Naoki Sakai's The End of Pax Americana is a collection of thoughtful essays on Japan's postwar historiography and national identity. Not all the essays directly relate to the “end of Pax Americana” per se, especially relative to China, the topic that likely draws most attention from potential readers today. Nevertheless, the book would be a worthy read for anyone who is broadly interested in Japanese history and political thought, US-Japan relations, and the West versus the Rest relationship.
To recap the book's arguments: Japan was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the US-led international order established after World War II. In the process, however, Japan was reduced to an “empire under subcontract” (197) or even “America's Manchu-kuo” (208). Acting as a pawn of American empire, Japan also failed to shed its old imperialist mindset because Japan was allowed to continue behaving as a big brother to its Asian neighbors. However,...
