The Ainu of Japan

The Ainu of Japan

Taking an in-depth look at distinct aboriginal cultures, these comprehensive volumes balance information about both traditional and modern lifeways. From their history and cultural practices to their religions and the landscapes they call home, discover the intricacies of each featured native culture. Supports the national curriculum standards Culture; Time, Continuity, and Change; People, Places, and Environments; Individuals, Groups, and Institutions; Power, Authority, and Governance; Production, Distribution, and Consumption; Science Technology and Society; and Global Connections as outlined by the National Council for the Social Studies. The Ainu of Japan have shared their homeland with the Japanese people for centuries. Although the two cultures were very different in ancient times, the Ainu have since been forced to adopt many Japanese customs. After years of discrimination, the Ainu still strive to be treated as equals in modern Japanese society while retaining their independent culture.

The Ainu of Japan

The Reformation

The Reformation

In this wide-ranging volume, Heiko A. Oberman traces threads of continuity flowing to and from the Reformation. The often denied and generally misunderstood ‘continuities’ between theological directions of the later Middle Ages, the theological reformation of the early sixteenth century, and subsequent developments are constantly illuminated through exacting detail and compelling insights.

The Reformation

Kronstadt 1917-1921

Kronstadt 1917-1921

This is the first major study of revolutionary Kronstadt to span the period from February 1917 to the uprising of March 1921. It focuses attention on Kronstadt’s forgotten golden age, between March 1917 and July 1918, when Soviet power and democracy flourished there. Professor Getzler argues that the Kronstadters’ ‘Third Revolution’ of March 1921 was a desperate attempt at a restoration of that Soviet democracy which they believed had been taken from them by Bolshevik ‘commissarocracy’. Pointing to continuity in personnel, ideology and institutions linking the 191718 Kronstadt experiment in Soviet democracy with the March 1921 uprising, the author sees that continuity reflected in the Kronstadt tragedy’s central figure, the long-haired, dreamy-eyed student Anatolii Lamanov. Chairman of the Kronstadt Soviet in 1917 and chief editor of its Izvestiia, Lamanov became the ideologist of the 1921 uprising and was soon after executed as a ‘counter-revolutionary’.

Kronstadt 1917-1921

Japan and the League of Nations

Japan and the League of Nations

Japan joined the League of Nations in 1920 as a charter member and one of four permanent members of the League Council. Until conflict arose between Japan and the organization over the 1931 Manchurian Incident, the League was a centerpiece of Japan’s policy to maintain accommodation with the Western powers. The picture of Japan as a positive contributor to international comity, however, is not the conventional view of the country in the early and mid-twentieth century. Rather, this period is usually depicted in Japan and abroad as a history of incremental imperialism and intensifying militarism, culminating in war in China and the Pacific. Even the empire’s interface with the League of Nations is typically addressed only at nodes of confrontation: the 1919 debates over racial equality as the Covenant was drafted and the 1931-1933 League challenge to Japan’s seizure of northeast China. This volume fills in the space before, between, and after these nodes and gives the League relationship the legitimate place it deserves in Japanese international history of the 1920s and 1930s. It also argues that the Japanese cooperative international stance in the decades since the Pacific War bears noteworthy continuity with the mainstream international accommodatationism of the League years. Thomas Burkman sheds new light on the meaning and content of internationalism in an era typically seen as a showcase for diplomatic autonomy and isolation. Well into the 1930s, the vestiges of international accommodationism among diplomats and intellectuals are clearly evident. The League project ushered those it affected into world citizenship and inspired them to build bridges across boundaries and cultures.Burkman’s cogent analysis of Japan’s international role is enhanced and enlivened by his descriptions of the personalities and initiatives of Makino Nobuaki, Ishii Kikujir , Nitobe Inaz , Matsuoka Y suke, and others in their Geneva roles.

Japan and the League of Nations