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Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

La autora reflexiona sobre diferentes aspectos de la sociedad e historia de Japón a partir de la ocupación aliada de 1945-1952, desde el punto de vista de su experiencia personal. Algunos temas discutidos incluyen nacionalismo japonés a través de una anécdota en el santuario de Yasukuni, Tokio, la restauración Meiji en el Museo Yūshūkan o Museo Militar, localizado en el santuario de Yasukuni, y los bombardeos de Hiroshima y Nagasaki.

Though some attention has been given to the role that Bushido (the ethical system of the samurai) may have played in the development of nationalism in post-Meiji Japan, the martial arts themselves have largely been absolved of any complicity. I argue in this article that the martial arts did in fact play a role in the rise of Japanese nationalism and therefore share some of the blame for the events that took place leading up to and during the Second World War. The article demonstrates how the martial arts were used to popularize the precepts of Bushido and how these precepts in turn lead to the growth of expansionist nationalism. It also shows how the martial arts were used in the educational system and the military to inculcate the Bushido notions of honor and loyalty in the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]