Description
Book Synopsis"Lucid and lyrical…a vivid history of Japan's turbocharged (and painful) modernization." —The Daily TelegraphIn
A History of Modern Japan, cultural historian Christopher Harding delves into the untold stories of Japan's recent history—from a pop star's nuclear power protest song in 2011, to Japanese feminists who fought for an equal political voice in the 1890s.
Though highly successful, and typically portrayed as a unified effort, Japan's rebuilding throughout the 20th century faced a lot of domestic criticism. This story-led account gives a voice to those who felt they didn't fit in with what Japan was becoming. It's that push and pull that made the country what it is today.
This book will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in Japanese culture—whether film and literature, or pop culture and manga—as big shifts in Japanese ideology and society tend to come from culture and the arts, rather than being politically-driven. It will also be of interest to those traveling to Japan who want a better sense of the place, or anyone seeking to better understand Japan's role on the global stage.
With over 100 photographs, maps and prints,
A History of Modern Japan showcases the compelling story of Japan's amazing growth and its resulting struggles. For all the country's advancement, the Japanese people continue to wrestle with the notion of what it means to be Japanese in a changing world.
Trade Review"Lucid and lyrical…a vivid history of Japan's turbocharged (and painful) modernisation. One of the best accounts I've ever read on what happens--for better and worse--when a country's relationship with the world is abruptly renegotiated…will stand as a major survey in modern Japan."
-- The Telegraph"[Harding] has considerable talent as a storyteller--Most of all, he transforms his material into an ultra-progressive account of modern Japanese history…ushered to the front are those that the so-called patriarchy attempted to repress: the maverick women, socialist thinkers and doubters of the state version of modernity…enlivened at every turn with flashes of wit…an enormously readable book."
-- The Japan Times"Although the broad outlines of the story were familiar (as they will be to every reader) almost all the more detailed information was new to me. I thought the book was masterly in the intermeshing of the personal and the political, the quotidian and the spiritual, the psychoanalytic with the journalistic, the long-historical with the contemporary, and everywhere finding and highlighting the poetic and the aesthetic."
-- Neil MacGregor Director of Humboldt Forum and former Director of The British Museum
