The Japanese and the War: Expectation, Perception, and the Shaping of Memory

376 Pages·2017·28.191 MB·English

by  Michael Lucken

The Japanese
and the War
Expectation, Perception, and the Shaping of Memory
Michael Lucken
THE JAPANESE AND THE WAR
ASIA PERSPECTIVES
WEATHERHEAD EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
ASIA PERSPECTIVES: HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE
A series of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute,
Columbia University
Carol Gluck, Editor
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by Donald Keene
The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. and trans.
Rebecca L. Copeland and Melek Ortabasi
So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers,
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the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army,
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Imitation and Creativity in Japanese Arts: From Kishida Ryūsei to
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by Donald Keene
THE JAPANESE
AND THE WAR
From Expectation to Memory
MICHAEL LUCKEN
TRANSLATED BY KAREN GRIMWADE
Columbia University Press
New York
Cet ouvrage a bénéficié du soutien des Programmes d'aide à la publication
de l’Institut Français.
This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication,
received support from the Institut Français.
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Librairie Arthème Fayard
Translation copyright © 2017 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lucken, Michael, author. | Grimwade, Karen, translator.
Title: The Japanese and the war : from expectation to memory /
Michael Lucken ; translated by Karen Grimwade.
Other titles: Japonais et la guerre. English | Japanese and World War 2 |
Japanese and World War Two
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2017] |
Series: Asia Perspectives : History, Society, and Culture |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016024793 (print) | LCCN 2016029722 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231177023 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231543989 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939-1945—Japan—Historiography. | Collective
memory—Japan—History—20th century. | Memory—Social aspects—
Japan—History—20th century. | World War, 1939-1945—Influence. | War and
society—Japan—History—20th century. | Japan—Social conditions—20th
century. | Japan—Intellectual life—20th century.
Classification: LCC D743.42 .L8313 2017 (print) | LCC D743.42 (ebook) |
DDC 940.53/52—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016024793
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Rebecca Lown
Cover image: Sadamasa Motonaga, Unititled, 1959. Oil on panel,
35-7/8 × 28-3/4 inches (91 × 73 cm). [© The Estate of Sadamasa Motonaga;
Courtesy of Fergus McCaffrey, New York/St. Barth]
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
A Note on Names ix
Introduction xi
1. THE NATION OUT TO CONQUER 1
2. A TOTALITARIAN DYNAMIC,
1940–1945 29
3. THE MEANING OF THE WAR 49
4. HEROES AND THE DEAD 81
5. FEAR AND DESTRUCTION 105
6. POSTWAR COMPLEXITIES 139
VI(cid:3)CONTENTS
7. THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION, OR
THE PRESENT VERSUS THE PAST 151
8. THE PLURALITY OF HISTORY 173
9. INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE AND
COLLECTIVE INERTIA 185
10. MEMORY AND RELIGION 205
11. FROM MONUMENT TO MUSEUM:
THE DIFFICULT PATH TO HEALING 229
CONCLUSION 267
Notes 273
Index 325
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
he author would like to express his sincere thanks to Fabrice
d’Almeida and Pascal Griolet for their careful editing of this book,
and to Michel Vié for his encouragement, comments, and corrections.

A NOTE ON NAMES
J
apanese, Korean, and Chinese names are given in the order family
name followed by given name—for example, Kurosawa Akira.