THETUDORS JohnGuy
relativity TWENTIETH-CENTURY
RussellStannard BRITAIN KennethO.Morgan
ReligioninAmerica TheunitedNations
TimothyBeal JussiM.Hanhim¨aki
THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton THEVIKINGS JulianRichards
RENAISSANCEART WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling
GeraldineA.Johnson WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman
ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway THEWORLDTRADE
THEROMANEMPIRE ORGANIZATION
ChristopherKelly AmritaNarlikar
Availablesoon:
biography Superconductivity
HermioneLee StephenJ.Blundell
sovietunion WritingandScript
StephenLovell AndrewRobinson
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www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi
Christopher Goto-Jones
Modern
Japan
A Very Short Introduction
3
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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ISBN 978–0–19–923569–8
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Acknowledgementsandconventions ix
Listofillustrations xi
Introduction:what’smodernaboutmodernJapan? 1
1 Japan’sencounterwiththemodernworld 14
2 Imperialrevolution:embracingmodernity 42
3 Overcomingandovercomebymodernity:
Japanatwar 62
4 Economicmiraclesandthemakingofa
postmodernsociety 89
5 Overcomingdenial:contemporaryJapan’s
questfornormalcy 124
Epilogue:Japaninthe21stcentury 140
Furtherreading 151
Index 155
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Acknowledgements and
conventions
Japanesenamesarewrittenintheirproperorder,withfamily
nameprecedinggivenname.Inthecaseofanumberofimportant
historicalfigures,itisconventionaltorefertothembytheirgiven
names:hence,TokugawaIeyasuisoftenknownsimplyasIeyasu;
OdaNobunagaisknownasNobunaga;ToyotomiHideyoshiis
knownasHideyoshi.However,theseareexceptionstothenorm.
Longvowelshavebeenindicatedbyamacron,asin‘Nishida
Kitaroˆ’,althoughmacronshavenotbeenusedforwordscommonly
seeninEnglish,asin‘Tokyo’.Japanesedoesnotmarkpluralswith
ans,hencesamurai,daimyoetc.arebothsingularandplural.
IwouldliketothankRanaMitter,RikkiKersten,AngusLockyer,
andtheanonymousreviewersatOxfordUniversityPressfor
readingthecompletemanuscript,fortheirgenerousand
constructivecriticisms,andfortheirunderstandingaboutthe
difficultiesofwritingsuchaVerySmallBook.Nonetheless,
responsibilityforalltheconfusionsandanyerrorsisentirelymy
own.IalsooweadebtofgratitudetomyeditoratthePress,
AndreaKeegan,whosepersistentencouragementandpatience
withme(especiallyafteracompletehard-diskfailureinOsaka)
wereremarkable.Thanks,too,totheModernEastAsiaResearch
Centre(MEARC)forfundingaperiodinKyototoactuallydo
thewriting,andtoEstherforconjuringthetimeoutofnowhere.