ABSTRACT
At a time when issues of history are complicating international relations in East Asia, a major Japanese institution - a conservative newspaper, no less - has for the first time published a comprehensive review to clarify who was responsible for the 1931-45 war. The Japanese have tended to regard the war through a prism of either extreme nationalism or Marxist ideology: as national self-defence or well-planned foreign aggression. The primary effort is to assess the behaviour and decisions of key Japanese political and military leaders, and to determine who among them was primarily responsible for the wars and devastation Japan experienced during the 1931-45 period. It is a Japan-centred study and does not focus on the impact and consequences of American or other allied actions.
