Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-ff9ft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-29T10:43:07.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kase Hideaki's Revisionist Vision for Twenty-First-Century Japan: A Final Interview and Obituary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Rotem Kowner
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The late writer and journalist Kase Hideaki was long involved in shaping public opinion in Japan. Espousing a conservative and nationalist worldview, he chaired several major associations that sought to revise Japan's constitution and embellish its history. In an interview shortly before he passed away last November, Kase discussed his upbringing and his political and social outlook. This article offers a brief obituary of Kase and explores his worldview.

Keywords

Kase HideakiAbe ShinzōrevisionismconstitutionNippon KaigiShintorearmamentnationalism

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , e1
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2023

References

Almog, Guy. 2014. ‘The Myth of the “Pacifist” Japanese Constitution.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 12(36), no. 2. apjjf.org/2014/12/36/Guy-Almog/4177/article.html.Google Scholar
Breen, John and Teeuwen, Mark. 2010. A New History of Shinto. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dezaki, Miki, Frost, Mark R., and Vickers, Edward. 2021. ‘Debating Shusenjo: The Main Battlefield of the Comfort Women Issue.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 19(5), no. 11. apjjf.org/2021/5/Dezaki.html.Google Scholar
Dower, John. 1999. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Goodman, Carl. 2017. ‘The Threat to Japanese Democracy: The LDP Plan for Constitutional Revision to Introduce Emergency Powers.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 15(10), no. 5. apjjf.org/2017/10/Goodman.html.Google Scholar
Goto, Ken'ichi (edited by Kratoska, Paul H.). 2003. Tensions of Empire: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Colonial and Postcolonial World. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Hattori, Ryuji (translated by Leonard, Graham B.). 2021. Eisaku Sato, Japanese Prime Minister, 1964-72: Okinawa, Foreign Relations, Domestic Politics and the Nobel Prize. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Higuchi, Naoto 樋口直人, Kikuko, Nagayoshi 永吉 希久子, and Mitsuru, Matsutani 松谷 満. 2019. ネット右翼とは何か [What Is the Internet Right Wing?]. Tokyo: Seikyūsha.Google Scholar
Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (JMOFA). n.d. 外交史料Q&A大正期 [Diplomatic Materials Q&A]. 1919年（大正8年）のパリ講和会議におい て、日本が国際連盟規約に人種差別撤廃を定め ようとしたのは本当ですか [Is It True That at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Japan Sought to Stipulate the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in the Covenant of the League of Nations?]. JMOFA website. www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/annai/honsho/shiryo/qa/taisho_02.html#09.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu加瀬俊一 and Hideaki, Kase 加瀬 英明. 1990. 昭和が燃えた日 [The Day Showa Burned]. Tokyo: Kōgensha.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu (edited by Rowe, David Nelson). 1950. Journey to the Missouri. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu 加瀬俊一. 1951a. ミズリー號への道程 [Road to Missouri]. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū Shinsha.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu 加瀬俊一.1951b世界と日本: 第二次大戰後の國際情勢 [The World and Japan: International Affairs after World War II]. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu 加瀬俊一. 1981.日本外交の憂鬱 [The Melancholy of Japanese Diplomacy]. Tokyo: Yamate Shobō.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu 加瀬俊一. 1986. 加瀬 俊一 回 想錄 [Memories of Kase Toshikazu]. Tokyo: Yamate Shobō.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu 加瀬俊一.. 1994. 日米戦争は回 避できた : 歴史の証人として真相を語る [The US-Japan War Could Have Been Avoided: Telling the Truth as a Witness to History]. Tokyo: Zenponsha.Google ScholarPubMed
