ABSTRACT

This thoroughly updated second edition of Modern Japan provides a concise and fascinating introduction to the social, cultural and political history of modern Japan. Ranging from the Tokugawa period to the present day, the book charts the country's evolution into a modernized, economic and political world power.

Dealing with a broad and stimulating range of topics in an engaging style that will appeal to university students and the general reader, this book weaves social and political developments and balances a micro with a macro approach, introducing details about everyday lives that shed light on the bigger picture of major historical changes. Its systematic attention to gender issues, minorities and popular culture distinguishes this history and contributes to a sense of the complexity and diversity of modern Japanese society.

Completely up-to-date and including many new images and a timeline that charts important events, this highly accessible and comprehensive textbook is an essential resource for students, scholars and teachers of Japanese history, politics culture and society.

chapter 2|18 pages

The mid-century crisis

chapter 3|20 pages

The early Meiji revolution

chapter 5|16 pages

Late Meiji: An end and a beginning

chapter 6|21 pages

An emerging mass society

chapter 7|18 pages

Contesting the modern in the 1930s

chapter 8|21 pages

The dark valley

chapter 10|16 pages

Conflict and consensus in the 1950s

chapter 12|18 pages

The ‘rich country’

chapter 13|19 pages

The ‘lost decade’

chapter 14|21 pages

Whither Japan?