Libmonster ID: JP-1454

V. E. MOLODYAKOV, E. V. MOLODYAKOVA, S. B. MARKARYAN. HISTORY OF JAPAN. XX century. Moscow: IV RAS, Kraft+, 2007. 528 p. (Istoriya stran Vostoka. XX century)

The book under review, written by leading Russian Japanese scholars V. E. Molodyakov (chapters 1-4 covering the period 1900-1945), E. V. Molodyakova and S. B. Markarian (chapters 5-8 covering the post-war period, as well as introduction and conclusion), can be called without exaggeration an outstanding contribution to Russian Oriental studies in general and historical science in particular. For the first time in our country appeared a generalizing work on the history of Japan in the XX century. It is not only based on a rich factual and documentary base and is the result of many years of research by the authors, but also completely free from political bias and ideological schemes of the past that hindered the development of science. The influence of these schemes should be recognized not only in popular literature, but also in the most thorough works of the past years, including the collective monograph " History of Japan. 1945-1975" (edited by V. A. Popov, 1978) and the first textbook in our country "History of Japan" (Moscow, 1988), one of the authors of which was a reviewer. New trends are partially reflected in the second volume of the capital textbook "History of Japan" (Moscow)., 1998), which, however, is inferior to the peer-reviewed work in terms of chapters devoted to the period after the First World War.

In the old days, the authors of a peer-reviewed paper would inevitably have been accused of" objectivism", which was considered a vice of scientific research. I would like to note the scientific objectivity of this monograph, which is especially necessary in a generalizing, final work on such an important and responsible topic. The history of Japan, including new and recent ones, its sharp turns and richness of various events leave few people indifferent, even among specialists. Immoderate condemnation of "Japanese militarism" and the same immoderate enthusiasm for the "secrets of Japanese management" took place in our memory. Of course, much of the politics of pre-war Japan is reprehensible, and of course Japanese management has a lot to learn in our country, but the tone and style of the vast majority of books on these topics are incompatible with the strict requirements of academic science. The book under review does not contain any of this: the authors do not denounce or praise anyone, they describe events in detail and calmly, without linking them to a pre-conceived concept, clearly trace the causal relationship between them, so that the history of the Land of the Rising Sun for a hundred years develops into a complete, logical and understandable picture.

One of the most important advantages of the work is its comprehensive nature. In accordance with the objectives of the series and the requirements of the genre, the authors did not focus exclusively on any one issue, be it foreign or domestic policy, economy or culture, but tried to cover the relevant aspects of the life of the country and its people in a balanced way, observing the measure and proportions. I would venture to assume that the key to success was different specialties of the authors: V. E. Molodyakov is known for his works in the field of political and ideological history of Japan, E. V. Molodyakova - works on culture and society, S. B. Markaryan - research in the field of economy of this country. The ideologized schemes of earlier years required a preeminent attention to the economy as the sole basis of politics, to the problems of "basis and superstructure", and culture and society were given a purely subordinate place in this scheme. The natural rejection of the cult of the "basis and superstructure" in the 1990s led to the creation of a new state.-

page 190

there is a bias towards the actual political events, which, apart from the economic context, on the one hand, and the social context, on the other, were often inadequately interpreted and looked unmotivated. In the reviewed book, the foreign and domestic policy of both pre-war and post-war Japan is shown in a strict "link" with the economy and society as a whole. I believe that this approach is of great methodological importance and should be used by the authors of other books in the series. Positive experiences should not be wasted.

In the general picture of the history of Japan in the XX century, there was a place for a number of facts and problems that have not yet received sufficient coverage in the domestic scientific literature. To the greatest extent, this applies to the first chapters of the book devoted to Japan in the pre-war and war years, in the coverage of which, especially in popular science, does not get rid of the ideologized, accusatory approach. V. E. Molodyakov, deeply and productively studying international relations of this period, gave a balanced and objective essay on Japan's participation in the intervention of the Entente countries in In the Far East in 1918 - 1922, showing that the decision to send troops to Russia, which was engulfed in a revolutionary conflagration, was made precisely by Russophile circles of the ruling elite of Tokyo (I. Motono, S. Goto, M. Terauchi), and not by Russophobic ones, as it followed from the ideologized constructions of the authors of previous years and their modern followers. It was these figures on the Japanese side who made every effort to turn the period 1905-1916 into the "golden age" of Russian-Japanese relations (see: Molodyakov V. E. Russia and Japan: the Golden Age (1905 - 1916). Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ., 2008), and sought to preserve the regime with which they had established a successful and, admittedly, mutually beneficial partnership.

