Saturday, December 08, 2012

Historical perspectives on right shift in Japan

Many great English-language books have been published to reveal and record the many dimensions of imperial Japan's wars of aggression in Asia. Ian Ward's The Killer They Called a God ('Media Masters, 1992') is one of the books. Lile Rees' Horror in the East, it can contribute to the understanding of that dark part of history 'whose lessons are still relevant for observers and analysts of political development in Japan. As nostalgic right'-wingers and militarism-prone nationalists in Japan continue to re-write history textbooks, these English'-language books would be important for the preservation of facts not only for Chinese and Koreans, but also Americans, Britons, Aussies, French and Dutch. From these great English-language history books,'it is very clear that there is an anti-Western dimension in the ultra-nationalism in Japan.