K. K. Kawakami, the most prolific journalist writing on U.S.-Japan relations in the forty-years before Pearl Harbor, analyzed and described the interaction between the country of his birth and his adopted country. His more than 2,000 publications show a gradual decline in U.S.-Japan relations from the early twentieth century to Japan’s attack on the U.S. K. K. Kawakami and U.S.-Japan Relations: The Forty-Year Road to Pearl Harbor provides a careful reading of his analysis of U.S.-Japan relations to show that both countries bear responsibility for the tragic clash in Hawaii. From the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) until the Japanese attack on Manchuria (1931), the United States bore a major responsibility with its anti-Japanese policies, racial discrimination, and failure to recognize Japan’s role in the world but with Japan’s aggression in Manchuria, Japan became the primary actor. Relations between Japan and the U.S. declined gradually over a long period with both sides bearing responsibility.
William D. Hoover is professor emeritus of history at the University of Toledo.
Chapter One: The Historical Setting of Japanese-American Relations
Chapter Two: Kawakami’s Japanese Roots and the Lure of America, 1873-1901
Chapter Three: Kawakami Analyzes the Beginnings of Tension between Japan and America, 1901-13
Chapter Four: World War I and Expanding Japan-US Controversies, 1914-1919
Chapter Five: Growing Problems in US-Japan Relations, 1919-1921
Chapter Six: Kawakami Describes Uplifting Factors but Sees Shadows in Japanese-American Relations, 1921-1930
Chapter Seven: Kawakami Confronts Declining Japanese-American Relations, 1931-1937
Chapter Eight: Kawakami’s Dream of Amiable Japanese-American Relations Crushed, 1937-1941
Chapter Nine: The United States Exerts Economic Pressure in Attempt to Reign in Japan