Kase, Toshikazu加瀬俊一. 2003回想の戦時外交 [Reminiscences of Wartime Diplomacy]. Tokyo: Bensei Shuppan.Google Scholar
Kase, Toshikazu加瀬俊一. 2004. あの時「昭和」が変わった：一〇一歲、最後の証言 [‘Showa’ Changed at That Time:101 Years Old, the Last Testimony]. Tokyo: Kōbunsha.Google ScholarPubMed
Kase, Hideaki加瀬英明. 2022. ‘List of Publications.’ CiNii Books website. ci.nii.ac.jp/author/DA00590119.Google Scholar
Konishi, Hiroyuki小西洋之. 2019. 参議院、第200回国会（臨時会）質問主意書 (質問第一二一号 [House of Councilors, the 200th National Assembly (Provisional Session) Question Paper (No. 121)], 9 December.' House of Councilors website, 9 December. www.sangiin.go.jp/japanese/joho1/kousei/syuisyo/200/syuh/s200121.htm.Google Scholar
Kowner, Rotem. 2020. ‘The Repatriation of Surrendered Japanese Troops, 1945–47.’ In In the Ruins of the Japanese Empire: Imperial Violence, State Destruction, and the Reordering of Modern East Asia, edited by Kushner, Barak and Levidis, Andrew, pp. 121–38. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Lummis, C. Douglas. 2018. ‘We, the Japanese People: Rethinking the Meaning of the Peace Constitution.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 16(5), no. 2. apjjf.org/2018/5/Lummis.html.Google Scholar
Mark, Ethan. 2018. Japan's Occupation of Java in the Second World War: A Transnational History. London: Bloomsbury.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCormack, Gavan. 2007. ‘Fitting Okinawa into Japan the “Beautiful Country”.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 5(5). apjjf.org/-Gavan-McCormack/2437/article.html.Google Scholar
McCormack, Gavan. 2022. ‘Abe Shinzo: Contentious Candidate for a State Funeral.’ In ‘The Abe Legacy: A Compendium,’ edited by David McNeill, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20(16), no. 11. apjjf.org/2022/16/McNeil.html.Google Scholar
McNeill, David and Hornyak, Tim. 2022. ‘My Country, Right or Wrong.’ Number 1 Shimbun, December. www.fccj.or.jp/index.php/number-1-shimbun-article/my-country-right-or-wrong.Google Scholar
McNeill, David. 2015. ‘Nippon Kaigi and the Radical Conservative Project to Take Back Japan.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 13(50), no. 4. apjjf.org/-David-McNeill/4409.Google Scholar
McNeill, David. 2022. ‘The Abe Legacy: A Compendium.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20(16), no. 11. apjjf.org/2022/16/McNeil.html.Google Scholar
Mizohata, Sachie. 2016. ‘Nippon Kaigi: Empire, Contradiction, and Japan's Future.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 14(21), no. 4. apjjf.org/2016/21/Mizohata.html.Google Scholar
Mullins, Mark. 2021. Yasukuni Fundamentalism: Japanese Religions and the Politics of Restoration. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Mullins, Mark. 2022. ‘Abe and the Revival of Shinto Nationalism.’ In ‘The Abe Legacy: A Compendium,’ edited by David McNeill, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20(16), no. 11. apjjf.org/2022/16/McNeil.html.Google Scholar
Shinbun, Nihon Keizai. 2023. ‘‘岸田首相、G7広島サミット「核のない世界を目指す」 [Prime Minister Kishida, G7 Hiroshima Summit “Aiming for a World Without Nuclear Weapons”].’ 日本経済新聞 [Nihon Keizai Shinbun], 1 January. www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA010AF0R00C23A1000000.Google Scholar
Ryall, Julian. 2021. ‘Japanese Communist Party Snubs China's Communist Party on Centenary, Saying It Is “Not Worthy” of Name.’ South China Morning Post, 5 July. www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3139887/japanese-communist-party-snubs-chinas-communist-party-centenary.Google Scholar
Oguma, Eiji 小熊英二 and Naoto, Higuchi 樋口直人 (eds.). 2020. 日本は「右傾化」したのか [Has Japan Turned to the Right?]. Tokyo: Keiō Gijuku Daigaku Shuppankai.Google Scholar
Okano, Kayo. 2018. ‘Prime Minster Abe's Constitutional Campaign and the Assault on Individual Rights.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 16(5), no. 3. apjjf.org/2018/5/Okano.html.Google Scholar
