Takemae, Eiji 1930-

views updated

TAKEMAE, Eiji 1930-

PERSONAL: Born August 4, 1930, in Japan; son of Kikutaro and Tokuno Takemae (farmers); married Atsuko; children: Kenichi. Education: Tokyo Kyoiku University, B.A., 1955; Tokyo Metropolitan University, M.A., 1963, Ph.D., 1971; attended graduate school at University of Hawaii and University of California, Berkeley. Religion: Buddhist.

ADDRESSES: Home—1129-52 Kiso-machi, Machidashi, Tokyo 194-0033, Japan. E-mail—est@tihic.com.

CAREER: Tokyo Keizai University, professor, 1974-2004, professor emeritus, 2004—; Chuo University, lecturer, 1968-2001, Fulbright visiting professor, 1977-78.

AWARDS, HONORS: Most Distinguished Publication in the Field of Labor and Industrial Relations Award, Japan Institute of Labor and Yomiuri Shimbun-sha, 1983.

WRITINGS:

Amerika Tainichi Rodo Seisaku no Kenkyu (title means "Study of U.S. Labor Policy for Japan"), Ninon Hyoron-sha (Tokyo, Japan), 1970.

Senryo Sengoshi (title means "The Occupation and Japanese Postwar History"), Soshisya (Tokyo, Japan), 1980, revised edition, Iwanami Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1992.

Sengo Rodo Kaikaku: GHQ Rodo Seisakushi (title means "Postwar Labor Reform: History of GHQ Labor Policy"), Tokyo University Press (Tokyo, Japan), 1982.

Shogen Nihon Senryoshi: GHQ Rodoka no Gunzo (annotated interviews, title means "The History of Occupied Japan: Labor Crows in GHQ/SCAP"), Iwanami Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1983.

GHQ, Iwanami Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1983.

DDT Kakumei: Senryoki no Iryo Fukushi Seisaku o Kaisosuru (title means "The DDT Revolution: Looking Back at the Reform of Medicine and Social Welfare during the Occupation"), Iwanami Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1986.

Nihon Senryo: GHQ Kokan no Shogen (title means "Occupation of Japan: Interview with GHQ High Officers"), Chuo Koronsha (Tokyo, Japan), 1988.

GHQ Rodoka no Hito to Seisaku (title means "Reformers and Policies of Labor Division, GHQ/SCAP"), MT Shuppan (Tokyo, Japan), 1991.

Nihon no Rodo-roudoukaikaku, roudouhou, roudouundou (annotated documents, title means "Labor in Japan: Labor Reforms, Labor Laws and Labor Movements"), Yushisha (Tokyo, Japan), 1992.

Sengo Nihon no Genten (title means "Starting Points of Postwar Japan"), Yushisha (Tokyo, Japan), 1992.

Kenpo Seiteishi (title means "The History of Remaking the Japanese Constitution"), Shogakkan (Tokyo, Japan), 2000.

Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and Its Legacy, translated and adapted from the Japanese by Robert Ricketts and Sebastian Swann, Continuum (New York, NY), 2002, also published as The Allied Occupation of Japan, Continuum (2003).

Shogaisha Seisaku no Kokusai Hikaku (title means "Comparative Studies of Policies on Persons with Disabilities"), Akashi Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 2002.

Kenpo Bunken Daijiten: 1945 (Showa 20) nen-2002 (Heisei 14) nen (annotated bibliography of Japanese Constitution), Nihon Tosho Senta (Tokyo, Japan), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Professor, political scientist, and historian Eiji Takemae is an expert in what is known as "occupation history," or senryoshi, "which has become an important subfield of Japanese historical studies," according to reviewer Yoichi Nakano in Public Affairs. A groundbreaker in the field, Takemae researches and writes on the post-World War II occupation of Japan by the victorious American forces, particularly the reforms and influence of the American General Headquarters (GHQ) from 1945 to 1952. A translation of Takemae's work, Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and Its Legacy "presents a very detailed and comprehensive analysis of the structure of GHQ and its reform programs while incorporating a number of episodes from the political as well as social and cultural history of occupied Japan," Nakano remarked. The book is "exemplary in its clarity and in its concern for factual accuracy," noted Richard Sims in History Today.

In the years following World War II, General Douglas MacArthur and the GHQ imposed significant changes on Japan. The constitution was revised, land was redistributed, politics were liberalized, economic change was implemented, and the overall treatment of minorities was improved. Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, was left in a position of symbolic power, "a symbol of national unity in a democratic society," instead of being tried as a war criminal, remarked William K. Tabb in Monthly Review. "This particular crucial choice [made by MacArthur] was based on the judgment that leaving the Emperor in place while redefining his role would make the job of the Occupation easier," Tabb noted.

Takemae provides detailed profiles of both American and Japanese personnel who were charged with implementing the new policies and reforms. "Indeed, a major strength of this study is the densely woven fabric of the many elements of the story, the civil servants, both Japanese and American, the academics and movement activists, the politicians and military figures, who shaped the Occupation's effects," Tabb commented. As the reforms were developed, conflicts occurred between liberals who wanted to reshape Japan in ways resembling the New Deal in the United States and conservative military personnel and bureaucrats who feared that liberal reform would provide communism with a perfect opportunity to surge throughout Japan. In particular, Takemae emphasizes "the role of Japanese people who embraced the progressive reforms" and created the atmosphere in which the GHQ's changes could be implemented successfully, noted Nakano. Cold war anticommunist sentiment led to reversal of some of the liberal political changes in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but in the end, the American occupation created "the foundation for a modern, democratic Japan," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

"Inside GHQ provides both specialists and general readers with a masterful account of the Occupation, focusing on the origin, structure, personnel, and policies of General MacArthur's headquarters and those men and women—Japanese and American—who shaped its decisions," commented Michael Schaller in Journal of Asian Studies. "Few books about contemporary Japan are as detailed, penetrating, and compellingly objective as this overview of the postwar half-century," stated the Publishers Weekly critic. Takemae's work "takes its place as one of the most important studies of the post-1945 years," asserted Sims. "The summation of a lifetime of study, this is the definitive English-language work on its subject," concluded Library Journal reviewer Steven I. Levine.

Takemae told CA: "The motivation of my writing of The Allied Occupation of Japan derives from, first, my high school experience of learning English conversation from American soldiers and their families. I was very interested in American democracy. Secondly, as an East West Center grantee at the graduate schools of the University of Hawaii and the University of California, Berkeley, I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation in 1970 on U.S. Labor Policy for Japan. I explored the impact of U.S. labor policy, including GHQ SCAP policies, on Japanese postwar labor policy, union movements, and labor relations systems. Subsequently, I expanded my research field to all aspects of the U.S. occupation of Japan. I discussed the impact American democracy had on the democratization of Japanese postwar political, economical, social, and cultural systems and how Japanese received and absorbed it.

"My recent interest is how we should promote the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities and their right to access public facilities and public transportation. I had a small experience to contribute to the legislation promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, accompanied by a service dog, to full access to public facilities and public transportation."