With an author’s Foreword written on the day that the Abe cabinet decided to ‘revise the Japanese Constitution by reinterpretation’ (Tuesday, 1 July 2014), this timely examination of Japan’s post-war history by two leading historians committed to democratic politics is highly instructive and prompts serious reflection by anyone concerned with the future of Japan. Originally published in Japan by Iwanami Shinsho, The Abe Experiment and the Future of Japan, records a wide-ranging dialogue between two eminent Japanese scholars – Junji Banno, a political historian, and Jir? Yamaguchi, a political scientist – regarding Japan’s modern political history. The focus of the conversation is on what they perceive as disturbing parallels between the 1930s and the recent policy trajectory of the Abe government, in which relations with Japan’s immediate neighbours have seriously deteriorated. The translation is by the distinguished Oxford scholar and author Arthur Stockwin, formerly Director of the Nissan Institute.
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- CONTENTS
- FOREWORD
- TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
- Conventions
- 1. SHOULD THE AIM BE TO PREVENT CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION?
- FROM A LETTER WRITTEN FOUR YEARS AGO
- THE DEEP HISTORICAL ROOTS OF ANTI-JAPANESE FEELING IN CHINA
- ‘JAPAN-CHINA FRIENDSHIP’ AS AN ONGOING CONCERN
- DO WE WANT TO HAVE A PRETEND WAR?
- CAN WE FIGHT FOR CONSTITUTIONALISM?
- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘CABINET POLITICS’ AND ‘POLITICS BASED ON THE PEOPLE’ (MINPONSHUGI)
- SHOULD WE RELY ON FLUCTUATING PUBLIC OPINION?
- 2. WHY WAS POST-WAR PACIFISM DEFECTIVE?
- WHY THE ROOTS OF ‘PEACE’ ARE SHALLOW
- WHO DID JAPAN LOSE TO?
- JAPAN REMAINS OUTSIDE THE WORLD OF VICTORIOUS NATIONS
- ‘PEACE’ IN POST-WAR DEMOCRACY
- TURNING POINT AFTER THE COLD WAR
- 3. IS THERE A JAPANESE POLITICAL ELITE?
- IF AN ANTI-SYSTEM ELITE HOLDS POWER
- THE PRESENT PRIME MINISTER IS PART OF THE ANTI-REGIME ELITE
- WHY DOES A RATIONAL ELITE NOT EMERGE?
- THE RATIONALE OF BREAKING THROUGH POPULAR CONSCIOUSNESS
- 4. IS THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY REALLY TENACIOUS?
- ONE ASPECT OF CONSERVATISM: LIBERAL CONSERVATISM
- SECOND ASPECT OF CONSERVATISM: LIBERAL CONSERVATISM
- THE RALLYING OF PRE-WAR CONSERVATIVE FORCES
- THE LIGHT AND SHADE OF THE LDP PURSUIT OF EQUALITY
- SCENARIO OF A TWO-STAGE REVOLUTION
- HAVE THEY MIXED UP PRINCIPLE AND POLICY?
- STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF PARTY ADHERENCE
- IS THE ABE GOVERNMENT AS FIRM AS A ROCK?
- THE POSSIBILITY OF LIBERALISMPLUS SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
- 5. WHY CAN’T WE TACKLE REDUCTION IN INEQUALITIES?
- WHY IS SOCIAL DEMOCRACY WEAK IN JAPAN?
- DIFFERENCES BROUGHT ABOUT BY WAR
- THE ‘AGE OF THE NEW MIDDLE CLASS’ ALSO EXISTED IN THE PRE-WAR
- THE PROBLEM OF DIVERSITY AND POVERTY HAS SUDDENLY APPEARED
- JAPAN’S MODERN HISTORY OF SAMURAI, PEASANTS, ARTISANS AND MERCHANTS
- WHY DID THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LINE OF GIVING HIGHEST PRIORITY TO WELFARE FAIL?
- THE JAPANESE LEFT WING LIKES SMALL GOVERNMENT
- 6. WHERE SHOULD WE GO FROM HERE?
- HOW SHOULD JAPAN GO FROM HERE?
- FREEDOM IS DANGEROUS
- A TWO-PARTY SYSTEM WITHOUT SOCIAL CLASSES WON’T WORK
- DIRECTIONLESS JAPAN
- JAPAN-CHINA FRIENDSHIP, AND INTERNTIONAL COOPERATION, ONCE AGAIN
- A SOCIETY IN WHICH EVERYBODY CAN LEAD LIVES BEFITTING HUMAN BEINGS
- PROBLEMS OF RAISING AN ELITE THAT CAN OPPOSE
- AFTERWORD
- INDEX
- Back Cover
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