J. A. A. Stockwin

"Since the beginning of the Meiji period when Japan evolved into a modern and powerful nation-state, ideas of empire and constitution imbued Japanese rule and progress. In Empire and Constitution in Modern Japan, Junji Banno expertly analyses how these conflicting concepts operated together in Japan from the 1868 until 1937. By 'empire', Banno means the Japanese impetus to create its own empire; by 'constitution', he identifies Japanese efforts to create a constitutional government. In this book, Banno discusses the complicated relationship between these two concepts, ranging from incompatibility in some periods to symbiosis in others. Furthermore, understanding the complex and competing nature of these ideals, he persuasively reasons, is key to our understanding of why Japan and China went to war in 1937, leading to Pearl Harbor just four years later. Translated by eminent scholar Arthur Stockwin, this book is the first accessible English-language account of Banno's life works. It provides an engaging survey of imperialism and constitutionalism in modern Japan, which will be of vital importance to all scholars of modern Japanese history"--

With an author's foreword written on the day that the Abe cabinet decided to "revise the Japanese Constitution by reinterpretation" (Tuesday, 1 July 2014), this timely examination of Japan's post-war history by two leading historians committed to democratic politics is highly instructive and prompts serious reflection by anyone concerned with the future of Japan.