Overview

Japan's invasion of Manchuria in September of 1931 initiated a new phase of brutal occupation and warfare in Asia and the Pacific. It forwarded the project of remaking the Japanese state along technocratic and fascistic lines and creating a self-sufficient Asian bloc centered on Japan and its puppet state of Manchukuo. In Planning for Empire, Janis Mimura traces the origins and evolution of this new order and the ideas and policies of its chief architects, the reform bureaucrats. The reform bureaucrats pursued a radical, authoritarian vision of modern Japan in which public and private spheres were fused, ownership and control of capital were separated, and society was ruled by technocrats. Mimura shifts our attention away from reactionary young officers to state planners-reform bureaucrats, total war officers, new zaibatsu leaders, economists, political scientists, engineers, and labor party leaders. She shows how empire building and war mobilization raised the stature and influence of these middle-class professionals by calling forth new government planning agencies, research bureaus, and think tanks to draft Five Year industrial plans, rationalize industry, mobilize the masses, streamline the bureaucracy, and manage big business. Deftly examining the political battles and compromises of Japanese technocrats in their bid for political power and Asian hegemony, Planning for Empire offers a new perspective on Japanese fascism by revealing its modern roots in the close interaction of technology and right-wing ideology.

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9781501713545

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Reviews

""Mimura writes, moreover, with great economy, pinpoint clarity, and without embellishment or hint of hyperbole. If Planning for Empire does not, thus, aspire to 'best in show' honors for recent analyses of the Japanese empire, it deserves accolades as likely the most influential of the lot for its measured yet powerful confirmation of several critical trends in the study of early twentieth-century Japanese empire and war ... it is a must read for all serious students of modern Japanese history.""-Frederick Dickinson, Journal of Japanese Studies (Summer 2012) ""Drawing on a wealth of largely untapped primary materials and journals, the work focuses specifically on a group of elite bureaucrats, predominantly graduates of Tokyo Imperial University, and army staff officers who were the driving force behind the reorganization of the Japanese economy in the late 1930s and 1940s ... Mimura's is the first English-language synthesis that traces the history of central planning in Japan from its inception in the corridors of power in Tokyo, through the experimentation period in Manchuria, to its final implementation in Japan. Mimura's contribution is particularly valuable precisely because it deals with men who were in a position to put their ideas into practice.""-Christopher W.A. Szpilman, Monumenta Nipponica (2012) ""Mimura's detailed examination of the administration of Manchuria/Manchukuo offers a useful counterweight to Driscoll's portrayal of Kishi and Ayukawa as little more than misogynistic, exploitative brutes... Mimura's dissection of Japanese techno-fascism-of its appeal across traditional political divides, of its incremental ideological genesis and of its ultimate failure-makes Planning for Empire a welcome addition to a new body of scholarship that has sought to resurrect fascism as an analytical tool for our understanding of mid-twentieth-century Japan.""--Martin Dusinberre, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History (Spring 2013) ""Janis Mimura has written a substantial and path-breaking piece of scholarship. She has gone into new territory both in research goals and source materials, and come up with fascinating ideas about, and a cogent analysis of, Japan's wartime fascist industrial planners. Mimura demonstrates that wartime Japan was not simply dominated by the military. Civilians and in particular modern bureaucrats with a new set of ideas rehearsed in Manchuria in the 1930s played a major role in the road to war, and they must share blame with the army and navy for the military and economic disaster.""-Richard Smethurst, UCIS Research Professor, University of Pittsburgh ""Scholars have long debated whether wartime Japan experienced fascism. Janis Mimura persuades us that elite bureaucrats were at the center of the widespread Japanese embrace of European-style fascist policies. Although we often talk of 'technocracy,' this is the first account to analyze also the role of scientific and technological knowledge among the bureaucrats who developed authoritarian governance. Their innovations went beyond economic policy to shape a rather fantastic wartime mentality. This is the story of how Japanese experts convinced themselves that mobilization of the nation would by itself overcome resource constraints and defeat the mighty United States and its allies.""-Sheldon Garon, Princeton University ""Planning for Empire offers a powerful new understanding of the core ideas and policies of the wartime Japanese state. Janis Mimura argues that a wartime ideology of technocracy, of a fascist character, drew support from a wide range of elite actors and propelled Japan to war. She offers a finely drawn portrait of the ideas and the political strivings of reform bureaucrats who carried the torch of technocracy first in Manchuria and then back in Tokyo, making clear both the extent and the limits of their achievements. This book should draw wide attention, spark some controversy, and shift the terms of debate of a critical episode in the twentieth-century history of Japan and the world.""-Andrew Gordon, Harvard University, author of A Modern History of Japan

Mimura writes, moreover, with great economy, pinpoint clarity, and without embellishment or hint of hyperbole. If Planning for Empire does not, thus, aspire to 'best in show' honors for recent analyses of the Japanese empire, it deserves accolades as likely the most influential of the lot for its measured yet powerful confirmation of several critical trends in the study of early twentieth-century Japanese empire and war ... it is a must read for all serious students of modern Japanese history. -Frederick Dickinson, Journal of Japanese Studies (Summer 2012) Drawing on a wealth of largely untapped primary materials and journals, the work focuses specifically on a group of elite bureaucrats, predominantly graduates of Tokyo Imperial University, and army staff officers who were the driving force behind the reorganization of the Japanese economy in the late 1930s and 1940s ... Mimura's is the first English-language synthesis that traces the history of central planning in Japan from its inception in the corridors of power in Tokyo, through the experimentation period in Manchuria, to its final implementation in Japan. Mimura's contribution is particularly valuable precisely because it deals with men who were in a position to put their ideas into practice. -Christopher W.A. Szpilman, Monumenta Nipponica (2012) Mimura's detailed examination of the administration of Manchuria/Manchukuo offers a useful counterweight to Driscoll's portrayal of Kishi and Ayukawa as little more than misogynistic, exploitative brutes... Mimura's dissection of Japanese techno-fascism-of its appeal across traditional political divides, of its incremental ideological genesis and of its ultimate failure-makes Planning for Empire a welcome addition to a new body of scholarship that has sought to resurrect fascism as an analytical tool for our understanding of mid-twentieth-century Japan. --Martin Dusinberre, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History (Spring 2013) Janis Mimura has written a substantial and path-breaking piece of scholarship. She has gone into new territory both in research goals and source materials, and come up with fascinating ideas about, and a cogent analysis of, Japan's wartime fascist industrial planners. Mimura demonstrates that wartime Japan was not simply dominated by the military. Civilians and in particular modern bureaucrats with a new set of ideas rehearsed in Manchuria in the 1930s played a major role in the road to war, and they must share blame with the army and navy for the military and economic disaster. -Richard Smethurst, UCIS Research Professor, University of Pittsburgh Scholars have long debated whether wartime Japan experienced fascism. Janis Mimura persuades us that elite bureaucrats were at the center of the widespread Japanese embrace of European-style fascist policies. Although we often talk of 'technocracy,' this is the first account to analyze also the role of scientific and technological knowledge among the bureaucrats who developed authoritarian governance. Their innovations went beyond economic policy to shape a rather fantastic wartime mentality. This is the story of how Japanese experts convinced themselves that mobilization of the nation would by itself overcome resource constraints and defeat the mighty United States and its allies. -Sheldon Garon, Princeton University Planning for Empire offers a powerful new understanding of the core ideas and policies of the wartime Japanese state. Janis Mimura argues that a wartime ideology of technocracy, of a fascist character, drew support from a wide range of elite actors and propelled Japan to war. She offers a finely drawn portrait of the ideas and the political strivings of reform bureaucrats who carried the torch of technocracy first in Manchuria and then back in Tokyo, making clear both the extent and the limits of their achievements. This book should draw wide attention, spark some controversy, and shift the terms of debate of a critical episode in the twentieth-century history of Japan and the world. -Andrew Gordon, Harvard University, author of A Modern History of Japan

"""Mimura writes, moreover, with great economy, pinpoint clarity, and without embellishment or hint of hyperbole. If Planning for Empire does not, thus, aspire to 'best in show' honors for recent analyses of the Japanese empire, it deserves accolades as likely the most influential of the lot for its measured yet powerful confirmation of several critical trends in the study of early twentieth-century Japanese empire and war ... it is a must read for all serious students of modern Japanese history.""-Frederick Dickinson, Journal of Japanese Studies (Summer 2012) ""Drawing on a wealth of largely untapped primary materials and journals, the work focuses specifically on a group of elite bureaucrats, predominantly graduates of Tokyo Imperial University, and army staff officers who were the driving force behind the reorganization of the Japanese economy in the late 1930s and 1940s ... Mimura's is the first English-language synthesis that traces the history of central planning in Japan from its inception in the corridors of power in Tokyo, through the experimentation period in Manchuria, to its final implementation in Japan. Mimura's contribution is particularly valuable precisely because it deals with men who were in a position to put their ideas into practice.""-Christopher W.A. Szpilman, Monumenta Nipponica (2012) ""Mimura's detailed examination of the administration of Manchuria/Manchukuo offers a useful counterweight to Driscoll's portrayal of Kishi and Ayukawa as little more than misogynistic, exploitative brutes... Mimura's dissection of Japanese techno-fascism-of its appeal across traditional political divides, of its incremental ideological genesis and of its ultimate failure-makes Planning for Empire a welcome addition to a new body of scholarship that has sought to resurrect fascism as an analytical tool for our understanding of mid-twentieth-century Japan.""--Martin Dusinberre, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History (Spring 2013) ""Janis Mimura has written a substantial and path-breaking piece of scholarship. She has gone into new territory both in research goals and source materials, and come up with fascinating ideas about, and a cogent analysis of, Japan's wartime fascist industrial planners. Mimura demonstrates that wartime Japan was not simply dominated by the military. Civilians and in particular modern bureaucrats with a new set of ideas rehearsed in Manchuria in the 1930s played a major role in the road to war, and they must share blame with the army and navy for the military and economic disaster.""-Richard Smethurst, UCIS Research Professor, University of Pittsburgh ""Scholars have long debated whether wartime Japan experienced fascism. Janis Mimura persuades us that elite bureaucrats were at the center of the widespread Japanese embrace of European-style fascist policies. Although we often talk of 'technocracy,' this is the first account to analyze also the role of scientific and technological knowledge among the bureaucrats who developed authoritarian governance. Their innovations went beyond economic policy to shape a rather fantastic wartime mentality. This is the story of how Japanese experts convinced themselves that mobilization of the nation would by itself overcome resource constraints and defeat the mighty United States and its allies.""-Sheldon Garon, Princeton University ""Planning for Empire offers a powerful new understanding of the core ideas and policies of the wartime Japanese state. Janis Mimura argues that a wartime ideology of technocracy, of a fascist character, drew support from a wide range of elite actors and propelled Japan to war. She offers a finely drawn portrait of the ideas and the political strivings of reform bureaucrats who carried the torch of technocracy first in Manchuria and then back in Tokyo, making clear both the extent and the limits of their achievements. This book should draw wide attention, spark some controversy, and shift the terms of debate of a critical episode in the twentieth-century history of Japan and the world.""-Andrew Gordon, Harvard University, author of A Modern History of Japan"

Author Information

Janis Mimura is AssociateProfessor of History at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

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