Political Thought and Japan's New Left Movements

Transformations in Radical Theory

Political Thought and Japan's New Left Movements cover

Description

Arguing for the importance of taking Japanese political thought seriously, this book is the first to bring together authoritative essays by world experts on the thinkers who shaped Japan's New Left movement. In doing so, it demonstrates the distinctiveness and significance of Japanese left-wing thought, providing an invaluable resource for students of twentieth-century radical politics.

Highlighting connections between thinkers, their historical circumstances, and their biographies, Political Thought and Japan's New Left Movements provides concise and accessible overviews of the theoretical approaches developed by key political thinkers and evaluates the development and impact of their ideas.

The 1960s New Left doctrine, which broke with the seemingly outdated orthodox Marxist approach, became a cultural and political force that reshaped, albeit in diverse and unintended ways, the nations in which it emerged. Japan's experience of the New Left was no less dramatic, yet Western thinkers have largely overshadowed the contributions of Japan's New Left. This book finally redresses the balance and shines a light on Japanese New Left interpretations.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part 1 – Exploring the Limits of Marxism
1. Umemoto Katsumi Viren Murthy (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)
2. Kakehashi Akihide Christian Uhl (Ghent University, Belgium)
3. Uno Kozo Mario Malo (UOC Open University of Catalonia, Spain)
4. Hani Goro Ando Takemasa (Musashi University, Japan)
5. Inoue Kiyoshi Curtis A. Gayle (Waseda University, Japan)
Part 2 – Developing a New Marxism
6. Hiromatsu Wataru Raji Steineck (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
7. Kuroda Kan'ichi Ferran de Vargas (University of Edinburgh, UK)
8. Iijima Aiko Takenaka Akiko (University of Kentucky, USA)
9. Takita Osamu William Andrews (Independent Scholar, Japan)
10. Ota Ryu Till Knaudt (Kyoto University, Japan)
Part 3 - Moving Beyond Marxism
11. Yoshimoto Taka'aki Manuel Yang (Japan Women's University, Tokyo)
12. Tanigawa Gan Wesley Sasaki-Umemura (University of Utah, USA)
13. Tokoro Mitsuko Anna Vittinghoff (University of Sheffield, UK)
14. Tanaka Mitsu Yanagiwara Megumi (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
15. Nagasaki Hiroshi Hirose (JunRyukoku University, Japan)
16. Karatani Kojin Carl Cassegard (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 11 Dec 2025
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9781350534704
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Series SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Christopher Perkins

Christopher Perkins is Senior Lecturer in Japanese…

Anthology Editor

Ferran De Vargas

Ferran De Vargas is UKRI Marie Sklodowska-Curie Po…

Related Titles

Environment: Staging