Michal Kolmaš: National Identity and Japanese Revisionism

Michal Kolmaš: National Identity and Japanese Revisionism

Over the course of the twentieth century, Japan has experienced a radicalshift in its self-perception. After World War II, Japan embraced a peacefuland anti-militarist identity, which was based on its war-prohibitingConstitution and the foreign policy of the Yoshida doctrine. For most of thetwentieth century, this identity was unusually stable. In the last couple ofdecades, however, Japan’s self-perception and foreign policy seem to havechanged. Tokyo has conducted a number of foreign policy actions as well assymbolic internal gestures that would have been unthinkable a few decadesago and that symbolize a new and more confident Japan. Japanesepoliticians – including Prime Minister Abe Shinzō – have adopted a newdiscourse depicting pacifism as a hindrance, rather than asset, to Japan’sforeign policy. Does that mean that “Japan is back”? In order to betterunderstand the dynamics of contemporary Japan, Kolmaš joins up the dotsbetween national identity theory and Japanese revisionism. The book showsthat while political elites and a portion of the Japanese public call for re-articulation of Japan’s peaceful identity, there are still societal andinstitutional forces that prevent this change from entirely materializing.

Harašta, Jakub

Czech Journal of International Relations; Vol. 56 No. 2 (2021); 109-114

2788-2993

2788-2985

10.32422/mv-cjir.56.2

Institute of International Relations Prague

2021-06-01

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0

application/pdf

eng

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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