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Yoshida Shigeru : last Meiji man / by Yoshida Shigeru ; edited by Hiroshi Nara ; with translations from Japanese by Yoshida Ken'ichi and Hiroshi Nara.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Shigeru, Yoshida, 1878-1967, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Yoshida, Shigeru, 1878-1967.
- Yoshida, Shigeru.
- Prime ministers--Japan--Biography.
- Prime ministers.
- Japan--Politics and government--1945-1989.
- Japan.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (316 pages)
- Place of Publication:
- Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007.
- Language Note:
- Mostly excerpts from his Kaisō jun̄en with the last 3 chapters added.
- Summary:
- The most complete autobiography of Yoshida Shigeru available in English, this expanded translation of his memoirs traces the remarkable life and times of one of Japan's most powerful and influential figures. Yoshida (1878-1967), who served in China and Europe as a career diplomat, closely linked with the key political leaders who shaped the world in Japan's most tumultuous years in the first half of the twentieth century. He returned to politics to rebuild Japan as a five-time prime minister after the devastation of World War II. Yoshida retired from the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1939 with the intention of leading a quiet life. Yet he knew the winds of war were stirring and presciently began behind-the scenes maneuvering to avoid the calamitous Pacific War. Soon after Japan's defeat, Yoshida amassed the political power to form his own cabinet. Sandwiched between Japan's interests and major reforms advanced by MacArthur's occupation forces, Yoshida boldly pushed through many essential reforms, laying the foundation for his country's reentry into the global community. Richly laced with historical detail, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in twentieth-century Japan. Exploring Yoshida's and Japan's linked histories, the book traces Yoshida's lengthy tenure in China, his travel abroad as a member of Japan's mission to conclude World War I, the interwar years spent as a high-ranking diplomat in Europe, his role in the days leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, his view on the loss of war, his insights into MacArthur's character, Japan's postwar economic woes, the new constitution, the threat of communism, the imperial system, and the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1958 that guaranteed Japan's sovereignty.
- Contents:
- The unfolding tragedy
- The crisis breaks
- Aftermath of defeat
- Blueprint for an occupation
- General MacArthur and his aides
- My political apprenticeship
- The "Yoshida era" begins
- My first cabinet
- In opposition and an election victory
- The last three Yoshida cabinets
- The West revisited
- Old friends in Britain and the United States
- The postwar constitution
- Critics of the new constitution
- The purges
- Educational reform
- Police reform
- The Self-Defense Force
- Agricultural reform
- The postwar food crisis
- Labor reforms and after
- My views on Japan's labor movement
- The communists as a destructive force
- The San Francisco Peace Treaty
- Preparatory negotiations for peace
- The San Francisco Peace Conference
- The territorial question
- The U.S.-Japan Security Treaty
- The administrative agreement
- Korean War, peace, and independence
- My view on the Imperial Household
- Recollections of my days as a diplomat
- Recollections of friends.
- Notes:
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 979-82-16-24939-9
- 1-4616-4744-4
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