Embracing defeat

Introduction
John Dower offers us his understanding about the socio-cultural changes occurred after the Second World War from a perspective an hermeneutic perspective focused on the comprehension of the actors and subjects. Using critical tools closer to the ethnography and discourse analysis, Dower helps us to understand post-war scenario and the way the American intervention changed forever the way Japanese people comprehend and define themselves and its recent history.
Embracing Defeat Review and critics:
Chapter 1: “Shattered lives”
This chapter describes the living conditions after post-war and occupation and offers an overview on the main psychological, religious and cultural characteristics of life after the occupation.
The author underlines the following topics:
The importance of religion in order to understand how the subjects define themselves and others. In this sense, it was in the name of the emperor that the Japanese people had supported a long war against China and the Allied Powers. In consequence, the hostilities were legitimized in religious ideas associated with the emperor and politics. The war was considered as a Holy war.
Considerations on Death, surrender and the defeat. The difference between the status of Citizenship and the civilian condition of Japanese people in their relation to emperor.
Introduction to the responsibilities of war. During the attacks, Emperor Hirohito was the commander in chief. After the intervention of US in Japan, Hirohito was excluded from any personal responsibility for these many years of aggression. Emperor presented the defeat as a magnanimous act that might save humanity from annihilation. Hirohito offered himself as a representation of the unity of the country.
Taking into account the threats of revolutionary upheaval after the defeat, there was a great interest on maintaining the control and the stability. The allies were willing to dissociate the emperor image from ultimate war responsibilities. On the other hand, the victors showed themselves as liberators who were supposed to complete a mission of liberating Japanese people from a condition of slavery
American democracy as an ideal to follow and its contradictions.
New categories of “improper” people were stigmatized. Psychology of the deprived.

Chapter 2: “Gifts from Heaven”
During the period from August 1945 to April 1952, Japan was subject to a foreign occupation by allied forces. The United States determined the policy over all aspects of the occupation. The initial objectives of the occupation were related to the recovery and maintenance of unity of Japan. It also added demilitarization and disarmament as specific objectives.
This chapter reflects on the mechanisms and processes that were mobilized by the Allied forces in order to transform the image of an enemy into a liberator force. It suggests that the intervention began to be appreciated and judged as a “democratic revolution from above”.
These changes in the attitudes and interpretations on the events can be explained by paying attention to the reconstruction of the image of Hirohito. It also made clear the intentions of the allied forces and especially from United States in their intent to reform the existing Japanese institutions in a recognizable and comprehensible way from the perspective of westerners.
By using the significances attributable to the emperator, the American interim government subverted and manipulated some ideas about the intervention process.
The author says that many people came to regard the American occupation force as an army of liberation and the notion of “democratic revolution” won more adepts. However, there is a big contradiction deriving from the thought that the intervention opened a way for democratic revolution in Japan, taking into account the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Can we consider that the events involving the violent intervention were a present or a gift? We can only find cynicism in this way of thinking and irony of promoting freedom in the context of unconditional surrender.
The author says that psychological considerations were taken into consideration and Mass media resources were used in order to promote values around social, economical and political order. On the contrary, Japanese militarism and nationalism were constructed as reflect of feudalism and anachronism. Ethnocentrism was a clear tendency in the interventions and politics undertaken by the allied forces.
The author reflects that enduring political and social revolutions generally emanate from below. Never had a genuinely democratic revolution been associated with military dictatorship.
As a result of these tendencies, we can say that pragmatism was introduced in Japanese life, changing not only the political and socio-economical order, but also the way people understood reality.
Chapter nine. Imperial democracy: Driving the wedge
This chapter presents the role of Emperor as the heart and soul of ideological indoctrination. In consequence, Emperor Hirohito was holy and sacrosanct. The responsibility of emperor during the war was not placed under revision or judgment. Instead, the US interim government decided to maintain the image of Hirohito as a humanitarian and charismatic leader and did not show him as a responsible for the war. His new role was to be the center of the new democracy. The transmutation of the image and values around the Emperor are of great transcendence on order to understand how the context was prepared for the acceptance of the intervention and the reforms. The new constitution redefined the emperor as the symbol of the state and the unity of the people, but in this case the justification changed and instead of being recognized as a holy person, the new constitution acknowledged that the importance of emperor derived from the will of the people with who resides sovereign power.
Following the questions from the author, we can ask if the occupation has tended to reinforce a colonial mentality or did it have deep roots in Japanese political life.