For our second footnote to the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: a simple question that definitely won’t result in an…
On the final episode of the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the LDP completely fails to meet the challenge of…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: how did Ikeda Hayato and the LDP build a system that…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the descent towards the Second World War. Why did the leadership…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: during the 1920s, Japan’s political system became more democratic and representative–an…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the politics of the Meiji Period! After a coalition of samurai,…
The Pal dissent becomes the Pal myth. How did an obscure document from the Tokyo Trials end up front and center in nationalist discourse in Japan today?
We’re wrapping up our look at the Hatoyama political dynasty with some time on Hatoyama Iichiro (arguably Japan’s most reluctant politican) and his two sons Kunio and Yukio. Plus some thoughts on the legacy of the Hatoyama family and on dynastic electoral politics more generally.
Hatoyama Ichiro’s revenge tour culminates in finally reaching the top spot as PM and in the formation of the LDP. What does the torturous road it took to get there tell us about the man, and about the politics of his time?
Hatoyama Kazuo was a reluctant politician; you can’t say the same of his son Hatoyama Ichiro, groomed from childhood to take up the family business (and to rise to the height of cabinet minister, something his father never did). This week is all about Ichiro’s prewar career, which culminated in a shot at the top job–that was snapped away at the last moment.