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Italy and Japan: How Similar Are They? pp 277–294Cite as

Italy and Japan: The Price of Defeat in Post WWII International Relations

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Part of the book series: Perspectives in Business Culture ((PEPIBC))

Abstract

This is a comparative effort to discuss the impact of defeat and surrender on Japanese and Italian international status and relations after WWII. I will start from two main points: (1) in discussing both countries the price of defeat is central in understanding political self-perceptions and external relations from the early post-war period to the Cold War era; (2) a comparative analysis of Italy and Japan based on themes such as memories of the war, post war regional grouping, economic recovery and growth as well as national paths throughout the Cold War era, calls attention to the similarity of their starting point as defeated nations. The main argument is that the implications of defeat and post WWII peace-making in Italy and Japan were significant and long lasting. This chapter will substantiate this argument by reflecting on the meanings of defeat and identifying a set of comparable moments in post war Italian and Japanese self-perception and international relations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See the introduction to (2002).

  2. 2.

    Judt (2002), p. 159.

  3. 3.

    See the review of Shivelbush’s book by Martin Wollacott, The Guardian, Sat 29 Nov, 2003.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/nov/29/history.highereducation1.

  4. 4.

    Poggiolini (2002), pp. 226–227.

  5. 5.

    Ibidem.

  6. 6.

    Poggiolini (1990), pp. 136–151. See also (Poggiolini 1993).

  7. 7.

    Poggiolini (2002), p. 227, Rossi (1993).

  8. 8.

    Miller (1986), p. 68.

  9. 9.

    Arcidiacono (1984), pp. 217–450. See also (Di Nolfo 1985; Winton 2010).

  10. 10.

    Shelling (1966), p. 30.

  11. 11.

    Edelstein (2004), pp. 50–51.

  12. 12.

    Willard-Foster (2009), pp. 36, 54–56.

  13. 13.

    Ibidem.

  14. 14.

    Kecskemeti (1958), p. 16.

  15. 15.

    State Department Publication n 2671, Occupation of Japan: Policy and Progress, Appendix 16, Authority of General MacArthur as Supreme Commander for Allied Powers; Appendix 13, United States Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan.

  16. 16.

    Mayo (1984), esp. p. 33. See also (Takemae 2002), pp. 202–228; Svensson (1966).

  17. 17.

    Masanori (1992), pp. 175–184.

  18. 18.

    Ibidem.

  19. 19.

    BBC History, Japan: No Surrender in World War II. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/japan_no_surrender_01.shtmltoward.

  20. 20.

    Thorne (1978), pp. 659–732.

  21. 21.

    Dunn (1963), pp. 70–77.

  22. 22.

    Council of Foreign Ministers of the US-UK-France and the Soviet Union in John Foster Dulles Oral History Project Records, Dean Rusk, Alphabetical Index to transcript listing 224.

  23. 23.

    The Court and MacArthur had probably conceived specific evidence against the Emperor: see (Takemae 2002), pp. 257–258.

  24. 24.

    Ivi, pp. 257–260.

  25. 25.

    JFD Oral History, Collection Dean Rusk cit.

  26. 26.

    Takemae (2002), preface by John D. Dower, p. XX.

  27. 27.

    Guthrie-Shimizu (2010), p. 249.

  28. 28.

    Ivi, pp. 250–251.

  29. 29.

    Procedure for the Formulation of the Treaty and Objectives, R.G. 43 Records of the US Delegation to the Japanese Peace Conference 1951, box 1 National Archives Washington DC.

  30. 30.

    Guthrie-Shimizu (2010), pp. 253–254.

  31. 31.

    Yoshida Shigeru, The John Foster Dulles Oral History Project Records, Princeton University, Alphabetical Index to Transcript Listing 280.

  32. 32.

    Sudo (1992); a Marxist analysis in the early 1970s pointed at Japan’s post war economic foreign policy as a disguised form of imperialism and predicted a follow-up of military presence in Southeast Asia; see (Halliday and McCormack 1973).

  33. 33.

    Muller (2002), p. 25.

  34. 34.

    Guthrie-Shimizu (2010), pp. 258–265.

  35. 35.

    Nuti (2003), FRUS, 1964–1958, vol. 4, Vietnam, 1966.

  36. 36.

    Nuti (2001), pp. 38–42.

  37. 37.

    Edelstein (2004), p. 54.

  38. 38.

    See (Shivelbush 2003) and the review of Shivelbush’s book by Martin Wollacott, The Guardian, Sat. 29 Nov, 2003. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/nov/29/history.highereducation1.

  39. 39.

    Takemae (2002), p. 524.

  40. 40.

    Shaller (2010), pp. 175–179.

  41. 41.

    On Italian defence, spending and the nuclear question see (Nuti 2007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Ilaria Poggiolini

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  1. Ilaria Poggiolini
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Correspondence to Ilaria Poggiolini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Silvio Beretta

  2. Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Axel Berkofsky

  3. Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Fabio Rugge

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Poggiolini, I. (2014). Italy and Japan: The Price of Defeat in Post WWII International Relations. In: Beretta, S., Berkofsky, A., Rugge, F. (eds) Italy and Japan: How Similar Are They?. Perspectives in Business Culture. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2568-4_16

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