Japan, the West and the Treaty of Versailles
At the outset of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference Japan enjoyed a seat at the top table, but the vexed issue of racial equality set it and its notional Western allies on different paths.
Christopher Harding
‘Judgement at Tokyo’ by Gary J. Bass review
Pacy and even-handed, Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass is unlikely to be bettered as a portrait of the Tokyo trials.
Christianity’s Bloody History in Japan
Japan has had a vexed relationship with Jesus ever since European missionaries arrived on its shores. Banned until 1873, successive leaders have asked whether love of the ‘two Js’ is compatible.
Why Japan Stopped Fighting
After a disastrous Second World War, Japan abolished its armed forces and embraced pacifism. With renewed tensions in East Asia, can it last?
Japan’s Charles Dickens
The visit of Natsume Sōseki to London at the turn of the 20th century suggested ways of successfully combining western industrialism with ‘Japanese Spirit’.
What were the wartime Japanese thinking?
According to western stereotype, the Japanese at the time of the Second World War were passive and obedient automatons. Yet the realities of daily life in imperial Japan were complex and politically charged.