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This article examines cross-national, geographical analogizing through the under-theorized example of an artist colony in Japan nicknamed the "Ikebukuro Montparnasse" (a title coined by the poet Hideo Oguma, 1901–40). Located in the Toshima Ward of Ikebukuro district, Tokyo, this community flourished in the 1930s and housed mostly young, impoverished painters and sculptors, evoking the Montparnasse area of Paris. The analogy with Montparnasse is significant for several reasons. First, the concept of an "artist's village" was just being introduced to Japan during this time, and the Ikebukuro quarter exemplified this trend. Second, at the height of Japanese nationalism, the Ikebukuro Montparnasse had an anti-establishment reputation, partly linked to the ideal of Parisian bohemianism. Artworld analogies can be sharply political. Many of the artists and poets in this community were criticized as hikokumin, "those who failed to support the country," during wartime. This study also elucidates what I see as a partial turn from Sinophilism to Francophilism in the modern Japanese art world. Overall, I demonstrate how becoming involved in a community seen as Tokyo's answer to Montparnasse was a way for Japanese modernists to forge a new collective identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 1950, American political scientist Wesley Fishel met the Japanese writer and political activist Komatsu Kiyoshi who introduced the professor to the Vietnamese nationalist leaders Cuong De and Ngo Dinh Diem. This encounter had great importance for Fishel's career as he became one of the early U.S. specialists on Vietnam as well as an academic who actively sought to influence US. policy in Vietnam. The talks also presented Diem with the opportunity to widen his contacts with Americans who could help him in his effort to become the leader of an independent Vietnam. This article describes Fishel's meetings with the Vietnamese as well as Komatsu's attempts to promote their political fortunes. It also discusses the consequences that these discussions had for the individuals involved, especially Diem and Fishel, as well as the shared conviction of Komatsu and Fishel that foreign powers could play a constructive role in guiding Vietnam toward independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese history is a part of the long history of Northeast Asia. Since Japan began to form a unified nation from the time of Shotoku-Taishi (AD. 574-622) in the early seventh century, it continued to cultivate a rather independent culture. In its long history, the most catastrophic era was the Asian-Pacific War in 1931-45, ending with the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The recovery from the aftereffects and trauma of the War Japan has initiated is the topic I would like to write here as a problem of memory and reconciliation with other countries involved in the War. In 2006, Prime Minister Jyun-ichiro Koizumi, when he worshiped at Yasukuni Shrine, spoke in the meeting of news reporters that “The freedom of the heart is protected by our Constitution, and cannot be violated by anyone.” It was completely unspeakable to me that Mr. Koizumi, in his official role as Prime Minister, made use of the Japanese Constitution for the purpose of defending his personal right to worship at Yasukuni Shrine. A half of the nation, however, accepted this way of speaking. As long as we Japanese insist on and are not liberated from Yasukuni Shrine, we cannot become reconciled and co-exist with other nations, because this shrine is seen as the symbol of the Japanese past militarism which was centered on the Emperor. But the situation around Yasukuni becomes more complex if we go probe beneath the political dimension, because memory is always deeply connected with the problem of identity regardless of whether it is personal or collective. For some conservative groups, the formation of modern Japan starts from the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which seeks to center the identity of the modern state in the Emperor, rather than in the democracy starting from the end of the War on August 15, 1945. The difference in the memory of the starting points of modern Japan between conservatives and others shapes the different identities in present-day Japan, sometimes becoming a hindrance to form a civil society. I will call this situation “Yasukuni fundamentalism” in today’s Japan. The purpose of the present paper is to propose a way to overcome this Yasukuni fundamentalism by developing a public philosophy and by its application to today’s civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of the 1940 Tokyo Olympic Games in defining Japanese cultural nationalism and contributing to the legitimacy of the IOC in the tumultuous 1930s, a thorough history of the event has not been addressed in the English language. This study situates the 1940 Tokyo Games as key not only to the diplomatic history of Japan and the West, but also to the ideological production of 1930s Japan and to the crisis of the IOC's legitimacy in the aftermath of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The history of modern sports in Japan and Japan in the Olympic Movement is also traced in order to showcase Japan's ability as a developed nation of Olympic sports and athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning for the 1940 Tokyo games proved particularly difficult given the domestic and international climate of 1930s Japan. As the Japanese military campaigns in China intensified, ideological debates over the appropriateness of hosting the Olympics emerged in Japan. While some Japanese authorities promoted the spiritual and patriotic benefits of hosting the Olympics, other argued that the games were to help foment Japanese international goodwill. The debates over the ideological significance of the Tokyo Olympics and the impact these disputes had on organizing for the national event are carefully addressed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Japanese nationalism is the principal force behind Japan's gradual shift towards "normal' statehood and what has been called as "reluctant realism'. The nature and content of this nationalism is, however, very much dissimilar to that which characterized its militarist past. This nationalist streak is largely elitist and assumes softer undertones as it percolates down to the masses. The article argues that contemporary assertive Japanese nationalism is the force behind Tokyo's quest for a redefinition of its national identity befitting its international status and global role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the book 'Tokyo Rising,' by Edward Seidensticker. History of the city; Moralism; Nationalism.