japan: past and present.by edwin o. reischauer; george sansom

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Japan: Past and Present. by Edwin O. Reischauer; George Sansom Review by: P. H. C. The Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Aug., 1953), pp. 435-436 Published by: Association for Asian Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2941809 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 20:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Association for Asian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Far Eastern Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.79.158 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 20:22:36 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Japan: Past and Present. by Edwin O. Reischauer; George SansomReview by: P. H. C.The Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Aug., 1953), pp. 435-436Published by: Association for Asian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2941809 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 20:22

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Association for Asian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The FarEastern Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.158 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 20:22:36 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

BOOK REVIEWS 435

Among the fundamental ideas that call for clarification none is more im- portant than the correct meaning of the word kami ("deity"). Error at this point may misdirect the entire discussion. Wheeler joins a considerable group of Western writers in saying that the root meaning is "excellence," or "superior." Informed Japanese scholarship now pretty well rejects this view. Prior to the Heian Era (794-858 A.D.), kami in the sense of "deity" and kami in the sense of "above" were entirely different words, each with its own distinctive pro- nunciation and its own ideographic expression.

The book presents a vast amount of material for the comparative study of the Japanese classics, but in spite of the evidence of hard work-covering twenty years-that the author has put into it, the fact remains that the student of things Japanese who depends on English translation and who at the same time seeks the assurance that he is dealing with an authoritative and identifi- able text, will have to give priority to the writings of Chamberlain, Aston and Satow.

D. C. HOLTOM

San Gabriel, California

Japan: Past and Present. By EDWIN 0. REISCHAUER. Foreword by Sir George Sansom. Second edition, revised and enlarged. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. xi, 292, xi. Text edition $2.85.

The first edition of this compact and useful account was published in 1946. The new edition is enlarged considerably to give an adequate treatment of developments during and since World War IH. There are also elements of a new approach to the immediate prewar period. "The principal change" in his in- terpretation of Japanese society during the 1920's and 1930's, the author writes, "has been to stress those forces opposed to the growth of democracy rather than the democratic tendencies themselves. I have done this not so much because of a change of my own views as because of the need to adjust the argument to the reader. At the time I drafted the original manuscript there was a marked tendency among Americans, and perhaps others as well, to over- look the spontaneous growth of democracy in prewar Japan, whereas today many people seem instead to overestimate its strength." As a result, the reader will find in Chapter 10, "The Appearance of Liberal Democratic Trends," and in Chapter 11, "The Nationalistic and Militaristic Reaction" a remarkably capable presentation in brief compass of prewar Japanl, an account which is the more notable because it does not indulge in the stupid generalizations which have so often been used to describe the Japan of those years.

The final three chapters of the 2nd edition are devoted respectively to: "Occupation," "The New Japan," and "Future Problems." These chapters should be read closely and as a unit. In the introductory pages on the Occupa- tion, Professor Reischauer's praise for its "remarkable ... accomplishments," "the obvious success of occupation policies," and of the selection of General

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436 FAR EASTERN QUARTERLY

Douglas MacArthur, SCAP, as "a happy choice," create in the reader's mind at the start an impression that what is to follow will be largely an uncritical "justification" of what the United States has done in Japan. On the contrary, the author, having paid his respects to policy, and to the personnel of the Occupation proceeds to a lucid and balanced presentation of Japan since 1945. This is a significant accomplishment for any historian for we are still very close to these events. In a word, Professor Reischauer has written care- fully and well. Yet our grasp of his subject and the problems it presents re- mains incomplete. There is urgent need for a similar study from the pen of a Japanese scholar, equally competent, and whose historical and contemporary sights are as steady as those of Professor Reischauer.

P.H.C.

Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan Under the Command of Commodore M. C. Perry, United States Navy. Compiled at his Request and under his Supervision, by FRANCIS L.'HAWKS,

D.D., LL.D. Abridged and Edited by Sidney Wallach. New York: Coward- McCann, Inc. 1952. xxxv, 305. $5.00.

Perry arrived in Japan one hundred years ago, in July, 1853. Three years later the first edition of the official report of his mission, the well-known Nar- rative of the Expedition, was published in three volumes by order of the Con- gress. A second, trade edition appeared in 1857. Now another edition, con- siderably revised, has been issued in commemoration of the centennial year of the opening of Japan.

This latest edition is an abridgment of the first volume of the original three, which contains the complete narration. The other two volumes, embodying a wealth of scientific data and additional first-hand reports not digested into the original first volume, have been ignored. Omitted also are such materials in the original first volume as the extensive introduction summarizing the exist- ing information on the Japanese Empire and the history of its relations with the West, periodic accounts of the voyages of the American squadron at sea, and the longer digressions on the life and manners of the Japanese people. The result is essentially an account of the political mission. In fine, the original twenty-six chapters have been rearranged, reduced to ten, and assigned titles; and 269 octavo pages now represent an original 513 of quarto size.

Interest and comprehension do not suffer. Moreover, within the limits set by the editor and publisher the abridgment achieves the purpose of presenting a "trevised version of this minor classic of American history. . .for the present- day reader." Even the casual reader, however, may still experience the ple-as- ure of examining one of the elegant, richly illustrated copies of the original edition without much trouble. They are not rare.

JOHN B. OLIVER Duke University

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