Professor Emeritus Ken Pyle’s “The Making of Postwar Japan: A Speculative Essay” appears in the winter 2020 issue of the Journal of Japanese Studies, a publication founded by Pyle and housed in the Jackson School in 1974.
Pyle’s essay explores why postwar Japan is attracting increasing historical analysis. From the perspective of international history, it was the victors’ controversial and unprecedented goal of unconditional surrender and the resulting subordination of Japan in the U.S. world order that framed this period and shaped its political and social movements. To make its point, the essay speculates on how history might have been different.
