Akira Iriye assesses Japan's international relations, from a Japanese perspective, in the century and a half since she ended her self-imposed isolation and resumed her place in the international community. The book is the author's own adaptation of two highly successful short studies, up to and after 1945, that he wrote for Japan. It ends with a consideration of Japan's international relations since the end of the Cold War, and her place in the world today. This is history written from within - and there could be no better interpreter of Japan to the West than this most distinguished of historians, who, himself Japanese, has long lived and taught in the United States.

Inhalt

Introduction. 1. The Origins of Modern Japanese Diplomacy. 2. The Emergence of Japan as a Great Power. 3. The Road to Continentalism. 4. Japanese Diplomacy in Transition. 5. The Search for a New Order. 6. The Ideology of the Chinese-Japanese War. 7. The Road to the Pacific War. 8. The Consequences of the Pacific War. 9. The Resumption of Japanese Diplomacy. 10. The Origins of Peaceful Coexistence. 11 The Emergence of the Third World.

Diplomacy in the Age of Economic Chaos. 13. The Post-Cold War World. Conclusion: Japan and the Wider World at the End of the Twentieth Century. Further Reading. Index.