Frederick R. Dickinson

One of the verities of the study of Japanese history is to bemoan the weakness of democratic principles during the reign of the Taisho Emperor, and the inability of elected officials to stand up to the rise of militarism and fascism in the 1930s, leading to the disaster of the "Pacific War."

Well, Frederick Dickinson's position in this book is to defend Japanese democratic practice in the 1920s, and portrays a society that made a concerted effort to embrace Wilsonian Internationalism, and show more that was going from strength to strength up until the crash of 1929.

This all sounds good, but Dickinson does not consider it his brief to offer an explanation of why this whole edifice came crashing down; though that might ultimately be forthcoming. One suspects that it might have much to do with the trade wars of the 1930s making autarky look like the most viable option going forward.

While it's nice that this overview exists as a corrective to the conventional wisdom, there are a number of issues here. Besides not offering an epilogue as to why this whole system collapsed, this book already feels a little bit dated, as it was probably finished about 2012, and still reflects the period where "globalist" ideology was still defensible, as compared to 2025 where the whole edifice of trade and interaction appears to be inexorably crashing down.

I'm also annoyed by more slop on the military history side of the equation, as early in the book Dickinson refers to the battleships "Hasegawa" and "Tsushima," in regards to the Japanese government going on alert as hostilities broke out 1914. Problem: Referring to a standard reference ("Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945"), there was never a Japanese warship, let alone a battleship, named "Hasegawa," and the "Tsushima" was merely a small cruiser. Maybe this was a gaff on the part of the newspaper that Dickinson uses as a source, but it occurred so early in this work that it kept me on edge for the rest of the time I was reading. show less

The point of this study is to consider how an independent Japanese foreign policy might function, as Dickinson suspects that the chronic question of Modern Japan, who are we really?, is about to be reopened. Besides being a detailed examination about how the pro-German Japanese military leadership was out-maneuvered by the pro-British foreign minister, which is quite interesting in and of itself, I was also surprised to discover that Social Darwinism was a serious influence on the the show more Japanese leadership class. show less

This is the first book I have read which deals exlusively with Japan in the First World War. First of all, this book does not deal extensively with Japan as a combatant. So, if you are looking for something in the way of Japan's combat role in the war, this is not the book. However, if you are interested is how Japan used the war for opportunistic expansion, foreign policy develolpment and internal politics...this is the book for you. While the topics I just mentioned may sound dry, the book show more is actually quite engaging.

The primary focus is the conflict for power between internal forces seeking to establish a democracy, and those seeking to promote arms, empire and oligarchy. It is interesting to watch these two factions ebb and flow back and forth during WWI and into post-WWI. The books continues beyond the post-WWI period seeking to explain what led to Japanese agression in the 1930s, leading to WWII.

This is not just a study of Japan in WWI, but a look into the national and international politics and policies of Japan leading to WWII. I recommend this book for those interested in diplomacy, politics and WWI. One thing, pay attentions to names. Sometimes the Japanses names became a bit confusing for me. show less