This lecture will begin with a look at the political turmoil and unrest in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s that were resolved—or at least sublimated—by the 1970 paradigm. The early 1970s, just as this paradigm was taking root, witnessed major political and economic crises, the so-called “Nixon...

We will start off by looking at the road to surrender, and continue on to the road to reform and recovery. Along the way, we will consider the place of the atomic bombings in Japan’s defeat and surrender, and the radical reconstruction of Japan’s legal, political, economic, and social structures...