Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Title: Interview with Simon Avenell – A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation
Podcast: New Books Network, Japanese Studies
Host: Hans Wagenberg
Guest: Simon Avenell
Date: December 23, 2025

This episode features historian Simon Avenell discussing his new book, A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation (University of Hawaii Press, 2025). The conversation explores Japan’s trajectory from the devastation of 1945 to its current status as a major economic and cultural power. Major themes include the evolving meaning of "postwar" (Sengo), debates about rupture vs. continuity in Japanese history, the transformative and conservative aspects of the US Occupation, Japan’s economic and cultural shifts, and the enduring legacies and generational perceptions of the postwar era.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Motivation for the Book & Defining "Postwar"

[03:00–11:46]

• Avenell’s interest in postwar Japan stems from 30 years of research and teaching. He felt the field needed a new, integrative English-language synthesis spanning politics, economy, society, culture, and Japan’s global place.

• He notes the symmetry: 80 years post-1945, paralleling the 77 years of Meiji–Wartime Japan (1868–1945), making now an apt time for reflection.

• The book’s subtitle -- Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation -- frames internal transitions within the postwar era.

• Avenell is interested in both the "post" and the "war" of "postwar":

  • Post: Stability, democracy, and affluence were embraced as a new generational identity for many.
  • War: A sense of victimization and emotional distance from wartime responsibility were embedded in public consciousness.

• The term "postwar" persists in Japanese discourse, even as the nature of that era and its sense of identity have shifted.

  "My sense also was that the field was ready for an updated kind of comprehensive narrative...covering 1945 to the present that integrates politics, economy, society, culture, environment, and Japan's place in the world."
  — Simon Avenell [03:19]

  "The postwar, in certain ways, becomes a kind of default identity rather than a temporary stage just after the war."
  — Simon Avenell [07:02]

2. Continuity and Rupture: 1945 as ‘Zero Hour’?

[11:46–19:26]

• The book opens in 1868 to show enduring continuities, but Avenell still argues for a decisive rupture in 1945.

  • The Japanese empire dissolved almost overnight.
  • Political and institutional transformations: new constitution, democratization, demilitarization, purges of militarists.
  • However, old bureaucratic structures and the emperor system survived (albeit transformed).
  • The era is thus a hybrid: radical discontinuity in some areas, enduring continuities in others.

• This duality is key to understanding Japan’s complex transformation.

  "Japan's zero hour...is incomplete and it's ambiguous. Japan's imperial institutions partially survived, especially the emperor system. So I guess this hybrid of rupture and continuity is at the core of my narrative that Japan experienced multiple post wars."
  — Simon Avenell [16:46]

3. Occupation and the 1950s: Transformation vs. Continuity

[20:04–31:02]

• The US occupation initiated sweeping reforms:

  • Expanded civil liberties, women’s suffrage, legal protection for labor, and landmark land reforms.
  • Demilitarization and the symbolic preservation of the emperor.
  • Bureaucratic continuity: Japanese bureaucracies enabled occupation governance and grew more powerful.

• Yet the "reverse course" of the late occupation period prioritized stability, anti-communism, and conservative power over radical reform.

  • Democracy became linked with anti-communism under Cold War pressures.
  • Conservative rule was cemented with the 1955 system and the rise of the Liberal Democratic Party.
  • Economic growth was propelled by the Korean War.

• Avenell highlights the tension between democratization and containment, arguing the occupation was ultimately more transformational, though many continuities persisted.

  "The occupation as we know couldn't have happened without the assistance of the Japanese bureaucracy. The occupation forces needed them...the occupation helps maintain that continuity of bureaucratic influence."
  — Simon Avenell [23:31]

  "The reverse cause is absolutely important on all those levels...It's not simply a process of democratization then being replaced by policies of anti communism, but rather the interesting thing for me is the kind of inherent tensions and also the resonances between democratization and anti communism."
  — Simon Avenell [28:45]

4. From ‘The Age of Politics’ to ‘The Age of the Economy’: High Growth, Urbanization, and Youth

[31:02–39:37]

• Major global trend: By the late 1950s, cultural and economic shifts outpaced political change.

• Urbanization, rising education, spread of consumer durables ("three electronic treasures" — TVs, washing machines, refrigerators) led to standardized lifestyles and new values.

• Youth activism and culture rose sharply in the 1960s:

  • Student protests against the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty (1960), anti-Vietnam War, and radical politics.
  • The Tokyo Olympics (1964), Shinkansen, and mass media gave Japan global prominence.
  • Avenell places this cultural rupture in the mid-50s through early 70s, rather than immediately after 1945.

  "The period from around the late 1950s onwards witnesses some really, really interesting cultural transformations...the 1960s certainly transformed everyday life in Japan in ways that were as fundamental as...the political reforms of earlier years."
  — Simon Avenell [33:27]

5. The 1970s–80s: Crisis, Corporate Japan, and Standardization

[39:37–47:37]

• After radical youth movements of the 1960s/early 70s, student activism faded, and youth were recast as politically apathetic or culturally absorbed.