In the following chapters, V. E. Molodyakov showed how the same Goto in the first half of the 1920s (Motono and Terauchi had already died by that time) took the initiative in establishing relations with "red Moscow", since he proceeded from the need for Japan to partner with Russia regardless of the existing political regime in it, and became convinced of the complete failure of attempts at armed struggle against Bolshevism. It cannot be said that these subjects were not studied at all in Russian science (primarily in the works of L. N. Kutakov), but in the new book they received the most complete and unbiased assessment of their essence.

I will focus on another subject that remains the subject of lively controversy in Japan itself and abroad - the history of Japanese colonial policy in Asia. There was a tradition in literature to paint it exclusively with black paint, for which, admittedly, there were both objective and subjective reasons. Before World War II, other colonial powers saw Japan as a dangerous rival, and Comintern propaganda was focused on raising a national liberation, anti-colonial movement throughout Asia. This situation was not conducive to an objective assessment. After the war, when the defeated Japan was declared guilty of all mortal sins and the Japanese "mainstream" itself accepted this assessment, the situation worsened. Gradually, the publications and republications of numerous documents, which, as is well known, is famous for Japanese historical science, have shown that there are not only "dark" but also "bright" sides in the history of Japan's colonial policy, although many years have passed before this fact was recognized by some historians. At present, it is no longer possible to turn a blind eye to the fact that it was the Japanese colonial authorities who laid the material foundations of the post-war "economic miracle" in Taiwan and the Republic of Korea: in the former of these countries, this is openly recognized, while in the latter it remains taboo. The book under review deals with this problem in a thorough, well-reasoned and sustained manner, allowing the reader to draw a conclusion about the relationship between "light" and "shadow".

It is also worth noting a concise but very informative essay on the history of the war in the Pacific, which was written by the military historian G. B. Brylevsky. The actual fighting is described here with forced brevity, but professionally, on the one hand, and accessible-on the other, which is not always typical of military historical literature. A great advantage of this chapter is a clear and convincing demonstration of the connection between the course of hostilities and the changing international situation and the internal political situation of Japan. The same can be attributed to the authors ' presentation of the causes of the war in the Pacific and its consequences for Japan.

Just as informative and objective, E. V. Molodyakova and S. B. Markaryan highlighted the vicissitudes of Japan's post-war history, where the tragedy of total military defeat was replaced by the harsh everyday life of recovery, and after periods of high economic growth

page 191

and the "bubble economy" was followed by another crisis. It becomes clear not only what happened, but also why it happened exactly then and in this form. The authors managed to find the right tone in covering the period of the allied (actually American) occupation of Japan, equidistant from possible extremes: on the one hand, the word "occupation" itself evokes unambiguously negative associations among Russian readers, and on the other hand, many people remember the popular statements in the 1990s that "Japan was lucky with the invaders". The authors convincingly show that the reforms initiated and developed by the Headquarters of the occupation Forces-especially in the areas of economy and civil liberties - not only did not contradict the national interests of Japan, but also directly corresponded to them, but in the conditions of "post-war lethargy" they could only be carried out thanks to external intervention.

Japan's post-war economic and foreign trade successes, dubbed an "economic miracle," have been the subject of thousands of books and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of articles in all the world's languages. It would seem that what else can be added to what has been said. Without claiming to have a "new word" on this issue, E. V. Molodyakova and S. B. Markaryan showed that there was no" miracle " as such, but it was the result of coordinated efforts of the entire nation, which managed not only to reach consensus on most significant issues, but also to mobilize its efforts to achieve goals of national significance. As a country with an exemplary capitalist economy, Japan was able to provide the absolute majority of the population with social stability and prosperity that the citizens of the socialist camp could only dream of. In the 1980s, foreign analysts often referred to Japan as "the country where communism was really built." As the events of the next decade showed, they were somewhat hasty in their conclusions, but they generally reflected the current trend correctly.

