This new history of modern Japan covers its remarkable transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. Professor Tsuzuki traces Japan's pursuit of power, first by military and then by economic means, from her attempts to replace China at the centre of the Confucian Middle Kingdom; through the Meiji nationalist response to the inroads of nineteenth century western imperialism; and on to the post-war USJapanese alliance powering the economic miracle of the last half of the twentieth century. He examines Japan's political, intellectual, and industrial development throughout the last two centuries, with special attention to the wars that were fought, and argues that the history of Japan's modernization was closely linked to the growth of Japan's own imperialism. Tsuzuki goes on to reveal how some of the factors which contributed to remaking Japan as an economic giant have also been responsible for her recent economic and political difficulties.

"Overall, this is a very valuable addition to the general literature on the history of modern Japan. It highlights aspects of the country's recent past that other authors have shied away from, particularly in regard to social history and the tribulations of the Japanese people, and as such provides a useful rejoinder to those who would paint too roseate a picture of the Japanese state. It is a book that deserves to be on every modern Japanese history reading list and should be singled out as a recommended text, that is to say that Professor Tsuzuki has produced a very fine and useful work." - International Relations of the Asia-Pacific