The Remarkable History of Japan-US Relations

After the Pacific War, the bitter enemies Japan and the United States became fast friends and allies. Most observers in the West believe Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was unprovoked, but what had led Japan to take such action? The arrival of American “black ships” in Japan in 1853 was one cause of the fall of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power little more than a decade later. That set Japan on the road to international expansion in imitation of Western imperial powers. This volume recounts this saga from the Russo-Japanese War and Japanese expansion in Manchuria to the brink of war with the United States.

KOSAKA Masataka

Kosaka Masataka (1934-1996) was a professor of international politics at Kyoto University from 1971 to 1996. He graduated from Kyoto University, Law School and studied at Harvard University from 1960 to 1962. His 1962 article “Genjitsu shugisha no heiwaron” [A Realist’s View of Peace], had a major impact on the discussion of democracy in postwar Japan. His numerous books include Saisho Yoshida Shigeru [Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida] (1968), Sekai chizu no naka de kangaeru [Thinking within the Map of the World] (1968), and Kotengaiko no seijuku to hokai [Maturity and Collapse in Classic Diplomacy] (1978).

*information as of time of publication

Japan Library series
History

Publisher:
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture

Hardcover
¥2,800 + tax
ISBN 9784916055774
210 mm x 148 mm / 192 pp. / March 2019

eBook
ISBN 9784866581132 (ePub)
ISBN 9784866580975 (PDF)

Introduction / 1. America and the Whaling Ships / 2. Perry and Harris / 3. Civilization versus Bigotry / 4. The State of the World around the Time of the Meiji Restoration / 5. The United States and the Iwakura Mission / 6. The Long Road to Treaty Revision / 7. The Passion of the Educator / 8. Two Countries Bound Together by Silk / 9. Discord Following the Russo-Japanese War / 10. Behind the Scenes as the Movement to Exclude Japanese Heats Up / 11. Standoff in Manchuria / 12. Old Diplomacy, New Diplomacy / 13. Expansionism, Driven by Necessity Timeline of the History of US-Japan Relations / Bibliography

戦後日本を代表する国際政治学者・高坂正堯によるライフワーク。黒船来航から第一次大戦まで、日米関係の青春時代を描き、読みものとしても楽しめる歴史エッセイ。日米外交の黎明期のエピソードを取り上げながら、過去を冷静にかつ温かく見つめる。

高坂正堯
1934-1996。国際政治学者。哲学者・高坂正顕の次男として生まれる。京都大学法学部で国際法学者・田岡良一に師事し、卒業後ハーヴァード大学留学。1963年『中央公論』に「現実主義者の平和論」を発表して論壇に登場する。冷戦時代から共産主義国家には批判的で、現実に即した保守政治評価や国際政治観を表明した。

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