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Yoshida Shigeru
Last Meiji Man
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2007
Summary
The most complete autobiography of Yoshida Shigeru available in English, this expanded translation of his memoirs traces the remarkable life and times of one of Japan's most powerful and influential figures. Yoshida (1878–1967), who served in China and Europe as a career diplomat, closely linked with the key political leaders who shaped the world in Japan's most tumultuous years in the first half of the twentieth century. He returned to politics to rebuild Japan as a five-time prime minister after the devastation of World War II.
Yoshida retired from the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1939 with the intention of leading a quiet life. Yet he knew the winds of war were stirring and presciently began behind-the-scenes maneuvering to avoid the calamitous Pacific War. Soon after Japan's defeat, Yoshida amassed the political power to form his own cabinet. Sandwiched between Japan's interests and major reforms advanced by MacArthur's occupation forces, Yoshida boldly pushed through many essential reforms, laying the foundation for his country's reentry into the global community.
Richly laced with historical detail, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in twentieth-century Japan. Exploring Yoshida's and Japan's linked histories, the book traces Yoshida's lengthy tenure in China, his travel abroad as a member of Japan's mission to conclude World War I, the interwar years spent as a high-ranking diplomat in Europe, his role in the days leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, his view on the loss of war, his insights into MacArthur's character, Japan's postwar economic woes, the new constitution, the threat of communism, the imperial system, and the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1958 that guaranteed Japan's sovereignty.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2007
ISBN-Print
978-0-7425-3932-7
ISBN-Online
978-1-4616-4744-7
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
316
Product type
Edited Book
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Foreword to the New Edition No access
Editor's Note No access
Preface to the Original Edition No access
Acknowledgments No access
1 The Unfolding Tragedy No access
2 The Crisis Breaks No access
3 Aftermath of Defeat No access
4 Blueprint for an Occupation No access
5 General MacArthur and His Aides No access
6 My Political Apprenticeship No access
7 The "Yoshida Era" Begins No access
8 My First Cabinet No access
9 In Opposition—and an Election Victory No access
10 The Last Three Yoshida Cabinets No access
11 The West Revisited No access
12 Old Friends in Britain and the United States No access
13 The Postwar Constitution No access
14 Critics of the New Constitution No access
15 The Purges No access
16 Educational Reform No access
17 Police Reform No access
18 The Self-Defense Force No access
19 Agricultural Reform No access
20 The Postwar Food Crisis No access
21 Labor Reforms and After No access
22 My Views on Japan's Labor Movement No access
23 The Communists as a Destructive Force No access
24 The San Francisco Peace Treaty No access
25 Preparatory Negotiations for Peace No access
26 The San Francisco Peace Conference No access
27 The Territorial Question No access
28 The U.S.-Japan Security Treaty No access
29 The Administrative Agreement No access
30 Postscript No access
31 Korean War, Peace, and Independence No access
32 My View on the Imperial Household No access
33 Recollections of My Days as a Diplomat No access