• The 1970s, marked by economic shocks (Nixon shock, oil crisis), were a key transitional period:

  • Economic: Decline of heavy industry, forced innovation, and labor restructuring.
  • Cultural: Rising questioning of growth ideology, increased environmental consciousness, and doors opening for social activism (especially for women).
  • Social: Further standardization and the dominance of the "corporate Japan" model — stable employment, enterprise unions, and middle-class consciousness.

• Despite the 1989 economic bubble burst, many features of late Showa society survived into the Heisei era.

  "The 1970s...these years are important in fundamental ways in terms of a kind of post war transition...a phase of transition in the post war era...accompanied by a wider questioning...of the growth model of unbridled growth up until that moment."
  — Simon Avenell [43:56]

6. Heisei Japan (Post-1989): Crisis, New Capitalism, and the Legacy of ‘Postwar’

[47:37–54:07]

• The bursting of the asset bubble (early 90s) shook the pillars of postwar corporate society (lifetime employment, enterprise unions).

• Rise of non-regular employment, precarity, demographic challenges (aging, depopulation), and the end of unbridled state-led growth.

• A new phase of "re-Asianization": deeper economic, cultural, and political ties to China, Southeast Asia, and the region.

• This engagement necessitated confronting unresolved legacies of the war and regional tensions.

• Avenell emphasizes the persistence of "postwar" as a framework, especially as Japan continues to grapple with history, memory, and generational shifts.

  "We see a new kind of capitalism emerging in Japan. Non regular employment, rising precarity...On top of that, new demographic challenges...The nature of policymaking starts to move away...from this old model of state led developmentalism opening the door to...neoliberal forms of policymaking."
  — Simon Avenell [48:06]

7. Is the Postwar Over? Generational Consciousness and the Unfinished Past

[54:07–58:46]

• The question of whether Japan remains "postwar" is open-ended.

  • The "postwar" mentality persists, but is fading as baby boomer generations pass.
  • There’s no better term for the era since 1945, given its unique historical cohesion.

• National identity, unresolved questions with Asia, and dependency on the U.S. all complicate any sense of closure.

• The war's shadow remains: unlike Germany after reunification, Japan’s past is unresolved and continues to shape identity and policy.

  "No, I don't think it's over as a mentality, as a way of understanding the world that Japanese live in...It's becoming weaker over time...this era since 1945 does represent a whole that we can look at as a whole in certain ways."
  — Simon Avenell [54:11], [55:55]

8. New Research: Generationalism in Postwar Japan

[58:46–61:01]

• Avenell previews his next project: a study of "generationalism"—how generation talk shapes political, social, and cultural discourse in postwar Japan.

• Japan’s rich tradition of naming cohorts (from postwar sunchildren to the "lost generation") will illuminate broader shifts in attitudes, behaviors, and policymaking.

  "Japan has been really, really rich...in generational labeling...ways that [generations] became explanatory tools...for all kinds of phenomenon...I thought that generation perhaps is an interesting way to try and dig into...post war Japan from a, from a different perspective that we haven't seen to date."
  — Simon Avenell [59:25]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the durability of "postwar" as a concept:

  "Even though the notion and the understanding of the post war changes over time, it's still there in public discourse right throughout this period."
  — Simon Avenell [11:37]

• On the hybrid nature of Japan’s post-1945 transformation:

  “Japan's zero hour...is incomplete and it's ambiguous. Japan's imperial institutions partially survived, especially the emperor system...this hybrid of rupture and continuity is at the core of my narrative.”
  — Simon Avenell [16:46]

• On postwar generational consciousness:

  "The post aspect of the post war...represents the ways that many Japanese embrace this new era or embrace the stability, the democracy and the peace and the affluence of this new era."
  — Simon Avenell [07:12]

• On the continuing challenge of defining Japan’s recent history:

  "I called this book a history of post war Japan because I couldn't think of another title that I could use for the era...this era since 1945 does represent a whole that we can look at as a whole in certain ways."
  — Simon Avenell [55:33]

• On the global relevance of Japan’s trajectory:

  "Japan is not very different from other places...where the meaning of democracy is really tested during the Cold War."
  — Hans Wagenberg [31:02]

Important Timestamps and Segments

• [03:00] — Why write this book now? The need for a new narrative.
• [06:34] — What does "postwar" (Sengo) signify?
• [12:56] — Rupture and continuity: “Zero hour” and the prewar–postwar divide.
• [20:50] — Occupation reforms: transformation vs. continuity.
• [26:18] — Democratization, anti-communism, and the “reverse course.”
• [32:31] — The rise of youth, culture, and the age of affluence.
• [42:44] — 1970s transition: student activism fades, environmentalism rises.
• [47:37] — Heisei upheavals: economic bubble, new capitalism, demographic woes.
• [50:51] — Re-engagement with Asia, war memory, and unfinished business.
• [54:11] — Is "postwar" truly over? Generational perspectives.
• [58:46] — Preview of future research: generational politics and labeling in Japan.

Closing Thoughts

Avenell’s work, as discussed in this episode, offers a nuanced portrait of Japan’s complex journey since 1945, embracing both its ruptures and continuities. The persistence—and evolution—of the “postwar” identity stands at the heart of modern Japan’s story, underpinned by ongoing generational change and the unfinished business of history. The episode is a valuable listen for anyone interested in postwar transformation, memory, and the ways both historians and nations grapple with the legacies of profound national change.