Modern Japan: A Historical Survey

by Mikiso Hane, Louis G. Perez

Overview

Integrating political events with cultural, economic, and intellectual movements, Modern Japan provides a balanced and authoritative survey of modern Japanese history. A summary of Japan's early history, emphasizing institutions and systems that influenced Japanese society, provides a well-rounded introduction to this essential volume, which focuses on the Tokugawa period to the present.

The fifth edition of Modern Japan is updated throughout to include the latest information on Japan's international relations, including secret diplomatic correspondence recently disclosed on WikiLeaks. This edition brings Japanese history up to date in the post 9/11 era, detailing current issues such as: the impact of the Gulf Wars on Japanese international relations, the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear accident, the recent tumultuous change of political leadership, and Japan's current economic and global status. An updated chronological chart, list of prime ministers, and bibliography are also included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813346946
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/31/2012
Edition description:	Fifth Edition
Pages:	610
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

The late Mikiso Hane was Szold Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Knox College.

Louis G. Perez is Distinguished University Professor of History and Women's and Gender Studies at Illinois State University.

Table of Contents

1. Japan Before the Seventeenth Century 2. Establishment of the Tokugawa Bakufu 3. The Late Tokugawa Period 4. The Fall of the Tokugawa Bakufu 5. The Meiji Restoration: The New Order 6. The Continuing Meiji Revolution (I): Political Developments 7. The Continuing Meiji Revolution (II): Cultural, Economic, and Social Developments 8. Political Developments in Later Meiji 9. The Conclusion of the Meiji Era 10. The Era of Parliamentary Ascendancy (I) 11. The Era of Parliamentary Ascendancy (II) 12. The Ascendancy of Militarism 13. The Road to War 14. War and Defeat 15. The Postwar Years (I): Reform and Reconstruction 16. The Postwar Years (II): Political Developments After Independence 17. Social and Educational Developments 18. Cultural Developments Appendix A: The Internet Appendix B: Chronological Chart Appendix C: List of Prime Ministers

Editorial Reviews

Modern Japan is a core addition to cultural and modern history collections, not to be overlooked.”
—Bookwatch

From the previous edition:

“Since its first edition, Hane's text has served as an excellent guide to modern Japanese history, thanks largely to the clarity of his writing, unbiased voice, and efforts to humanize the story, most notably by including the experiences of peasants, women, and other minorities too often overlooked. Perez, to his credit, has made the text even more accessible to students and general readers. Not only has he seamlessly woven in updated material and editorially improved the flow of the narrative, but his expansion of the bibliography and chronological chart and inclusion of a new section on internet sources have significantly enhanced the text's usefulness as a resource.”
—Elizabeth Dorn Lublin, Wayne State University

“Mikiso Hane, with Louis Perez's updates, provides us once again with a text that treats the political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and, social history of Japan up to current times. Women and minorities are fully included in this readable yet detailed history of modern Japan.”
—Ann M. Harrington, Loyola University Chicago

“The late scholar Mikiso Hane firmly believed that the story of modern Japan should not be just about political leaders, business tycoons, and military commanders, but should include the rural population, urban workers, the poor, and the story of women. Japan's modern transitions often brought suffering as well as opportunity to these latter groups. In his updating of Hane's text, Perez has both retained the essential spirit of Hane's vision yet provided insights from recent scholarship. In the fifth edition of this work, Perez has added details on the negotiations over rendition of Okinawa gleaned from WikiLeaks documents and provided full coverage of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear incident at Fukushima.”
—Parks Coble, University of Nebraska

“Lou Perez has performed heroic service to keep Mikiso Hane's highly readable Modern Japan in print and updated. Prof. Hane's commitment to bringing the voices of Japan's dissident and downtrodden women and men to our attention, contextualized within detailed narratives of political and international developments, permeates the entire text. Both authors not only make Japan intelligible to general readers, but also make clear that, along with its benefits, modernity came with attendant costs that the Japanese people continue to bear.”
—E. Taylor Atkins, Northern Illinois University

From the Publisher

Since the second edition (no date noted), Hane (history, Knox College) has decided that neither the political nor the cultural history of Japan after World War II really entered a new period in 1970, and here treats the whole period up to the present as a single, evolving continuity, with one chapter on politics and economics and another on cultural and intellectual developments. The earlier chapters spanning from Tokugawa through the war he has changed little. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews