Re-Imagining Shakespeare in Contemporary Japan: A Selection of Japanese Theatrical Adaptations of Shakespeare

Abstract

writing in this style of poetry in early post-war era publications as a means of atoning for Japan’s aggression in China and elsewhere. Some of them had prewar connections with China, which illustrates again the through-line common to all of the contributions to this volume. Prewar Japanese appear in the early post-war histories of all the countries of East and Southeast Asia, as do former colonial subjects in post-war Japan’s history, and the ironic dynamics and often ephemeral connections that emerged make for interesting or titillating classroom asides. Yet assembling some of these histories together into a single volume throws a spotlight on the chaos and wonder of this milieu, even if this volume only scratches the surface. More was going on, and only some are mentioned in the volume’s footnotes. Kushner is right – as the Japanese imperial state collapsed, a host of local and regional initiatives did emerge, leading not only to a winding down of the war, but to a ramping up of widespread and individual efforts to seize the new day, seeking to take advantage of aid from distant lands in order to help cement their gains, whatever the cost. In the introduction’s conclusion, Kushner goes so far as to suggest that this volume helps explain how the efforts outlined here ‘set the stage for unexpected intraregional alliances and relations, as well as animosities, in the early years of the Cold War’ and asserts that it ‘will put postimperial history and the process of decolonization back at the forefront of the postwar narrative’ (22). The former is certainly true, and, given the growing interest in transwar and transnational studies in general of late, the latter assertion is likely to prove correct as well. As the varied initiatives in the wake of empire’s fall across this region merit closer scrutiny, this is a book that libraries should have on their shelves if their curriculum includes courses on modern Asian history, along with other work stemming from the European Research Council funded project awarded to Dr Kushner that enabled this publication.