From 1957-1960 Japan was led by the rightwing Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, a barely reconstructed figure of the Pacific War. Kishi had gained the trust of US Cold Warriors, however, and they were rewarded when he forcefully pushed Japan into a new treaty alliance with the United States.
What Fujimori did with power became a cautionary tale—of how an outsider, once let in, can corrupt everything.
Imperial Army officer Kuniaki Koiso became prime minister well after Japan’s position in the Pacific War had already become hopeless. It took him months to reach this understanding personally, and when he ultimately came to realize that his own ability to command the situation was also close to zero, he stepped down.
Imperial Army leader Hideki Tojo commanded the nation from 1941-1944. Once he decided to launch a total war against the Anglo-American Powers in December 1941, his own authority was tied to the success or failure on the battlefield.
When Fumimaro Konoe returned to the premiership in mid-1940, he launched a bolder package of policy initiatives, including the declaration of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and the creation of a one-party state.
You might have heard the big news last month about Karolina Shiino, a Ukrainian-born Japanese citizen who won the title of Miss Japan. You have also heard earlier this month that she lost her crown due to allegations of her having an affair with a married man.
From 1916-1918, General Masatake Terauchi spent a mostly unhappy two years as prime minister of Japan. He successfully carried forward Japan’s involvement in the First World War, but shadows darkened both at home and abroad.
Across the ideological spectrum, a consensus is emerging: Fumio Kishida is unlikely to last another year as prime minister, and even now, he is only lingering on because no credible and attractive alternative has appeared.
US President Joe Biden celebrated an economic agreement last week among fourteen Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, which implicitly aims to counter China’s regional economic influence.
Authoritarians are once again trying to racialize citizenship. In Asia, that’s quite normal. The problem is that conservative movements worldwide are similarly trying to shore up their dwindling popularity by undemocratically disenfranchising the very immigrants they had once invited over.
