Peasants, Rebels, and Outcastes: The Underside of Modern Japan

This compelling social history uses diaries, memoirs, fiction, trial testimony, personal recollections, and eyewitness accounts to weave a fascinating tale of what ordinary Japanese endured throughout their century’s era of economic growth. Rescuing vivid, often wrenching accounts of peasants, miners, textile workers, rebels, and prostitutes, Mikiso Hane forces us to see Japan’s _modern century_ (from the beginnings of contact with the West to the outset of World War II) through fresh eyes. In doing so, he mounts a formidable challenge to the success story of Japan’s _economic miracle._