Book Review - A History of Modern Japan by Richard Storry

 A History of Modern Japan by Richard Storry

London: Penguin Books, 1990 (revised edition published 1982)  ISBN 014013512X

This is a good, if somewhat dated, political history of Japan focussing on the Meiji period and beyond. At 300 paperback pages covering 150 years of history, it is necessarily brief, but no less informative for that. Storry begins his history with a brief overview of Japanese history prior to Perry's mission to Japan, writing about the rise and fall of the Emperors, Shoguns and Tokugawa, explaining that while Perry's visit and ultimatum to the government was a major factor in the cataclysmic changes that overtook Japan, there were other internal pressures that were also released by the Black Ships arrival.

One thing that is conveyed well by this book is the fact that in a generation and a half Japan changed from a feudal aristocracy into a modern industrialised country, more along the lines of Germany than Britain, but perhaps with a British sense of empire and mission.

Before the war Japan was not a democracy in the modern sense - with limited suffrage, the state was ruled by a small group of aristocrats, business men and the military. The military successes against Russia in 1904-5 gave the Army and Navy greater prestige, enough to enable them to destroy any government by withholding their ministers. This power, in combination with a resurgent sense of nationalism, led the Army in particular to dream dreams of expansion in Asia. Dreams that the Army acted on without the approval of the government. 

The weakness of the various cabinets that were formed in the 1920s and 30s meant that inexorably Japan was drawn deeper and deeper into their Manchurian adventure, their Korean annexation, and eventual invasion of China. The World looked on askance, but had it's own problems to deal with, and didn't focus on Japan's aggression until it was very much too late. Meanwhile in Japan itself, those political actors who understood that Japan could not conquer China, defeat Russia and take over the Pacific at the same time were sidelined or assassinated.

The Pacific War came to Japan even though most in the Navy and the government didn't want it. Their feeling was that the West, with its sanctions, forced them into action. Japan didn't have the infrastructure, industry or manpower to win all the battles it picked, and their defeat was total.

The rebuilding of Japan, and its ability to put the past behind it and turn into a modern democracy, is testament to the spirit of the Japanese people - in eighty years they went from feudalism to an empire, and after the war they went from abject surrender to the second biggest economy in the World. Storry tells us that Japanese inquisitiveness and willingness to learn from others are key attributes that enabled them to build and build again.

For a quick update on modern Japanese history, that deals well with the confusion of the 1930s in particular, this is worth a read.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell