| Travels in Atomic Sunshine: Australia and the Occupation of Japan Contributor(s): Gerster, Robin (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 1921215348 ISBN-13: 9781921215346 Publisher: Scribe Us OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2008 Annotation: A unique and salutary study of both the neocolonialism of foreign occupation and Australia's characteristic ambivalence about the Asian region, this analysis examines an important period in Australian postwar military history. The book's compelling readability and its interdisciplinary nature as cultural, military, and political history allow it to stand out as an engaging look into the determining factors in Australian international relations. With a highly original focus, this historical account documents the way some participants genuinely relished exercising power over a despised former enemy, while others developed an intimacy with the occupants to become trailblazers for a new era of bilateral friendship. Comprehensively researched, referencing memoirs, fictional and historical accounts of events, as well as archival work in Australia, the U.S., and Japan, this immensely valuable report illuminates the groundwork for a seminal relationship in the world's history. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Asia - Japan - History | Australia & New Zealand - General |
| Dewey: 952.044 |
| LCCN: 2009286231 |
| Physical Information: 1.5" H x 6.4" W x 9.2" (1.35 lbs) 304 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Japanese - Cultural Region - Australian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In February 1946, the Australians of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) moved into western Japan to 'demilitarise and democratise' the atom-bombed backwater of Hiroshima Prefecture. For over six years, up to 20,000 Australian servicemen, including their wives and children, participated in an historic experiment in nation-rebuilding dominated by the United States and the occupation's supreme commander, General MacArthur. It was to be a watershed in Australian military history and international relations. BCOF was one of the last collective armed gestures of a moribund empire. The Chifley government wanted to make Australia's independent presence felt in post-war Asia-Pacific affairs, yet the venture heralded the nation's enmeshment in American geopolitics. This was the forerunner of the today's peacekeeping missions and engagements in contentious US-led military occupations. Yet the occupation of Japan was also a compelling human experience. It was a cultural reconnaissance -- the first time a large number of Australians were able to explore in depth an Asian society and country. It was an unprecedented domestic encounter between peoples with apparently incompatible traditions and temperaments. Many relished exercising power over a despised former enemy, and basked in the 'atomic sunshine' of American Japan. But numerous Australians developed an intimacy with the old enemy, which put them at odds with the 'Jap' haters back home, and became the trailblazers of a new era of bilateral friendship. Travels in Atomic Sunshine is a salutary study of the neocolonialism of foreign occupation, and of Australia's characteristic ambivalence about the Asian region. |
Contributor Bio(s): Gerster, Robin: - Robin Gerster is a professor in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning study Big-noting: the heroic theme in Australian war writing (1987); the travel book Legless in Ginza: orientating Japan (1999); the critical anthologies Hotel Asia (1995) and On the Warpath (2004), and Pacific Exposures: photography and the Australia-Japan relationship (2018), co-authored with Melissa Miles. |
