Rise of Modern Japan

This book examines the economic and political rise of China from the perspective of Japan’s economic development. Beginning with Japan’s rise to statehood in the Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333) and detailing the evolution of its economy through to 2018, parallels are drawn with the economic development of China. Many of the challenges Japan faced in the first decades of the 20th century, including nationalism, militarism, income disparities, social deprivation, and economic crisis are applicable to modern day China.

China has emerged amazingly in the last three decades as an economic powerhouse set to play a major global political role, its future posing one of the great questions for the twenty-first century as it grapples with enormous internal challenges. Understanding how that transformation came about and what China constitutes today means understanding its epic journey since 1850 and recognizing how the past influences the present. Jonathan Fenby tells this turbulent story with brilliance and insight, spanning a unique historical panorama, with an extraordinary cast of characters and a succession of huge events.