Japan Among the Powers, 1890-1990 by Sydney Giffard

Sydney Giffard's Japan Among the Powers, 1890-1990 is an account of that nation during an important time in not just its history, but the world's history as well. During this period, Japan conducted the Meiji Restoration, drove the foreigners from its borders, was victorious in a war with Russia, and began creating an empire. These actions and many more in which Japan played a part on the world scene, such as the two World Wars, and particularly the aftermath of World War II, are covered in great detail. The most interesting aspect of the book, however, is in its thesis, which is to look at this period not just from a Japanese point-of-view, but from a world view as well, and create a geo-political account of this period and how Japan and the other Great Powers effected each other's actions and policies.

In discussing Japan from 1890 to 1990, Giffard is successful at accomplishing his goal. He puts Japan's history into a geo-political and strategic context rather than merely looking at how other countries viewed Japan. In writing this account, Giffard comes from a unique position, in that he was a former ambassador to Japan and had both studied its history and been a participant in diplomatic negotiations. As someone in such a privileged position, he had access to documents and interviews that many scholars did not. Unfortunately, he makes no listing of them, as they would have been an interesting addition. Instead, he just mentions that they are found in the Public Records office. He, does, however, include information about some of the many books he consulted for this text. Most of the books are histories of Japan that include the period he wrote about in Japan Among the Powers. They include more modern histories, as well as ones that are decades old.

Giffard's writing is clear and concise. Unlike many writers who place their subject in a bubble, he spends a great deal of time showing how Japan's actions affected other countries and how the actions of those countries, in turn, affected Japan. For example, he attributes some of Japan's more bullying and cajoling actions in Manchuria in the 1930s to both the appearance of differing factions in the military, the Kodoha, Imperial Way, Toseiha, and Kwangtung Army, as well as the rise of fascism in Europe (87). For a reader who is more familiar with European history than Asian history, this context is incredibly helpful. Similarly beneficial to the reader is the list of common Japanese terms that is found in the appendix. Many of these terms are found several times within the text and having a place to quickly read through them is quite helpful.

One unfortunate aspect of the book was its size. It is difficult to cover anything in great detail in just over two hundred pages. Covering a hundred year period in a nation's history in that amount of space means that many events and people are only covered briefly. Events such as the Russo-Japanese War are given very little context, just as the peace negotiations, in which American President Theodore Roosevelt received a Nobel Prize for negotiating, are, too, skimmed over. While Giffard's writing style helps the book to be a quick read, once finished, the reader will be in need of further material in order to provide better understanding and more information.

Perhaps more glaring than the speed at which various events and people are discussed was the fact that some very important events are ignored altogether. The Rape of Nanking, which occurred in 1937, during the realm of the book's coverage, was an incident during the Sino-Japanese War in which Japanese soldiers descended upon the Chinese city of Nanking and raped and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians. As someone with a strong background in Japanese history, Giffard would surely have been aware of this. He would also have been aware, then, that the Japanese government continues to deny that this event occurred. Although not every event during this hundred year period in Japan's history can be covered in such a small book, it is glaring that this one, known for its cruelty, barbarity, and the fact that the nation that perpetrated the actions continues to refuse to acknowledge it, somehow fails to make the cut.

In The Journal of Asian Studies, David Arase praises Giffard's book, calling it an intelligent and informative introduction to modern Japan's foreign relations. In particular, he is impressed with the fact that, unlike other accounts of Japan, Giffard includes information about the national institutions that shaped Japan during the Meiji period and beyond -not just its post-World War II history. Additionally, he, too, makes note that Giffard, as a former Ambassador to Japan from the United Kingdom, had access to a great many documents in diplomatic archives that he made use of in the book, but does not cite them (David Arase, The Journal of Asian History, Vol. 54[Feb. 1995], 217). Indeed, citations or some form of a listing of the sources the author consulted would have been both helpful and interesting. All in all, however, Sydney Giffard's book, despite the brevity at which certain events are covered and others are ignored altogether, is a thoughtful and well-written account of the history of an interesting country. By writing about Japan as a modern, twentieth century nation and not merely one whose history ended with the dropping of two atomic bombs, Giffard does this nation a great service.

Source:

Sydney Giffard, Japan Among the Powers, 1890-1990 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 218pp.