The book that I am reviewing is titled The Kurillion Knot: A History of Japanese-Russian Border

Clausewitz’s thoughts on war termination effectively summarize the situation for the Japanese and Russian Empires preceding peace negotiations, “Inability to carry on the struggle can, in practice, be

Japan’s decision to isolate themselves from the world created the conflict. Their decision however, was greatly influenced by the Europeans, who constantly tried to take advantage of the

On July 8th, 1853, four US Navy warships, commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, intruded into the Bay of Edo, the former Tokyo. The intimidating fleet of Black Ships, getting their names from the black color of the vessels and the smoke from the steam-powered engines, displayed the formidable military power of the U.S. Navy and forced Japan to end its 220 years of Sakoku(鎖国), the policy of national seclusion. The Personal Journal of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, a three-volume original report narrated by Commodore Perry, documents the fleet’s two expeditions to Japan from 1853 to 1854. This journal serves as one of the most important and comprehensive primary sources for the studies of Japan–United States relations during the 19th century.

Feifer, George. Breaking Open Japan: Commodore Perry, Lord Abe, and American Imperialism in 1853. New York: Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2006. pp. xx, 389 p.: ill., maps; 24 cm. ISBN: 0060884320 (hardcover: alk. paper). Format: Book. Subjects: Japan Foreign relations United States /United States Foreign relations Japan.

George F. Kennan served as an American diplomat with a background in history and political scientist. He was an influential member of the United States State Department during the Truman Administration and under Secretary of State George C. Marshall (George 2014). Kennan wrote an article titles The Sources of Soviet Conduct in which he highlights policies of the Soviet Union as well as the opinionated response of the United States. He strongly vindicates soviet policy as secretive and suspicious, and that a relationship with this nation should be watched with an ever-careful eye (Kennan 2017, 549). The Soviet Union and the principles of communism believe that capitalism is evil, and in their terms “can lead to the exploitation of the working class by capital-owning classes”, (Kennan 2017, 547). Within the article, Kennan explicitly attacks the aggressive expansionist soviet regime. He warns that the soviets adhere to the notion that they have a duty to eventually overthrow or topple other political forces or regimes beyond their indicated borders. The soviets also felt that to keep these policies in check, the system of centralized government must be held in the clenches of a dictator, or totalitarian figure (Kennan 2017, 548). Kennan drew out plans for the United States that would eventually be known as the “containment” policy. He proposed that foreign policy initiatives should pressure the Soviet Union. The policy must focus on a long-term, vigilant containment of Russian

In 1543, three Portuguese travelers aboard a Chinese ship accidentally drifted ashore on Tanegashima, a Japanese Island. Within a few short years, a myriad of Portuguese merchants, missionaries, and settlers began to arrive in the country and ushered in almost a century of Portuguese imperial presence in Japan. This time period was a unique era in the history of European imperialism, and it is important to evaluate it from multiple points of view. This comparison is easily done with records such as, Captain Alexander Hamilton’s A New Account of the East Indies: Descriptions of Japan and Engelbert Kaempfer’s History of Japan. These two works are both first-hand accounts of the European interactions with the Japanese people. Indeed, these two

The Author, John Dower, argues the conflict between the United States and Japan and how it was fundamentally rooted in the mutual hatred of both nations. The death and destruction during

Throughout the work, Fujitani draws evidence from, and references, a plethora of different sources that add validity to his statements and accounts of not only what the Japanese and United States did, but also why they acted the way they did. In a time of war, both countries took different actions that were not readily understood. Japan

“Japan has been alternatively receptive or closed to outside influences.” (Irving, Richard, & A.Stanley, Thomas, 2017). For centuries Japan was closed off from

Since the 1990s, tensions between Japan and China have been on the rise on the topic of the Senkaku, or Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea. The eight uninhabited islets, which are believed to be near rich oil and natural gas deposits, have been administered by Japan but historically claimed by China. China, asserting that its Ming Dynasty, which was from the years 1368-1644, covered the islets as part of its territory and included them on various maps and documents. However, China had never established a settlement of civilians or military on these islands. Japan, however, contests that there is no territorial dispute on the basis that it “laid claim to the islets on January 14, 1895, when the Japanese Cabinet issued a decision to

Michael Green and Nicholas Szechenyi, Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics (New York: Routledge, 2011), p. 334; Richard Sameuls, Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007): p. 98.

During the Meiji regime, which was the Government of Japan decided to modernize foreign relations, which was an important stride in making Japan a complete member of the international community. The traditional view of the Far East was not based on an international society but rather on cultural differences. It preferred artists, scholars, and Monks rather than professional diplomats, had been the conveyors of foreign agenda. During this time it, was difficult to differentiate Japans Foreign relations to its sovereign’s desires.

The circumstances of regional instability due to the veiled antagonism of countries such as North Korea, China, and Russia have resulted in dramatic contrasts between the methods Japan used to maintain a positive relationship with the United States in the 1990’s after the Cold War compared to in the years following the first decade of the 2000’s. However, these contrasts tend to be limited by the stipulations of past agreements that were part of Japan’s tremendous

The Dokdo Islets – also called the “Liancourt Rocks” – are at the center of a sorely disputed territorial issue between South Korea and Japan. It is an issue that has lasted for more than a century, and continues to the present day. The islets are located in the middle of the East Sea, and are believed to be rich in resources and harbor natural gas reserves. To the Koreans, the islets are known as “Dokdo”. However, to the Japanese, they are known as “Takeshima”. Thus, from the onset of the interpretation of the names alone, it is a debate over ownership that has simmered to such a point that it has resulted in an intermittent, ever-present strain in Korean-Japanese relations. As with every debate, there are differing viewpoints and vehement opinions, and the Dokdo Islets issue is no exception.

As years went by documents slowly started revealing Japan’s true intentions for the island “thus, the Japanese Foreign Affairs Department has craftily tried to sanitize the Dokdo issue by claiming this is a territorial land dispute” (Dokdo-Takeshima 13).