Imperial Japan and Defeat in the Second World War: The Collapse of an Empire

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Description

Informed Western understanding of Imperial Japan still often conjures up images of militarism, blind devotion to leaders, and fanatical pride in the country. But, as Imperial Japan and Defeat in the Second World War reveals, Western imagination is often reductive in its explanation of the Japanese Empire and its collapse. In his analysis of the Emperor, Imperial Japanese Army and Navy during the Second World War, Peter Wetzler examines the disconnect between nation and state during wartime Japan and in doing so offers a much-needed nuanced and sensitive corrective to existing Western scholarship. Rooted in the perspective of the Japanese, Wetzler makes available to readers vital primary and secondary Japanese archival sources; most notably, this book provides the first English assessment of the recently-released Actual Record of the Showa Emperor. This book is an important advance in English-language studies of the Second World War in Asia, and is thus essential reading for all those wishing to understand this crucial period in Japanese history.

Reviews

The merit of the book is in its rich exposition of primary sources. The Showa tenno jitsuroku and the archives of the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies and the Imperial Headquarters Army Department are enormous and require time-consuming, often tedious, work. Scholars of modern Japan thus will fi nd a lot of valuable information here. * Journal of Japanese Studies *
In this study of Japan during WWII, Wetzler offers a useful summary of historiographical debates surrounding key issues in the history of that war, including those surrounding Hirohito's alleged wartime culpability, making use of new Japanese-language materials to stake his own positions in those debates. * CHOICE *
[One] of the better studies of how Japan reaped the whirlwind in its half-century to rule Asia. * The Warbird Forum *
[An] informed and cogent analysis for anyone seriously interested in Emperor Hirohito and the war he helped to make and unmake. * Michigan War Studies Review *
In this thought-provoking book, Peter Wetzler explores why Imperial Japan continued to fight long after the war had been obviously lost. His argument that the explanation lies in the interplay of a religious-political conception of the nation and the power of the modern state will be of great interest to historians of the Second World War. * Joe Maiolo, Professor of International History, King's College London, UK *
The brilliance of its conception is the real value of Imperial Japan and Defeat in the Second World War. Rather than writing a traditional narrative synthesizing postwar scholarship, Peter Wetzler highlights the different versions of what happened offered by those who made key decisions or were present at the discussions that led to these decisions, those eager to conceal their complicity or cover up their mistakes, partisans of the imperial family, and both Japanese and Western scholars. * Samuel H. Yamashita, Henry E. Sheffield Professor of History, Pomona College, USA *

Author Bio

Peter Wetzler is Senior Research Fellow at the Ostasieninstitut, Germany. He is the author of Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan (1998) and Yugamerareta Showa Tennozo. Obei to Nihon no Gokai to Goyaku (co-authored with Naomi Moriyama, 2006).