Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The Book surveys the developments in Japan from that time through the mid-1990s. August 14, 1945, a landmark date in Japanese history, was the day on which the Japanese government admitted defeat in the war with the Allied powers and accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and surrendered. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and following successful military campaigns in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands, the Japanese leaders' dream of establishing the East Asia Coprosperity Sphere and forging a huge Japanese empire seemed to be on the verge of becoming reality. The arrival of tribal groups from Korea marks another important milestone in the political history of ancient Japan. A cultural and ideological vacuum thus pervaded Japanese society when the American forces arrived to remake and reshape Japan.