Japan in the American Century

Abstract

In 1941, Life magazine publisher Henry Luce declared that the 20th century must be ‘the first great American century’ and urged the US to act as the world’s Good Samaritan and spread democracy. As Luce declared, the 20th century was destined to become a period of US political, economic, and cultural dominance. Japan probably benefited the most from America’s Good Samaritan behaviour. In this book, Kenneth Pyle sketches the footsteps of Japan in the prewar and the postwar periods guided by American leadership. According to Pyle, Japan’s social coherence, efficient bureaucracy and well-trained military allowed the country to acclimatise quickly to the norms, principles and mores of the imperial system that dominated the 19th century. After the Russo-Japanese War and the drawing-down of British imperialism, it became obvious that the US and Japan would confront each other in the Asia-Pacific. The US tried to establish a new regional order through...