Showa Japan

Japan&apos;s momentous Showa era began in 1926, when Emperor Hirohito ascended the throne, and ended with his death in 1989. This was a tumultuous period in modern Japanese history&#8212;a time of great disaster and tremendous triumph for Japan. <br><br>This book focuses on the post-war period in Japan when the nation stood at the zenith of her economic power. Today, the term Showa is shorthand for a glamorous period in which, all too briefly, Japan was the richest nation on earth and the envy of the developed world. A growing nostalgia for this period is now memorialized in Japan in a national holiday. It was an era of stratospheric growth which saw Japan&apos;s transition from an isolated, impoverished nation to a peaceful one holding an exalted position as the world&apos;s second largest economy. <br><br>But what is the true meaning of the Showa era, and what is its legacy for the Japanese today? In <i>Showa Japan</i>, Hans Brinckmann provides a clear-eyed exploration of the Showa period as it really was&#8212;not just a time of wondrous change but of wild excesses that would eventually come crashing down with the bursting of Japan&apos;s economic bubble&#8212;exactly as occurred in the rest of the world, but almost 20 years earlier! From the heights of extravagance to the lean years that followed, Brinkmann, a long-time resident of Japan, examines the impact of the Showa era and its aftermath on every aspect of Japanese society. <br><br>Featuring dozens of period photographs, interviews, and a wealth of factual information and personal reflections, this book provides an in-depth portrait of a Japan that once was&#8212;as well as a blueprint for one that might still be, if only the lessons of the past could be learned.