Based on Mizuki’s depiction of these years, how does the Cold War seem to impact Japan’s postwar history?
(A) Shigeru Mizuki’s Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan offers a manga history of Japan’s postwar experience from the end of the U.S. occupation through the close of the Showa period (1926-89). Based on Mizuki’s depiction of its postwar history, how do Japanese people seem to make sense of Japan’s role in World War II? Do trauma and guilt associated with the war play a role in how Japanese people go about their lives in the postwar period? Does this period reveal a Japan that is freed from, or haunted by, its experience of World War II? (B) Shigeru Mizuki’s Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan offers a manga history of Japan’s postwar experience from the end of the U.S. occupation through the close of the Showa period (1926-89). This period of time also coincides with most of what is commonly referred to as the Cold War. Based on Mizuki’s depiction of these years, how does the Cold War seem to impact Japan’s postwar history? Does Japan have a role in this Cold War? How do ordinary Japanese people seem to make sense of the Cold War? How do they view its intersection(s) with Japan’s postwar interests and place in the world?