Yoshiaki Yoshimi. Grassroots Fascism

Yoshiaki Yoshimi’s Grassroots Fascism: The War Experience of the Japanese People, first published in Japan in 1987, makes its overdue appearance in English via this fine translation by Ethan Mark. The main concerns of Yoshimi’s book are twofold: an exploration of the mentalities that enabled the people of Japan to support aggressive overseas expansion during World War II (here, 1937–1945), and an explanation of how the wartime experiences of Japanese society facilitated the emergence of a pacifist democracy—but not necessarily a contrite one—during the postwar era. Grassroots Fascism marks a key moment in the evolution of the school of “People’s History” (minshūshi) in Japan during the late twentieth century and a turning point in historical scholarship about Japanese society’s engagement with total war. Whether the fact is acknowledged or not, ever since its initial appearance Yoshimi’s book has influenced scholars both inside and outside of Japan to seek out and showcase the people’s voices when investigating Japanese experiences during and after World War II. Grassroots Fascism is a pathbreaking study of great consequence not only for the field of modern Japanese history, but also for scholarship on World War II writ large. This English-language edition of Yoshimi’s work skillfully overcomes what Mark calls the “triple barrier of language, unfamiliarity, and Eurocentrism” (9) with regard to Japanese scholarship on the war years, and is a valuable resource for persons interested in surveying global varieties of fascism.

Democracy · Grassroots · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · World War II · Writ · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies