Category: History

Nuclear Power in Japan

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In recent months UH Press author Martin Dusinberre has written online editorial pieces on the history and future of Japan’s nuclear program for Reuters, the History Workshop, and The Guardian.

Dusinberre is lecturer in modern Japanese history at Newcastle University, UK. He is the author of the forthcoming Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan, available March 2012.

Hard Times in the Hometown tells the story of Kaminoseki, a small town on Japan’s Inland Sea. Once one of the most prosperous ports in the country, Kaminoseki fell into profound economic decline following Japan’s reengagement with the West in the late nineteenth century. Using a recently discovered archive and oral histories collected during his years of research in Kaminoseki, Martin Dusinberre reconstructs the lives of households and townspeople as they tried to make sense of their changing place in the world. In challenging the familiar story of modern Japanese growth, Dusinberre provides important new insights into how ordinary people shaped the development of the modern state. His account comes to a climax when, in the 1980s, the town’s councillors request the construction of a nuclear power station, unleashing a storm of protests from within the community. This ongoing nuclear dispute has particular resonance in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima crisis.

Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past

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Hawaiian Surfing

“John Clark, a Hawaiian surfer, lifeguard, firefighter, and historian, has studied Hawaiian, read Hawaiian sources on surfing, and built up a massive file of these texts for analysis and translation. More recently, he has tapped into the growing online database of Hawaiian-language articles on native history and culture that were published from the 1830s to the 1940s. By searching out practically every known reference to Hawaiian surfing, Clark has produced an amazing study of the sport, one that far surpasses any previous work. Furthermore, because he has included so much rich source material here, presented in both Hawaiian and English translation, this compilation will long serve as a treasury of traditional surfing lore—one that allows readers to delve deep and come up with their own understanding of Hawaiian surfing.” —Ben Finney, emeritus professor of anthropology, University of Hawai‘i

Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past is a history of the traditional sport narrated primarily by native Hawaiians who wrote for the Hawaiian-language newspapers of the 1800s. An introductory section covers traditional surfing, including descriptions of the six Hawaiian surf-riding sports (surfing, bodysurfing, canoe surfing, body boarding, skimming, and river surfing). This is followed by an exhaustive Hawaiian-English dictionary of surfing terms and references from Hawaiian-language publications and a special section of Waikiki place names related to traditional surfing. The information in each of these sections is supported by passages in Hawaiian, followed by English translations. The work concludes with a glossary of English-Hawaiian surfing terms and an index of proper names, place names, and surf spots.

May 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3414-2 / $24.00 (PAPER)

The Day the Sun Rose in the West

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The Day the Sun Rose in the West

The Day the Sun Rose in the West: Bikini, the Lucky Dragon, and I is a compelling account of an incident that few of us remember today, but which had an impact far beyond the few fishermen on the Lucky Dragon #5 who were irradiated in the Bravo test sixty-some years ago. It is a glimpse of the world situation at the time through the lens of the unfortunate fate of the ship and its crew. The author captures the tension between Japan and the U.S. over the incident, which occurred soon after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the anti-nuclear testing crusade that was beginning even back then, the self-righteous insistence of a nuclear power on continuing nuclear tests even while asserting limited responsibility for damages, and so much more” -—Francis X. Hezel, S.J., director of Micronesian Seminar

On March 1, 1954, the U.S. exploded a hydrogen bomb at Bikini in the South Pacific. The fifteen-megaton bomb was a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, and its fallout spread far beyond the official “no-sail” zone the U.S. had designated. Fishing just outside the zone at the time of the blast, the Lucky Dragon #5 was showered with radioactive ash. Making the difficult voyage back to their homeport of Yaizu, twenty-year-old Oishi Matashichi and his shipmates became ill from maladies they could not comprehend. They were all hospitalized with radiation sickness, and one man died within a few months. The Lucky Dragon #5 became the focus of a major international incident, but many years passed before the truth behind U.S. nuclear testing in the Pacific emerged. Late in his life, overcoming social and political pressures to remain silent, Oishi began to speak about his experience and what he had since learned about Bikini. This is his story.

