Lecture
Who Became a Politician: A Portrait of Modern Japan
- Yuichiro Shimizu (Keio University)
- Date
- Tuesday 12 December 2023
- Time
- Series
- Leiden Lecture Series in Japanese Studies
- Location
- On campus (Lipsius 0.30) and online via Zoom
This lecture will be held via Zoom: click here for the link
Abstract
Japan was the first emerging Asian nation to adopt Western-style constitutionalism, and it went on to modernize and democratize. There was a conflict between the Asian order and Western culture. This was manifested in the way politicians were organized through the Meiji Revolution, Taisho democracy, the Pacific War, rapid economic growth, and the "lost two or three decades" that followed. If so, who became politicians in Japan? Through tracing the transition structurally, Yuichiro Shimizu draws a portrait of Japan's modernization and democratization.