New Books on Japan: "Entwined Atrocities: New Insights into the U.S.–Japan Alliance"

Monday, April 7, 2025 | 7:00-8:30 PM ET
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 8:00-9:30 AM JST | 9:00-10:30 AEST

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Entwined Atrocities: New Insights into the U.S.–Japan Alliance (Peter Lang, 2023)

Author: Yuki Tanaka, Research Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima City University

Discussant: Kirsten Ziomek, Associate Professor of History, Adelphi University

The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with Yuki Tanaka, who will be speaking about his new book Entwined Atrocities: New Insights into the U.S.–Japan Alliance (Peter Lang, 2023). Entwined Atrocities reconsiders the fire and atomic bombings of Japan during World War II in the context of the U.S. justification of the crime of indiscriminate bombings and its relationship to Japan’s political exploitation of the atomic bombing to cover up Emperor Hirohito’s war responsibility. In addition, it examines the fundamental contradiction in Japan’s peace constitution between the concealment of Hirohito’s war crimes and the responsibility of the United States. Readers will learn how Japanese and U.S. official war memories were crafted to justify their respective wartime performances, exposing the flaws and failing of present-day democracy in Japan and the U.S. This book also explores how Japanese people could potentially create a truly powerful cultural memory of war, utilizing various forms of artwork including Japan’s traditional performing art, Noh. Kirsten Ziomek (Adelphi) will serve as interlocutor.