War and National Reinvention: Japan in the Great War, 1914-1919

Harvard University Asia Center, 1999 Book. Fine. Hardcover. English text; Hardcover (with dust jacket); 15.9 x 23.4 cm; 0.7 Kg; 363 pages. Used with minor sings of wear. Looks as new. The dust jacket is now protected with a clearcover.; Japan's Role in the Second World War is an integral part of the history of the twentieth century. By contrast, few historians associate Japan with what is widely recognized as the principal departure point of the century, the First World War. In the first full-length study of Japan in the Great War, Dickinson highlights the profound impact of the 1914 to 1919 years on Japan. Although the Japanese escaped the physical destruction experienced by their European counterparts, evidence of the bankruptcy of the old order spawned political turmoil in Tokyo that would, as in Europe, ultimately invite another war. The disintegration of modern Japan's foremost national model, Imperial Germany, aggravated a tumultuous Japanese domestic debate over national identity that generated a renewed drive for national power in the 1930s. Diplomatic historians have described Japanese imperialism as primarily a strategic calculation in response to external events. By linking the current fascination with cultural "invention" among social and cultural historians with the traditional focus of diplomatic history on the international affairs, Dickinson offers an alternative explanation for Japan's modern wars. Japanese continental aims in the twentieth century become her less a reactive exercise in national defense than an active campaign to "reinvent" the state and Japanese society..