Abstract:

"The program covers the cataclysmic events of the 20th century--the devastating earthquake of 1923, the rise of militarism, the accession of Emperor Hirohito, the Pacific War, Hiroshima, and the American occupation of Japan--but its primary focus is on what makes Japan Japanese: the Shinto rituals which are part of modern mercantile life; such societal traits as conformism, determination, attitudes toward violence and brutality, business ethics, and the role of the kami in modern Japan."