Conclusion

Over the past sixty years, Japan’s history has been punctuated by several rather VWULNLQJHYHQWVZKLFKKDYHVXI¿FHGHYHQWRFDSWXUHJOREDODWWHQWLRQ2EYLRXVO\ WKHUHZDVLQWHUQDWLRQDOUHOLHIDQGMR\ZLWKWKH¿QDOGHIHDWDQGRFFXSDWLRQRILPperial Japan in 1945. While the world was certainly nervous and fearful of an unreconstructed Japanese revival at some point in the future, Japan was, at least for the moment, out of action and someone else’s (namely, an American) problem. It was perhaps with some shock then when, during the late 1970s and the 1980s, Japan emerged as an economic superpower with the capacity to rival the United States. While in some instances admired for its success, Japan was equally reviled by those, often labelled ‘Japan Bashers’, who claimed that the Japanese cheated at trade and simply did not play fair. Regardless of which side of the fence one sat, Japan had truly captured global attention at the popular level. In between these periods, however, Japan often faded from view, particularly from the popular perspective of the European and American nations. Essentially, Japan was no longer a military threat, assumedly democratic and, while charming in its own curious manner, exotica was enhanced by a reassuring distance. Academic scholarship is HTXDOO\SURQHWRKLJKOLJKWLQJVSHFL¿FSRLQWVRUPRPHQWVDWWKHH[SHQVHRILQWHUvening periods. Obviously this is inevitable: one can hardly know everything and something will always be left out. The contributors to this book, with their focus on Japanese foreign policy and diplomatic history, would certainly argue that the 1950s constitutes one such gap in our understanding of modern Japanese history (and also one in the market).