Showa: The Japan of Hirohito

With the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989, Japan's Showa era came to an end. The six decades of Showa, from 1926 to 1989, account for fully half of Japan's modern history--a turbulent period of aggressive and catastrophic war, defeat and foreign occupation, domestic transformation and spectacular economic growth. The end of Showa provided an occasion for the Japanese to confront their past and the roots of their present success--a painful process of acknowledgment and denial, of assessing Western influence and traditional ways. The morally charged debate over the meaning of Showa Japan is carried on in this volume by distinguished Japanese and American experts. In light of the history of Showa, they analyze the background to Japanese aggression in the 1930s and 1940s, the effects of world war on Japanese politics, society, and culture, and the remarkable resurgence of the Japanese economy. The contributors also consider democracy and Japan's political culture, achievements in technology and the arts, and relations with the United States.