Japanese Militarism Theory (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Jiang Lifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: This book series is one of the key projects under the National Social Science "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" of China—Research Series on Japanese Militarism. It 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 and spans 990,000 words.
After the Cold War, Japan, as an economic and military spending powerhouse, has experienced a decade-long economic recession. New conservatism and new nationalism have surged, along with right-wing trends. Right-wing forces have become rampant. Propaganda that glorifies Japanese militarism and attempts to exonerate its war crimes has gained traction, and militarist ideas have resurfaced, with some even stirring for action. It can be said that the issue of Japanese militarism is a major historical and academic question, but more so, a significant theoretical and political challenge for China in the 21st century. Japan's future direction and the risk of it falling into the trap of militarism again 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 limited achievements and insufficient depth. In Japan, only a few works like Iwao Seiichi's Japanese Militarism and Mizukami Tsuneharu's Japanese Militarism were published in the 1950s and 1960s. In recent years, there have been almost no scholars or works dedicated to studying Japanese militarism, and even the term "militarism" seems to have become taboo. In China, only Wan Feng's Japanese Militarism, which is less than 100,000 words, and several academic papers exist. Although there are a considerable number of research results on Japanese militarism, most are either expositions of modern Japanese history or compilations of cases on Japan's war of aggression and its 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 Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Tang Chongnan, a researcher at the Institute of World History, as the chief editors. The book explores the origins, formation process, and institutional structure of Japanese militarist thought through discussions on how the geographical environment shaped the Japanese national character, the martial traditions and the spirit of Bushido, the concept of a divine nation and the cult of the Emperor, and more. It analyzes the historical roots of Japan's militarist expansionism. From the broader international context, Japanese politics, economy, ideology, culture, right-wing thought, and foreign aggression, the book provides a comprehensive and multi-dimensional analysis of the profound roots of this historical phenomenon.