The Fascist Effect: Japan and Italy, 1915-1952

Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

by Reto Hofmann

In The Fascist Effect, Reto Hofmann uncovers the ideological links that tied Japan to Italy, drawing on extensive materials from Japanese and Italian archives to shed light on the formation of fascist history and practice in Japan and beyond. Moving between personal experiences, diplomatic and cultural relations, and geopolitical considerations, Hofmann shows that interwar Japan found in fascism a resource to develop a new order at a time of capitalist crisis.

Hofmann demonstrates that fascism in Japan was neither a European import nor a domestic product; it was, rather, the result of a complex process of global transmission and reformulation. Far from being a vague term, as postwar historiography has so often claimed, for Japanese of all backgrounds who came of age from the 1920s to the 1940s, fascism conjured up a set of concrete associations, including nationalism, leadership, economics, and a drive toward empire and a new world order.

Genres: Japan, Italy, History

222 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2015

Reviews

[Wei Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really detailed and insightful look into how different Japanese actors thought about fascism at different periods of the country's history, from before the second world war, during the war, and after it. Given that it's a history book, it was pretty dry, but the work done here was well researched and informative.

I think I best liked chapter 3 (particularly the section "Theorizing Japanese Fascism") and the conclusion. Chapter 3's overview of how Japanese Marxists and liberal intellectuals (such as Yoshino Sakuzo and Tosaka Jun) conceived of fascism as acquiring complicity with liberalism was really interesting - it sheds light on how fascism can be complicit with democracy, even though democracy ostensibly disavows fascism. The conclusion's overview of how postwar Japanese intellectuals (in a cold war context) tried to distance Japan's wartime government from fascism is also insightful.

Overall, I'd say the main takeaway here is that there isn't just a Fascism, but all these different manifestations of fascism in many parts of the world (with many of those manifestations co-existing in single parts too). Fascism is difficult to really pin down, and Reto Hofmann did a really good job in showing how complex and multifarious the concept is within the space of Japan alone.

[Benemint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Largely an intellectual and discursive history on how Italian Fascism (and the more generic kind of "fascism") was perceived in prewar Japan. I loooved Chapter 3, where the author unpacked different interpretations and changes over time. Given the highly abstract and evasive nature of debates, the book gives a very readable account. A great coverage of sources. Elegantly written. But at the same time, it makes the reader wonder whether there really was less appreciation/discussion of Nazi Germany when the Nazis came into power.