This chapter examines how John Dower and the New Left came to dominate Japan and Asia studies in American academia, reshaping scholarly frameworks along ideological lines.

The New Left figures led by John Dower have taken over Japan and Asia studies in American academia.
2016-12-12
The Reischauer line revised by the Dower faction.
Fukui.
The framework proposed by Professor Ito in the 1960s was groundbreaking in that it added a vertical axis of innovation versus status quo to the conventional horizontal axis of right and left, or restoration and progress.
Within this framework, communism and so-called National Socialism, which appear irreconcilable as polar opposites on the usual horizontal axis, belong to the same group when viewed on the vertical axis, in that both are forces of innovation or revolution.
That many Marxists at the time suddenly turned into Emperor-system fascists was, in a sense, a natural development.
After the professor proposed this framework, a similar perspective attracted attention overseas in an entirely different context.
There is a book titled Ni droite ni gauche (1983) by Zeev Sternhell, a Jewish historian and political theorist who was active in France.
The title means “Neither Right nor Left,” and it became a global topic of discussion.
An English edition has also been published.
Using France as an example, he makes important observations about the prewar European political situation that cannot be understood through the conventional categories of right and left.
In countries like Britain, where traditional conservatism as a force for maintaining the status quo was strong, fascism as a revolutionary force remained weak, whereas in France, Germany, and Italy, where forces defending the status quo were weak, fascism, alongside Marxism, became a major force, and in Germany and Italy it took power.
This is the same as the framework of innovation and status quo proposed by the professor.
It is similar enough to make one wonder whether he had read the professor’s papers.
You have not published an English edition of your own book, have you, Professor, he joked.
Ito.
I have not.
However, in terms of my papers appearing in English, I believe that a speech I gave at an international conference held at Stanford University was translated into English.
The idea was that by adopting this kind of perspective, various things might come into clearer view.
As I also wrote in History and I, those who criticize do not face the person they criticize, but instead address their criticism to their own camp.
Do not be deceived by people like Ito, they say, with a laugh.
Ignoring or silencing is also a way of criticizing.
To be continued.