A Latitude 20 Book
May 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3557-6 / $18.00 (PAPER)

Joint Ownership of Arable Land in Early Modern Japan

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Cultivating Commons
Cultivating Commons: Joint Ownership of Arable Land in Early Modern Japan, by Philip C. Brown, challenges the common understanding of Japanese economic and social history by uncovering diverse landholding practices from the late sixteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. In this first extended treatment of multiple systems of farmland ownership, Brown argues that it was joint landownership of arable land, not virtually private landownership, that characterized a few large areas of Japan in the early modern period and even survived in some places down to the late twentieth century. The practice adapted to changing political and economic circumstances and was compatible with increasing farm involvement in the market. Brown shows that land rights were the product of villages and, to some degree, daimyo policies and not the outcome of hegemons’ and shoguns’ cadastral surveys. Joint ownership exhibited none of the “tragedy of the commons” predicted by much social science theory and in fact explicitly structured a number of practices compatible with longer-term investment in and maintenance of arable land.

“Property rights can ignite social conflict and trigger economic growth, and they are far more complicated than most social scientists have imagined. In Cultivating Commons, Philip Brown analyzes the joint ownership rights that were created by early modern Japanese villagers and survived well into the modern period. In part, the joint ownerships rights reduced the risks posed by flooding, landslides, and other environmental dangers, but that was not their sole purpose, for they also helped preserve equity and coordinate efforts of land reclamation. The book combines careful historical research with imaginative use of geographical data, and it will be essential reading for historians and social scientists who work on Japan, on rural society, on property rights and the environment, and on the political economy of development.” —Philip Hoffman, Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and Professor of History, California Institute of Technology

April 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3392-3 / $52.00 (CLOTH)

The Politics of War, Memory, and History in the Mariana Islands

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Cultures of CommemorationIn 1941 the Japanese military attacked the US naval base Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu. Although much has been debated about this event and the wider American and Japanese involvement in the war, few scholars have explored the Pacific War’s impact on Pacific Islanders.Cultures of Commemoration: The Politics of War, Memory, and History in the Mariana Islands, by Keith L. Camacho, fills this crucial gap in the historiography by advancing scholarly understanding of Pacific Islander relations with and knowledge of American and Japanese colonialisms in the twentieth century.

“Cultures of Commemoration performs a unique intervention into existing studies of the memory of the Pacific War in its astute analysis of the complex intersections of commemoration, colonialism, tourism, and indigenous memory at work in the Marianas Islands. In Guam, commemoration that is shaped by narratives of loyalty and liberation are shown by Keith Camacho to be layered with postcolonial ambivalence and contestation. Camacho’s study shows us that the study of indigenous memory is not only crucial to the field of memory studies but a key framework through which the politics of memory will be rethought.” —Marita Sturken, New York University, author of Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero

Pacific Islands Monograph Series, No. 25
May 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3546-0 / $52.00 (CLOTH)
Published in association with the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i

Sumo Fan Magazine Reviews Big Happiness

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Many thanks to Chris Gould at Sumo Fan Magazine for his thoughtful review of Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior, by Mark Panek. While acknowledging that, for sumo cognoscenti, the book “cannot be awarded full marks for sumo content,” Gould writes:

“Panek has worked his fingers to the bone to produce some fine research into Hawaiian culture, and this book must rank as one of the most fun academic texts ever. It’s no mean feat to make a history and cultural book so accessible and readable, all the time drawing you into the character of Percy.”

Read Shoal of Time for Extra Credit!

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The New York Times review of Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell’s* trek through Hawai‘i’s past and present, urges readers to “check out” UH Press’ Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands “for extra credit.” We agree!

Gavan Daws’ classic work, first published in 1974, is still widely recognized as the best attempt at a broad, accessible history of Hawai‘i from the arrival of Cook in 1778 to statehood in 1959.

*Sarah Vowell will be at the Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival on Sunday.

More Big Happiness

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Susan Schultz’s Tinfish Editor’s Blog features a great review of Mark Panek’s Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior. The review comes in the later half of a nice, lengthy post on Susan’s fondness for the Windward side and memories of biking Okana Road, where Percy Kipapa was killed in 2005. Here’s how it starts–but read the entire post, “Grounded by Happiness,” for the full effect!

