Japanese Militarism (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Jiang Lifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: ★16K hardcover, published by Hebei People's Publishing House
★This book series is one of the key projects of the National Social Sciences "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" on the study of Japanese militarism
★Volume 1 includes Introduction, Elements of Origin, System and Policies, while Volume 2 includes Expansion and Aggression, Conclusion, Appendices, and Postscript
The book provides a comprehensive and multi-layered analysis of the essence of Japanese militarism's external aggression and expansion by discussing how the geographical environment shapes the character of the Japanese nation, the martial traditions and the spirit of Bushido, the concept of the divine land and the worship of the Emperor.
This book series is one of the key projects of the National Social Sciences "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" on the study of Japanese militarism, and is the first monograph in China that conducts theoretical and systematic research on the issue of Japanese militarism. The book is divided into two volumes, totaling 990,000 words.
After the Cold War, Japan, as an economic and military spending powerhouse, has experienced economic decline for over a decade. New conservatism and new nationalism have flourished, along with right-wing extremism.
Arguments that glorify Japanese militarism and whitewash its war crimes have become widespread, and militaristic thought has resurfaced, with militarist elements even stirring.
It should be said that the issue of Japanese militarism is a major historical and academic issue, but more importantly, a significant theoretical and political issue China faces in the 21st century.
Japan's future development direction and the risk of falling back into militarism directly affect the development of China-Japan relations and the country's national security.
However, research on Japanese militarism during the modern period has been relatively weak both domestically and internationally, with few achievements and insufficient weight.
In Japan, only a handful of works like Iwao Seiichi's Japanese Militarism (1950s-1960s) and Mizukami Tsuneo's Japanese Militarism were published in those decades. In recent years, there have been almost no scholars or works dedicated to the study of Japanese militarism, and even the term "militarism" seems to have become taboo.
In China, there is only Wan Feng's Japanese Militarism, which is less than 100,000 words, along with several academic papers.
Although there are numerous research achievements on Japanese militarism, most are either explanations of modern Japanese history or compilations of Japan's wartime aggression and atrocities.
The Theory of Japanese Militarism is edited by renowned scholars Wan Feng and Iwao Seiichi as academic advisors, with Jiang Lifeng, a researcher at the Institute of Japan Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Tang Chongnan, a researcher at the Institute of World History, as chief editors.
The book explores the origins, formation process, and institutional structure of Japanese militarist thought by discussing how the geographical environment shapes the character of the Japanese nation, the martial traditions and the spirit of Bushido, the concept of the divine land and the worship of the Emperor.
It analyzes the historical roots of Japanese militarism's external aggression and expansion from various perspectives, including the international context, Japanese politics, economy, ideology, culture, right-wing thought, and foreign aggression wars, providing a comprehensive and multi-layered examination of the profound origins of this historical phenomenon.