In my opinion, E. V. Molodyakova and S. B. Markarian correctly understood and showed the nature of the systemic crisis that befell Japan in the 1990s and has not been fully eliminated until now. The growth of crisis phenomena in the economy, politics and society continued even during the "economic miracle", but for a long time it was not noticeable precisely because of the impressive success in the economy. The collapse of the financial bubble in 1991/92 and the political system of 1955 (the Liberal Democratic Party's monopoly on political power) in 1993 demonstrated that Japan is entering a new stage in its history that promises it serious challenges. Certain positive results achieved during the tenure of the Dz administration. Koizumi in 2001-2006 (preliminary results of her activities, which go beyond the chronological framework of the reviewed book, are summarized in the conclusion), are put under threat by the current global economic crisis. It is difficult to say how and to what extent Japan will be able to overcome it. But the experience gained by its political and business elite over the course of the 20th century allows us to look to the future with optimism. At least, we are convinced of this by the content of the reviewed book, which analyzes in detail the actions of the Japanese elite (in the broad sense of the word) in response to the dramatic challenges of the past century.

In the final chapters of the book, E. V. Molodyakova and S. B. Markarian gave a comprehensive portrait of modern Japanese society, which they describe as "informational". In my opinion, this fair statement deserves a more thorough study. As the authors correctly point out, Japan has left the stage of an industrial society (a society of mass production) and, while remaining a society of mass consumption, has moved to a different quality. Which one? The most far-sighted part of the Japanese elite (a typical example is Tahiti Sakaia) would like to see it as intellectual, but for this, as has been repeatedly noted in the literature, there is no reason yet. Emphasizing the exceptional importance of information, its processing and perception by modern Japanese society, the authors call it informational. In general, this conclusion seems convincing, but I would like to see it expanded.

The review genre requires you to make critical comments about the book being analyzed, but in this case it is not easy to do so. The authors know their subject too well to be caught in a misunderstanding of fundamental issues or factual errors, and at the same time were limited in scope to require them to include the irrelevant in the book. Nevertheless, I think the book should pay more attention to the problems of the Japanese city-a phenomenon that has not only enormous economic and political, but also socio-cultural significance. Despite intensive industrial growth in the first half of the 20th century, Japan remained largely an agrarian country, not only in terms of economy, but also in terms of mentality. Second half of the 20th century it became for her a period of intensive urbanization, which took over everything without exception.-

page 192

all areas of life, up to and including culture. The book would benefit from more detailed coverage of this topic.

Studying the history of Japan over the past century, we are forced to deal not only with facts, but also with their assessments, including data from outside. The concept of" Japanese fascism", which was put into use by Comintern theorists in the early 1930s and had a noticeable impact on world Japanese studies until the early 1970s, is now considered outdated, and its individual relapses do not stand up to criticism. In a peer-reviewed book, it is completely ignored. In the monograph "The Conservative Revolution in Japan: Ideology and Politics" (Moscow, 1999), V. E. Molodyakov subjected it to a convincing criticism, which, I think, should be done in this case, at least in a brief form.

Another advantage of a peer-reviewed work is that it is designed for a wide audience, which, of course, will not have enough circulation of one thousand copies. Combining academic rigor with a popular (though sometimes forced "dry") manner of presentation, an encyclopedic character with a clear conceptuality, the book will be in demand by specialists-researchers and teachers-no less than students (in fact, it is a ready-made textbook, although it does not have the appropriate stamp) and a wide range of readers interested in Japan. You can apply to it for the necessary references from different fields of knowledge, you can use it to create lecture courses and prepare for exams, and you can read it from beginning to end as a complete historical study. It should be especially noted that, despite the multidimensional nature of the subject matter and the participation of several authors in the work,the book is written and read as a single whole.

Given the continuing interest in Japan's past and present in our country, it is safe to say that the book under review will be read for a long time and carefully and will require a new edition. Despite the fact that we are less than ten years away from the twentieth century, the history of Japan in the past century can be considered "settled" and hardly requires a radical reassessment after the publication of this work. As for possible clarifications of individual formulations, additional mention of certain personalities or events in it, this will be easy to do when republishing the book.


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G. B. NAVLITSKAYA, V. E. MOLODYAKOV, E. V. MOLODYAKOVA, S. B. MARKARYAN. HISTORY OF JAPAN. XX century // Tokyo: Japan (ELIB.JP). Updated: 15.07.2024. URL: https://elib.jp/m/articles/view/V-E-MOLODYAKOV-E-V-MOLODYAKOVA-S-B-MARKARYAN-HISTORY-OF-JAPAN-XX-century (date of access: 10.02.2025).

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