IntheRuinsoftheJapaneseEmpireconcludesthatearlyEastAsianColdWarhistoryneedstobestudiedwithintheframeworkofpost-imperialhistory.Japan’ssurrenderdidnotmeanthattheJapaneseandformerimperialsubjectswouldimmediatelydisavowimperialideology.TheendoftheJapaneseempireunleashedunprecedenteddestructionandviolenceontheperiphery.Livesweredestroyed;namesofcitiesaltered;collaborationistregimes―whichforoveradecadedominatedvastpopulations―meltedintotheairaspoliceman,bureaucrats,soldiers,andtechnocratsofferedtheirservicesasnationalists,revolutionariesorcommunists.Powerdidnotsimplychangehandsswiftlyandsmoothly.Inthechaosoftheneworder,legalanarchy,revenge,ethnicdisplacement,andnationalistresentmentsstalkedthepostcoloniallandsofnortheastAsia,intensifyingbloodycivilwarsinsocietiesradicalizedbytotalwar,militarization,andmassmobilization.KushnerandLevidis’svolumefollowstheseprocessesasimperialviolencereordereddemographicsandborders,andinvolvedmassivepolitical,economic,andsocialdislocationaswellasstubborncontinuities.Fromthehuntfor“traitors”inKoreaandChinatothebrutalsuppressionoftheTaiwanesebytheChineseNationalistgovernmentinthelong-forgottenFebruary28Incident,theresearchshowshowtheempire’sendactedasacatalystforrenewedattemptsatstate-building.Fromtheimperialedgetothemetropole,investigationsshedlightonhowprewarimperialvaluesenduredduringpostwarJapaneserearmamentandinpartypolitics.Nevertheless,manyJapaneseactivelytriedtomakeamendsforwartimetransgressionsandrebuildJapan’spostureinEastAsiabycultivatingreligiousandculturalconnections.
economic NEVERTHELESS ASIA STATE JAPANESE JAPAN