Rabson, Steve. 2021. ‘Six Decades of US-Japanese Government Collusion in Bringing Nuclear Weapons to Japan.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 19(14), no. 3. apjjf.org/2021/14/Rabson.html.Google Scholar
Rabson, Steve. 2022. ‘Training and Deployment of America's Nuclear Cold Warriors in Asia.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20(17), no. 11. apjjf.org/2022/18/Rabson.html.Google Scholar
Saaler, Sven. 2013. ‘Bad War or Good War? History and Politics in Post-war Japan.’ In Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan, edited by Kingston, Jeff, pp. 153–64). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sasagase, Yuji, Keita, Hayashi, and Kei, Sato. 2015. ‘Japan's Largest Rightwing Organization: An Introduction to Nippon Kaigi.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 13(50), no. 5. apjjf.org/-Mine-Masahiro/4410.Google Scholar
Shimazu, Naoko. 1998. Japan, Race and Equality: The Racial Equality Proposal of 1919. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Akahata, Shinbun. 2022. ‘'第２次岸田改造内閣 [Kishida's Second Reshuffled Cabinet].’ しんぶん赤旗 [Shinbun Akahata], 14 August. www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/aik22/2022-08-14/2022081401_01_0.html.Google Scholar
Skabelund, Aaron H. 2022. Inglorious, Illegal Bastards: Japan's Self-Defense Force during the Cold War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Takahashi, Kosuke. 2022. ‘Japan Approves 26.3% Increase in Defense Spending for Fiscal Year 2023.’ The Diplomat, 24 December. thediplomat.com/2022/12/japan-approves-26-3-increase-in-defense-spending-for-fiscal-year-2023.Google Scholar
The Defense Post. 2022. ‘Japan Eyes 56 Percent Increase in Defense Budget Over Five Years.’ The Defense Post, 7 December. www.thedefensepost.com/2022/12/07/japan-defense-budget-increase.Google Scholar
Tsutsui, Kiyotada 筒井清忠 (ed.). 2021. 大正史 講義 [Lectures of Taisho History]. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō.Google Scholar
Tawara, Yoshifumi. 2017. ‘What Is the Aim of Nippon Kaigi, the Ultra-Right Organization That Supports Japan's Abe Administration?’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 15(21), no. 1. apjjf.org/2017/21/Tawara.html.Google Scholar
Wada, Haruki (translated by McCormack, Gavan). 2022. ‘Japan, Korea, and Northeast Asia: The Abe Shinzo Legacy.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20(3), no. 2. apjjf.org/2022/3/Wada-McCormack.html.Google Scholar
Wakazumi, Kei (translated by Nilsson-Wright, John). 2002. The Best Course Available: A Personal Account of the Secret U.S.-Japan Okinawa Reversion Negotiations. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, Tomomi. 2017. ‘The “Japan Is Great!” Boom, Historical Revisionism, and the Government.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 15(6), no. 3. apjjf.org/2017/06/Yamaguchi.html.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, Tomomi. 2020. ‘The “History Wars” and the “Comfort Woman” Issue: Revisionism and the Right-wing in Contemporary Japan and the U.S.’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 18(16), no. 3. apjjf.org/2020/6/Yamaguchi.html.Google Scholar
Yamashita, Eiji 山下英次. 2019. ‘‘日本の人種 差別撤廃提案100周年: 国連の委員会における 「不当な日本批判を正す学者の会」の主張 [100th Anniversary of Japan's Proposal for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Argument of the “Association of Scholars to Correct Unfair Criticism of Japan” in the United Nations Committee].’ 日本国史学 [Nipponkoku Shigaku] 14:54–90.Google Scholar
Yoshida, Takashi. 2006. The Making of the ‘Rape of Nanking’: History and Memory in Japan, China, and the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshida, Takashi. 2018. ‘Debates over Historical Consciousness.’ In Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History, edited by Saaler, Sven and Szpilman, Christopher W.A., pp. 403–20. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar