Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo

Abstract

Nick Kapur has written a long-overdue book on the aftermath of the 1960 mass movement protesting the revision of the US–Japan Security Treaty (Anpo). His main thesis is formulated quite late in the book, namely that it is 'far more accurate to speak of a "1960 system" in Japanese politics' instead of the '1955 system' (107, 269). Thus, for Kapur, the 1960 Anpo crisis must be understood as a revolutionary moment in Japanese history, in its socio-political meaning surpassing the unifications of the conservative and socialist parties, respectively, in 1955.