"This book examines key aspects of the Asia Pacific War (1931-1945), that was initially waged between Japan and China, before Japans attack on Pearl Harbor drew in the U.S.-led allied forces from 1941 to 1945. The first half of the book examines three interlocking components, the origins of the war; its impact on combatants and civilians; and its short-term legacy, including the huge changes that took place in the postwar governance of Japan. Part 2 explores the ongoing impact and legacy of the war for those in postwar Japan, and later generations, particularly through the examination of the ambiguity of state-led reconciliation with Japans neighbors, the growth of dynamic civil reconciliation efforts, and the prominent role of the arts in peace movements. Through a people-centered approach it filters historical events through the lens of the wars impact on individuals, who found themselves players within a larger frame of the social history of Japan and caught up in the international power dynamics of the nuclear age. Featuring studies of contemporary peace activism, this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Modern Asian and U.S.

History, as well as those interested in post-war memory and reconciliation"--.