The Japanese and the War: Expectation, Perception, and the Shaping of Memory

Japanese memories of World War II exert a powerful influence over the nation's society and culture. Concentrating on the years immediately before and after the war (1937 to 1952), Michael Lucken explores in The Japanese and the War how WWII manifested in the literature, art, film, funerary practices, and education reform of the time, creating an idea of Japanese identity that still resonates in everything from soap operas to the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Japanese memories of World War II exert a powerful influence over the nation’s society and culture. Michael Lucken explores how the war manifested in literature, art, film, funerary practices, and education reform, creating an idea of Japanese identity that still resonates from soap operas to the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.