1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910813688303321

Autore

Lucken Michael

Titolo

The Japanese and the war : from expectation to memory / / Michael Lucken ; translated by Karen Grimwade

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Columbia University Press, , 2017

©2017

ISBN

0-231-54398-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (376 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Asia Perspectives : History, Society and Culture

Disciplina

940.5352

Soggetti

World War, 1939-1945 - Japan - Historiography

Collective memory - Japan - History - 20th century

Memory - Social aspects - Japan - History - 20th century

World War, 1939-1945 - Influence

War and society - Japan - History - 20th century

Japan Social conditions 20th century

Japan Intellectual life 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Names -- Introduction -- 1 The Nation out to Conquer -- 2 A Totalitarian Dynamic, 1940-1945 -- 3 The Meaning of the War -- 4 Heroes and the Dead -- 5 Fear and Destruction -- 6 Postwar Complexities -- 7 The American Occupation, or the Present Versus the Past -- 8 The Plurality of History -- 9 Individual Conscience and Collective Inertia -- 10 Memory and Religion -- 11 From Monument to Museum -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Memories of World War II exert a powerful influence over Japan's culture and society. In The Japanese and the War, Michael Lucken details how World War II manifested in the literature, art, film, funerary practices, and education reform of the time. Concentrating on the years immediately before and after (1937 to 1952), Lucken explores the creation of an idea of Japanese identity that still resonates in everything from soap operas to the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.Lucken defines three distinct layers of Japan's memory of World War II:



the population's expectations at the beginning, the trauma caused by conflict and defeat, and the politics of memory that arose after Japan lost to the Allied powers. Emphasizing Japanese-language sources, Lucken writes a narrative of the making of Japanese cultural memory that moves away from Western historical modes and perspectives. His approach also paints a new portrait of the U.S. occupation, while still maintaining a cultural focus. Lucken sets out to capture the many ways people engage with war, but particularly the full range of Japan's experiences, which, he argues, the Japanese state has yet to fully confront, leading to a range of tensions at home and abroad.