Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power) [Paperback]

Louise Young (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520219341 | ISBN-13: 978-0520219342 | Publication Date: September 1, 1999 | Edition: 1

In this first social and cultural history of Japan's construction of Manchuria, Louise Young offers an incisive examination of the nature of Japanese imperialism. Focusing on the domestic impact of Japan's activities in Northeast China between 1931 and 1945, Young considers "metropolitan effects" of empire building: how people at home imagined and experienced the empire they called Manchukuo.
Contrary to the conventional assumption that a few army officers and bureaucrats were responsible for Japan's overseas expansion, Young finds that a variety of organizations helped to mobilize popular support for Manchukuo--the mass media, the academy, chambers of commerce, women's organizations, youth groups, and agricultural cooperatives--leading to broad-based support among diverse groups of Japanese. As the empire was being built in China, Young shows, an imagined Manchukuo was emerging at home, constructed of visions of a defensive lifeline, a developing economy, and a settler's paradise.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Young's extraordinary book will force historians of Japan to rethink their treatment of Manchukuo. Young's study also joins the new comparative scholarship on imperialism, which analyzes its transforming power not only on the colony but also on the metropole. She has thus created an essential work of scholarship for students of comparative imperialist history."--Parks M. Coble, "American Historical Review

From the Inside Flap

"A pathbreaking study that situates Manchukuo where it belongs in the center of Japan's imperial project. In an admirably bold and beautifully textured analysis, Young shows how the military, economic, and social aspects of an imperialism that involved more than a million Japanese in the domination of Northeast China emerged as the fateful outcome of modernity and ended as the ground of a terrible war. Total war, total mobilization, total empire--a gripping account of the lessons of twentieth-century history."--Carol Gluck, author of Japan's Modern Myths

"A work of major importance in the study of Japanese imperialism. Louise Young has opened up areas unexplored by research works in the English language, examining them in rich detail and commenting on them on many levels and in many stimulating ways."--Peter Duus, author of The Abacus and the Sword

"A magisterial work, at once comprehensive and penetrating. At home with both statistics and cultural imagery, Louise Young shows that relations with Manchuria galvanized the entire social body of Japan through its emerging mass culture. She stirs the silent memories of a dangerous place, a place that shaped modern Japan much more intimately than we imagined."--Prasenjit Duara, author of Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China

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Product Details

• Paperback: 500 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520219341
• ISBN-13: 978-0520219342
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading on pre-Pacific War Japan., August 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power) (Paperback)

This book is essential reading for any serious student of the Japanese Empire, as well as anyone interested in the history of colonialism or Chinese-Japanese relations. Young shows that Japan's occupation of Manchuria and the subsequent transformation into Manchukuo may have been initially driven by the Imperial Army, but became an effort supported by various other political and economic agencies. She also describes how a perceived Japanese mission of improving fellow Asian nations may have been sincere, but was ultimately destructive. TOTAL EMPIRE is best read in conjunction with THE ABACUS AND THE SWORD, about Japan's colonial relationship with Korea. Military historians will find Young's book weak on details of the military administration, but that doesn't seriously detract from the social and cultural historical value of the work.

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven but interesting, June 6, 2011

By 

Avery Morrow "Namu Tokoyokuni Omuya Amematsur... (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power) (Kindle Edition)

This book seems to lack a strong focus. I don't know whether the author wanted to talk political maneuvering, culture, imperialism, patriotism, etc. However, there's some decent stuff to be found within its pages on the specific Japanese experience of Manchukuo and how it was justified in its era and thought about after the war, which makes it a sight better than the other, incomprehensible recent study Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and strange, July 10, 2008

By 

Timothy Stoltzfus-jost - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power) (Paperback)

This was a very strange book. The subject matter is overwhelmingly focused on Japan, not on Manchukuo at all, which is what I hoped for, but was nonetheless very interesting, parts of it much more so than others. The writing was not exceptional, although the author clearly has unparalleled knowledge of the subject matter. Some chapters in the early and later parts of the book were much more interesting than a great deal of the middle, but there was something in every section of note. I really don't feel like the themes and subject matter can be seriously summarized at all here; I would simply suggest reading it if you are interesting in imperialism, fascism, or Japanese history.