Steven H. Lee

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeIn 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 nations 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 emperors impact on the world stage. Focusing closely on Hirohitos 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 nations 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 Hirohitos 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 emperors 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 Japans 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.

U.S.-Japan Relations in a Changing World

September 2001 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Treaty, formally ending the Second World War. In signing this treaty, Japan fundamentally transformed its position on the world stage. It established itself in the vanguard of the burgeoning cold war bulwark against the Soviet Union and its communist satellites, and wed itself to the United States through economic, political, and security ties that persist today. The half century since the establishment of the San Francisco system has seen highs and lows in the relations between the two countries, continuing even into the current war on terrorism. This new book evaluates the changing relationship between the two great powers, providing in-depth analysis on a variety of topics. It scrutinizes the historical context, providing the reader with predictive tools for understanding events as they unfold. Instead of looking at the U.S.-Japan relationship one issue at a time, this book examines specific trends and then analyzes how these trends affect the relationship as a whole. This innovative approach allows the reader to view several perspectives simultaneously, and it compels the contributors to assemble clear causal arguments that detail what each factor can and cannot explain. The result is a cogent and convincing appraisal of the status and future of U.S.-Japan relations after fifty years of peaceful coexistence.

[The North Korean System in the Post-Cold War Era]

Introduction: A Systems Approach S.S.Kim The Nature, Origins, and Development of the North Korean State C.K.Armstrong New Political Leadership D.Suh On Patterns of Political Legitimacy in North Korea D.I.Steinberg North Korea: Economy, Society and Women Y.Ahn Famine, Economy and Society in North Korea N.Eberstadt Making Sense of the DPRK Legal System J.Roh Negotiating Regime Survival Despite System Failure S.Snyder Making Sense of the Black Box: DPRK Strategic Thinking and Policy Implications V.Cha North Korea and International Law: Theory and Practice in the Post-Cold War Era M.Lee International System, Domestic Structure, and Peninsular Dynamics: The Future of the North Korean System C.Moon & Y.Kim

State Security and Regime Security: President Syngman Rhee and the Insecurity Dilemma in South Korea, 1953-1960

List of Tables - Preface - Acknowledgements - List of Abbreviations - A Note on Romanization - Introduction - Historical Setting: the Division of Korea, the Korean War, and the Evolution of Syngman Rhees Anti-Communist Policy - The Ending of the Korean War and Syngman Rhees Search for a U.S.-R.O.K. Mutual Defence Treaty, April - August 1953 - The Post-Armistice Security Policy of Syngman: The Strengthening of R.O.K. Forces, September 1953 - November 1954 - Internal and External Challenges to the Rhee Regime and Rhees Growing Concern for Regime Security, November 1954 - May 1956 - The Primacy of Regime Security and the Vulnerability of State Security, May 1956 - November 1958 - The Domestic Use of State Security and the Collapse of the Rhee Regime, December 1958 - April 1960 - Conclusion: the Insecurity Dilemma in South Korea - Bibliography - Index

The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy

Why did modern economic growth start in the West, and not elsewhere? What was it about England that made it home to industrialization? Questions such as these, which surround the origins of industrial capitalism, occupied a central place in the sociological studies of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Even today, these very questions continue to haunt social scientists, albeit in different ways. As Pomeranz explains, older literatures – from the 19th-century classics of social theory to the modernization theory of the 1950s and 1960s – linked Europe’s economic breakthrough to the fact that it embodied within its borders ‘some unique homegrown ingredient of industrial success’ (p. 3). In these earlier studies, the East is depicted as the polar opposite of Europe, and in many ways as inferior to it. Such arguments come in different versions. Some stress demographic variables such as birth rates and life expectancy (indicators of human capital) as an explanation of Europe’s success; others argue that it was the structure of its institutions (i.e. markets for goods and for factors of production) that gave Europe advantage. Yet others find it in the cultural realm – in the ‘rational’ ideas, beliefs and attitudes about capital accumulation, growth or consumption that Europe diverged from the rest of the Old World in the 19th century. In most cases, these studies carry out a fair amount of backward-looking history writing, portraying industrialization as the ‘natural’ working out of various processes at work in pre1800 Europe. Writing history with a backward gaze is a risky business, however. In turning

The North Pacific triangle : the United States, Japan, and Canada at century's end

The emergence of a significant new partnership involving Canada, Japan, and the United States has been largely ignored by students of international relations and Canadian foreign policy. This collection, written by scholars and policymakers from the countries involved, explores the evolving alliance and illustrates its growing strength in a collective global leadership. The papers examine the three market-oriented democracies in their changing roles toward each other and show how they have moved beyond their separate, special, bilateral relationships into a dynamic three-way engagement. Their intersections in trade, investment, business negotiations, peacekeeping, and environmental affairs are analyzed from a range of perspectives, including political science, management studies, economics, geography, and history. A powerful view unfolds: in the context of a rapidly globalizing economic system, this new triumvirate can only continue to strengthen and flourish, adding its influence to the creation of a new world order.

Britain, Southeast Asia, and the Onset of the Cold War, 1945-1950

Preface List of abbreviations Maps 1. Wartime plans for post-war Southeast Asia, 1942-1945 2. Southeast Asia after the Japanese surrender, 1945-1946 3. The re-establishment of colonial regimes in Southeast Asia, 1946 4. Concession and conflict, 1947 5. The impact of Communism, 1948 6. Commonwealth and Colombo, 1949-1950 Personalia Notes Bibliography Index.

Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade 1750-1950

Drug epidemics are clearly not just a peculiar feature of modern life; the opium trade in the nineteenth century tells us a great deal about Asian herion traffic today. In an age when we are increasingly aware of large scale drug use, this book takes a long look at the history of our relationship with mind-altering substances. Engagingly written, with lay readers as much as specialists in mind, this book will be fascinating reading for historians, social scientists, as well as those involved in Asian studies, or economic history.

Review: Asia and the Pacific: Colonialism and Its Forms of KnowledgeColonialism and Its Forms of KnowledgeCohnBernard S.Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, 189pp, US

ASIA AND THE CANADAASIA REVIEW 1997 PACIFIC Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada Reviews by Steven Lee Vancouver, 1997, 98 pp,

16.95 paper

29.95 paper University of British Columbia The Asia Pacific Foundation of COLONIALISM AND ITS Canada was established in 1984 by FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE an Act of Parliament to develop Bernard S. Cohn Canadian links with the Pacific and Princeton NJ: Princeton University to provide services and information Press, 1996, 18 9pp, US