The Japanese and the war : from expectation to memory / Michael Lucken ; translated by Karen Grimwade.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Memories of World War II exert a powerful influence over Japan's culture and society. In The Japanese and the War , Michael Lucken details how World War II manifested in the literature, art, film, funerary practices, and education reform of the time. Concentrating on the years immediately before and after (1937 to 1952), Lucken explores the creation of an idea of Japanese identity that still resonates in everything from soap operas to the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Lucken defines three distinct layers of Japan's memory of World War II: the population's expectations at the beginning, the trauma caused by conflict and defeat, and the politics of memory that arose after Japan lost to the Allied powers. Emphasizing Japanese-language sources, Lucken writes a narrative of the making of Japanese cultural memory that moves away from Western historical modes and perspectives. His approach also paints a new portrait of the U.S. occupation, while still maintaining a cultural focus. Lucken sets out to capture the many ways people engage with war, but particularly the full range of Japan's experiences, which, he argues, the Japanese state has yet to fully confront, leading to a range of tensions at home and abroad.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This translation provides non-French readers access to an important contribution to the historiography of the war by setting Japanese and French sources within the framework of the Western historiography of Japan by Edwin Reischauer, John Dower, and others, while arguing against accepting that analysis wholeheartedly. For Lucken (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilization, Paris), Japanese memory of the war and its later impact on Japan's identity as a modern nation was shaped by both created national characteristics and manipulation of those non-inherent characteristics. His chapters are a hodgepodge of excellent writing and use of resources (chapter 8, "The Plurality of History"), odd organization and chronology hopping (chapter 4, "Heroes and the Dead"), and polemic arguing for Japanese victimization and US apology for the use of bombs (especially the conclusion). There are extensive notes and index, but the lack of a bibliography is telling. Some concerns include that the translation is half the length of the original; the author's conclusion and arguments may be based on Japanese texts, but his analysis favors his own polemic; and readers will need a specialist's knowledge of the war, the Japanese, and the sources to place the author's analysis within the historiography of identity and shaping of memory. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations, for graduate students and faculty. --Kathryn Lynass, University of Maryland University College