Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the lives and times of Japan's postwar prime ministers, covering the period from 1945 to 1995. Written by Japan's leading scholars, it is the first English-language biographical portrait of these twenty-three individuals who helped lead Japan on its road to recovery, its return to the community of nations, and its subsequent prosperity. Each chapter brings out, to varying degrees, the larger political and historical environment, party dynamics, and personality traits of the prime ministers. In addition, the book discusses not only the policy choices the prime ministers made, but how those decisions were made and what the consequences were for the country, ruling party, and the individual who made them. The Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan, 19451995 fills a large void in the literature on postwar Japan by introducing the actual people who made the decisions during these important years, rather than simply discussing the theories and institutions in which those decisio
Trade ReviewThe Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan, 1945–1995 is a collection of short and polished biographies of twenty-three prime ministers of post-World War II Japan written by highly respected leading scholars. This book provides the best guidance for understanding the various difficult choices they faced and for understanding postwar Japanese history. -- Ryota Murai, Komazawa University
Translated into English from Japanese for the first time, The Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan, 1945–1995 is a must read for all of those who are interested in postwar Japanese history and seek deeper knowledge of the individual leaders who led Japan from the period of the Occupation through Japan’s rapid economic rise, and to the bursting of the economic bubble in the mid-1990s. This book provides insight as to how Japan has transformed itself, particularly in the area of national security, and reveals the crests and troughs of U.S.-Japan relations from Prime Minister Higashikuni to Murayama. -- Tosh Minohara, Kobe University
Table of ContentsSupervising Translator’s Preface Preface to the English Edition Preface to the Original Japanese Version Chapter 1: Higashikuni Naruhiko: A Liberalist in the Imperial Family, Hatano Sumio Chapter 2: Shidehara Kijūrō: His “Final Public Duty” and the Draft Constitution, Amakawa Akira Chapter 3: Yoshida Shigeru: A Master of Situational Thinking, Watanabe Akio Chapter 4: Katayama Tetsu: The First Batter under the New Constitution, Fumio Fukunaga Chapter 5: Ashida Hitoshi: The Intellectual and Cultured Man as Politician, Masuda Hiroshi Chapter 6: Hatoyama Ichirō: A Tenacious Attachment to the Restoration of Relations with the Soviet Union and Constitutional Revision, Yamamuro Kentoku Chapter 7: Ishibashi Tanzan: A Coherent Liberal Thinker, Inoki Takenori Chapter 8: Kishi Nobusuke: Frustrated Ambition, Kitaoka Shinichi Chapter 9: Ikeda Hayato: The Man Who Created “The Economic Era,” Nakamura Takafusa Chapter 10: Satō Eisaku: The Truth about “The Politics of Waiting,” Kōsaka Masataka Chapter 11: Tanaka Kakuei: The Arrival of Development Politics, Mikuriya Takashi Chapter 12: Miki Takeo: Politics of Conviction and Public Opinion, Shinkawa Toshimitsu Chapter 13: Fukuda Takeo: Winner in Policy, Loser in Politics, Iokibe Makoto Chapter 14: Ōhira Masayoshi: The One Who Raised the Issue of Deficit Politics, Muramatsu Michio Chapter 15: Suzuki Zenkō: The Politician Sought by Power, Tanaka Zenichirō Chapter 16: Nakasone Yasuhiro: The Appearance of a Presidential Prime Minister, Kusano Atsushi Chapter 17: Takeshita Noburō: A Conservative Politician’s Melancholy, Kume Ikuo Chapter 18: Uno Sōsuke: A Symbol of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Unsoundness, Kume Ikuo Chapter 19: Kaifu Toshiki: Fatalistic Weakness, Fukui Haruhiro Chapter 20: Miyazawa Kiichi: The Last Leader of the Main Line of Conservatives, Igarashi Takeshi Chapter 21: Hosokawa Morihiro: The Catastrophe of Performance Politics, Iō Jun Chapter 22: Hata Tsutomu: The Limits of an “Ordinary Person,” Iō Jun Chapter 23: Murayama Tomiichi: The End of Postwar Democracy, Iō Jun Appendix 1: List of Japanese Political Parties and Intraparty Groups Appearing in This Volume Appendix 2: List of Japanese Schools and Organizations Appearing in This Volume
