Postwar Japan: 1945 to the Present

Within forty years of the end of the Second World War, Japan was transformed from a nation in defeat to one of the most successful economic forces in the world. In this book, Paul Bailey draws on the most recent research to analyze the significance of the American Occupation (1945–52) as well as the later political, social and economic factors that contributed to postwar recovery. Challenging the usual image of Japan as a country of stability and consensus during this period, the author focuses attention on internal tensions, including political conflict and citizen protest. He discusses, for instance, the opposition to the ruling conservative party′s attempts to roll back the occupation reforms, the anti–pollution and anti–Vietnam War movements, and the achievement of electoral success by the left–wing opposition at local government level. He also examines foreign policy, explaining, in particular, Japan′s ambivalent relationship with the United States and the growing importance of Sino–Japanese relations. Finally, the book assesses the reasons for the hegemony of the ruling conservative Liberal–Democratic Party in the postwar period, and how it unravelled in the early 1990s.

List of Figures. Outline Chronology. Introduction. 1. The Path to 1945. 2. The American Interregnum (1945–1952). 3. The Creation of the Liberal–Democratic Party and Political Conflict in the 1950s and 1960s. 4. The Emergence of an Economic Superpower. 5. A New Imperial Era and the End of the LDP Hegemony. Guide to Further Reading. Bibliography. Glossary of Japanese Terms.

Paul J. Bailey is a Senior Lecturer in East Asian history at the University of Edinburgh. His previous publications include China in the Twentieth Century (Blackwell, 1988).

"This book will provide historians of modern Japan with a reliable, readable and engaging text to assign in new undergraduate courses that desperately need such an anchor." Professor Jeffrey Eldon Hanes, University of Oregon