Simon Avenell
A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity and Transformation
University of Hawaii Press, 2025
This sweeping history tells the story of contemporary Japan from its defeat in the Asia-Pacific War in 1945 until the early decades of the new millennium.
How did the Japanese people deal with the collapse of its empire and the American-led occupation? What factors played into Japan’s remarkable economic recovery and stunning affluence? How did democracy develop under the new pacifist constitution and long-term conservative rule? And how did Japanese society and culture reflect the extraordinary demographic transformations of the era?
After a concise recap of events prior to 1945, historian Simon Avenell traces the country’s early postwar recovery, its striking economic growth, the political and social struggles of the citizenry, the legacies of colonial empire and militarism, the profound demographic changes wrought by urbanization and affluence, the impact of regional and global entanglements, and the flowering of postwar culture.
The content chapters are augmented by an introduction exploring the diverse historical interpretations of the era and its major themes, along with an epilogue pondering the prospects for Japan’s postwar condition at our contemporary moment. The lively narrative is supported by a wealth of images, charts, tables, primary sources, and cutting-edge research.
Drawing on recent historiography, the book presents Japan’s postwar history both as a distinctive phase in the country’s modern experience, as well as an era with deep connections to developments before 1945. A History of Postwar Japan will appeal to a broad readership, including students and general readers who want a comprehensive and compelling narrative of Japan’s contemporary history.
About the Author
Simon Avenell is Professor in the School of Culture, History, and Language and Director of the Japan Institute at the Australian National University. He specializes in modern Japanese history, postwar Japanese society and politics (1945-present), civil society, social movements, and the history of ideas. His has published in major Japan and area studies journals such as The Journal of Japanese Studies, positions: east asia cultures critique, Social Science Japan Journal, Environmental History and Modern Asian Studies. He has four single-authored books: Making Japanese Citizens: Civil Society and the Mythology of the Shimin in Postwar Japan (University of California Press, 2010) a history of civic thought, social activism, and civil society in postwar Japan; Transnational Japan in the Global Environmental Movement (University of Hawaii Press, 2017), an exploration of Japanese activists role in environmental movements worldwide from the 1960s; Asia and Postwar Japan: Deimperialization, Civic Activism, and National Identity (Harvard Asia Center, 2022), which traces Japan’s complicated reengagement with Asia after colonial empire and militarism, and A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation (University of Hawaii Press, 2025), which tells the epic story of Japan from 1945 to the present. From 2014 to 2016 he served as director of the ANU Japan Institute and from 2016 to 2022 as Associate Dean (Higher Degrees by Research) in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. He is currently researching the history of youth, aging, and generation in contemporary Japan.
