Modern Japan - a historical survey (History Ebook).pdf

Pdf / English / 1986 Westview Press / ISBN 10 081330315X / 450 pages / 43 MB

Hane summarizes the early history of Japan, with due attention to institutions that have molded the nature of Japanese society—including Shinto, the Emperor system, Buddhism, and feudalism. Hane then sets the stage for modern Japan with a detailed and analytical discussion of the Tokugawa period.The survey takes on immediacy as it chronicles the growth of Westernization in the nineteenth century and the ascendancy of militarism in the twentieth. The chapters on Meiji Japan balance politics and economics with a close look at social conditions, education, and religion. The story of Japan’s role in World War II, its defeat in 1945, and the occupation is told dispassionately but from a Japanese vantage point. Hane’s portrait of life in postwar Japan is enriched by material on contemporary literature, Japanese youth culture, and other intellectual developments.The last chapter focuses on the dramatic economic surge since 1970 and the accompanying social changes in life-style and attitudes, particularly for women and the working class.

Mikiso Hane is professor emeritus of history at Knox College and has written extensively on Japan for over twenty-five years.