| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

Barak Kushner. The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 2006. Pp. ix, 242. $45.00.
This book concisely and incisively engages several major issues of interpretation regarding Japan's mobilization for the Pacific War. While some points affirm a broad approach to defining responsibility for Japan's military aggression from 1931 to 1945 that is now well established, other arguments break important new ground.	1
Barak Kushner leaves no doubt that the effort to produce propaganda to support Japan's wars in China during the 1930s and the war against the Anglo-American powers after 1941 involved not just the military but also civilians from a number of different professions: academics, journalists, entertainers, and advertisers. In many cases, these civilians volunteered to help out, spurred by both patriotic fervor and an opportunistic desire to promote careers or business by contributing to the war effort. The example that is most fully discussed is the comedians of the traditional rakugo style and the newer, two-person manzai style, who traveled to China in "comfort brigades" and "we want to make you laugh brigades" to entertain the troops. After their return, they wrote patriotic accounts of their experiences for an eager mass audience. Citing such examples, this book sides with those who have argued against the view that during the 1930s the Japanese military dragged a reluctant populace to war and who have stressed that prominent civilians willingly and, in at least some cases eagerly, made important contributions to wartime mobilization. Kushner adds an intriguing observation that the diffuse character of Japanese propaganda enabled it to penetrate more deeply into Japanese society and to survive the trauma of defeat and foreign occupation.	. . .

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