First published 1999
Japan lies in ruins after surrendering in August 1945. Sixty percent of its cities are destroyed after fifteen years of warfare. General Douglas MacArthur arrives to govern a nation he cannot understand linguistically or culturally. He chooses indirect rule, keeping Japan's civil bureaucracy while imposing democracy from above in what Dower calls a "Neocolonial Revolution." MacArthur drives a wedge between discredited militarists and Emperor Hirohito, manipulating public opinion to serve American goals. War criminal Tojo accepts responsibility for the conflict to shield the emperor, then faces execution. Over six years, America reshapes this traumatized society into a free market democracy and Cold War bulwark against communism. Dower examines popular culture through songs, magazines, advertisements, and jokes to reveal how ordinary Japanese experienced this transformation. The book captures a society in extremis navigating between total defeat and rebirth under foreign occupation.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, political-intrigue
Setting: Japan
Period: 1945, 1950s
688 pages · Hardcover · Allen Lane