For some reason (a recent adoption? soon-to-be trip away from home? not yet bike-riding on Okana Drive?) I do not remember the murder of Percy Kipapa in May, 2005 on Okana Road. He had just come from a stop at the 7-Eleven across from the Hygienic Store. Even more strangely, I don’t remember the trial of his murderer a year later, a trial that was covered diligently by local media. So it was with a strange sense of a missing memory, one that ought to have firmly lodged there, that I read Mark Panek’s new University of Hawai`i Press book, Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior. I am grateful for this book for many reasons: it is at once a loving elegy to the author’s friend, a history of Windward O`ahu since statehood (1959), an incisive piece of investigative journalism about land and water issues, development, and the crystal meth (ice) epidemic of the 1990s and 2000s. That epidemic struck all of Hawai`i–in fact, it struck many places like Hawai`i, where rural dreams run dry and the only way to make a living is to leave, join the military, hope to make it as an athlete–but it struck Kahalu`u particularly hard. It is also a book about Okana Road, about an area I know, however superficially, from the seat of my Specialized bike.

The Office for Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) radio show, Na ‘Oiwi ‘Olino, recently hosted a discussion of Big Happiness with Mrs. Priscilla Kipapa, Kevin Chang (OHA Land Manager), and the author. Listen to the broadcast here: http://am940hawaii.com/Player/100932661/

Waves of Resistance Book Launch

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Waves of ResistanceUniversity of Hawai‘i Press will launch the publication of Waves of Resistance: Surfing and History in Twentieth-Century Hawai‘i, by Isaiah Helekunihi Walker, on Saturday, May 7, 2011, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i, Ward Warehouse (‘ewa end), 1050 Ala Moana Boulevard, phone: 597-8967.

Dr. Walker will give a talk and answer questions on his work, followed by a book signing, refreshments, and informal discussion. The public is invited to attend the free event. Books will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

A Bibliographic History of Guam

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GuahanBlending bibliographic integrity with absorbing essays on a wide range of historical interpretations, Guahan: A Bilbiographic History, by Nicholas Goetzfridt, offers a new approach to the history of Guam. Here is a treasure trove of ideas, historiographies, and opportunities that allows readers to reassess previously held notions and conclusions about Guam’s past and the heritage of the indigenous Chamorro people. Particular attention is given to Chamorro perspectives and the impact of more than four hundred years of colonial presences on Micronesia’s largest island.

Extensive cross-references and generous but targeted samples of historical narratives compliment the bibliographic essays. Detailed Name and Subject Indexes to the book’s 326 entries cover accounts and interpretations of the island from Ferdinand Magellan’s “discovery” of Guahan (“Guam” in the Chamorro language) in 1521 to recent events, including the Japanese occupation and the American liberation of Guam in 1944. The indexes enable easy and extensive access to a bounty of information. The Place Index contains both large and localized geographic realms that are placed vividly in the context of these histories. An insightful Foreword by Chamorro scholar Anne Perez is included.

“Goetzfridt’s work demonstrates the dynamics of history, each generation considering past events in light of current realities and contemporary understandings of the world. This volume, therefore, is important not simply because it provides us with an invaluable and substantial fount of references that will be supremely useful to teachers, scholars, and all enthusiasts of Mariana Islands history. Its importance lies also in its packaging as a resource for current and future generations to understand the changing face and contested space of Guam history.” —from the Foreword by Anne Perez Hattori

May 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3481-4 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

Making Transcendents Honored

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Making Transcendents: Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China, by Robert Ford Campany, received an honorable mention for the Association for Asian Studies’ 2010 Joseph Levenson Prize (pre-1900 category). The Levenson Prize is awarded annually to English-language books that make the greatest contribution to increasing understanding of the history, culture, society, politics, or economy of China.

Praise for Making Transcendents:

“Campany summarizes scholarship on the sociology of secrecy, recent work on how identity is shaped through culture, and he supplies the best discussion I have read on the problems and explanatory potential of hagiography. The epilogue which addresses the fundamental problems of how we can assess the sincerity and motivations of adepts and the extent to which we can determine from stories about transcendents what really happened, is especially clear and eloquent. In short, this is a book as surprising and rich in detail as the stories that inspired it.” —Journal of Chinese Studies

“If one day we arrive at a more profound understanding of the hidden agendas behind so much of Chinese writing, hagiographical as well as historical, Making Transcendents will undoubtedly have played a significant role in that process.” —Journal of Asian Studies

“Invaluable for anyone who wishes to understand the phenomenon of sanctity in general and the Chinese cult of xian in particular.” —Religious Studies Review

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