Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War

 

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War by John W. Dower sheds detailed light on a part of American history that few remember, the American occupation of Japan following the Second World War.  Beginning in 1945 and formally ending six years later, General MacArthur and his staff had an almost unlimited ability to steer the course of post-war Japan.

Dower’s book is detailed, and lengthy.  A few stand out moments: he claims Japanese culture never inculcated its citizens with a sense of civic duty.  That is why so many homeless children wandered around post-war Japan, hungry and desperate.  The United States, at first, did not have a policy to either feed the Japanese people, or help re-establish their economy.  This seems criminally negligent, as most Japanese suffered from years of food deprivation, and thousands died of malnutrition after the surrender.   He also explores the rise of the Japanese sense of victimization that developed in the years following the war, which lives on, despite Japan’s horrible crimes in Asia and elsewhere. 

Most of all, this book shows the promise and pitfalls of regime change – which we recently tried to enact, with poor results, in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Japan changed because we forced change upon them at a micro level – and we are still there, acting on behalf of Japan’s geo-political interests.