 | Japan and the Origins of the Asia-Pacific Order : Masayoshi Ohira's Diplomacy and Philosophy This book analyzes Ohira's ideology, philosophy, and actions as a politician and a minister, based on primary sources from Japan and the USA, and makes a significant contribution to the field of Japanese political and diplomatic history. This book is the first critical biography to chart Masayoshi Ohira's life and work, with a focus on his political philosophy, and how he sought to create a new order in the Asia-Pacific region, framing a plan for solidarity across the Pacific Rim. If a statesman is a politician who has made diplomacy their life's work, then Ohira can be regarded as the first Japanese statesman of the modern era. While this ambition remained unfulfilled, Ohira's involvement in foreign policy was long and intensive--and highly influential--on the region. One of only two postwar prime ministers to have served as foreign minister for two terms, he attempted to balance the pursuit of a new order in the Pacific Rim with Asian diplomacy and focused on cooperation with the USA without becoming overly reliant on it. With the new availability of original documents decades after his death, this book has become possible, enabling the author to systematically follow and record Ohira's diplomatic vision. Combining history, political philosophy, political science, and international relations, this book is of appeal to history scholars and students of Japan, as well as of the foreign relations of countries such as the USA, China, and Korea. Ryuji Hattori received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Kobe University in 1999. He also holds an M.A. in Law from Kyoto University and a Bachelor in Law from Kyoto University. He has been an associate professor at Takushoku University and was formerly a research assistant at Chiba University. He has also served as a member on the governmental committee of the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Japan-China Joint History Research, and the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, the National Archives of Japan. His recent published books include China-Japan Rapprochement and the United States: In the Wake of Nixon's Visit to Beijing (London: Routledge, 2022), Japan at War and Peace: Shidehara Kijūrō and the Making of Modern Diplomacy (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2021), Eisaku Sato, Japanese Prime Minister, 1964-72: Okinawa, Foreign Relations, Domestic Politics and the Nobel Prize (London: Routledge, 2021), UnderstandingHistory in Asia: What Diplomatic Documents Reveal (Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture 2019), to name but a few. Graham Leonard is a translator with a Ph.D. in International Public Policy from Osaka University in Japan and an M.A. in Japanese Studies from the University of Washington. |
