Japan And The Pacific Quadrille

This book is based on the papers presented at the 1983 Tokyo conference on East Asian politics. It provides an analytic context for understanding Northeast Asian politics and deals with Japanese foreign policy, with focus on the political challenges Japan faced and its changing international role.

This volume seeks to capture the rich array of images that define Japan's encounters with the Pacific Ocean. Contemporary Japanese most readily associate 'Pacific' with the devastating war that their country fought over a half century ago. The ensuing occupation realized a situation that this people had striven to avoid ever since the Portuguese first arrived in 1543 - their subjugation by a foreign power. But the Pacific Ocean also extended Japan's overseas contacts. From antiquity Japanese and their neighbours crossed it to trade ideas and products. From the mid-16th century it carried people from more distant lands, Europe and America, and thus expanded and diversified Japan's cultural and economic exchange networks. From the late 19th century it provided the highway to transport Japanese imperial expansion in Northeast Asia and later to encourage overseas migration into the Pacific and the Americas. The studies selected for inclusion in this volume, along with the introduction, explain how the Pacific Ocean thus nurtured images of both threat and opportunity to the island nation that it surrounds.

Japan and the Sino-Soviet Alliance 1950-1964 reveals the divisive impact of the Sino-Soviet Alliance on Japanese domestic politics and foreign relations during the turbulent years between 1950 and 1964. Drawing on extensive Japanese sources and unprecedented access to previously classified government documents, C.W. Braddick exposes the myths shrouding this formative era in Japan's postwar development.

"A lucid history of the rise and fall of militarism in Japan…" --New York Journal of Books Japan at War in the Pacific recounts the dramatic story of Japan's transformation from a Samurai-led feudal society to a modern military-industrial empire in the space of a few decades--and the many wars it fought along the way. These culminated in an attempt by Japan's military leaders to create an Asia-Pacific empire which at its greatest extent rivaled the British Empire in scope and power. The battle for supremacy in the Pacific brought the Japanese to great heights but led ultimately to the nation's utter devastation at the end of World War II, culminating with the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki--the only time such weapons have been used in warfare. In this book, author Jonathan Clements offers fascinating insights into: The wars that Japan fought during its rise to supremacy in the western Pacific, including the Russo-Japanese War, the seizure of Manchuria and war in China, and the Pacific theater of World War II. The many military actions undertaken by Imperial Japanese forces including the horrific "Rape of Nanjing," the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the decisive defeat at the Battle of Midway, the savage Battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima, and many more. The motivations and beliefs of Japan's leaders, as well as the policy decisions of a government dedicated to expansion which ultimately led to a complete dismantling of the nation's political and social order during the Allied Occupation. With over 75 photographs and maps, this book vividly recounts the brutal story of Japan's military conquests. Clements charts the evolution of the Japanese empire in the Pacific and the influence of a ruthless military-led government on everything from culture and food to fashion and education--including the anthems and rallying calls of a martial nation which were silenced long ago but continue to echo in Asian politics.

Poised to enter the twenty-first century, the Asia-Pacific region has emerged as a global economic and political powerhouse. Mark Borthwicks Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia stresses broad, cross-cutting themes of regional history, with an emphasis on the interactions between cultures and nations. This study guide is an indispensable volume that provides a comprehensive overview, chapter-by-chapter outlines, definitions of key terms, identification of key people, places, and events, and a list of books for additional reading.

Examines how the Japanese government used a series of incremental measures in three different periods to manage conflicting international and domestic pressure over defense issues in the context of the county's military dependence on the US since World War II. Details the influence and origins of such constraints as the one-percent of GNP ceiling of defense spending, various international treaties, and the strong public opinion against the military; and concludes that domestic political tranquility is more important to the government than military parity with other countries. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan uses incremental changes to manage conflicting pressures over defence.This work focuses on the establishment of defence policy constraints through 1992. It discusses the various implications of using defence policy as a means of conflict management.