The Long Defeat Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan

In The Long Defeat, Akiko Hashimoto explores the stakes of war memory in Japan after its catastrophic defeat in World War II, showing how and why defeat has become an indelible part of national collective life, especially in recent decades. Divisive war memories lie at the root of the contentious politics surrounding Japan's pacifist constitution and remilitarization, and fuel the escalating frictions in East Asia known collectively as Japan's "history problem." Drawing on ethnography, interviews, and a wealth of popular memory data, this book identifies three preoccupations - national belonging, healing, and justice - in Japan's discourses of defeat. Hashimoto uncovers the key war memory narratives that are shaping Japan's choices - nationalism, pacifism, or reconciliation - for addressing the rising international tensions and finally overcoming its dark history.

Akiko Hashimoto is Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh; author of Imagined Families, Lived Families: Culture and kinship in contemporary Japan (SUNY 2008), The Gift of Generations: Japanese and American Perspectives on Aging and the Social Contract (CUP 1996), and Family Support for the Elderly: The International Experience (OUP 1992).