History, Politics, and Identity in Japan

Abstract

This chapter seeks to shed light on the conflicts in the region by pointing to the persistence, indeed resurgence, of a peculiar sense of victimhood that has continued to mark modern Japan. In recent years, relative economic decline combined with growing internal disparity triggered a crisis in the legitimacy of the Japanese state. In order to overcome this, conservative ruling Japanese elites accelerated the pace of US-led security “normalization” and “structural reform” of the economy. To make up for the further loss in state authority, revisionist nationalism was reintroduced. US policy-makers, who used to welcome what they regarded as “healthy” nationalism are now increasingly wary of the “genie” that is out of the bottle.