Japan's Road Beyond the Rise to 'Number One' 「ナンバーワン」に上りつめた　日本が「その先」に歩んだ道

In this chapter I re-examine the history of the 1970s-1980s in Japan, arguing that, as Japan's high growth era came to an end, this was an age when Japan found itself having once again to confront the legacies of the Asia-Pacific War in a new way. The reversion of Okinawa, the return of the last "straggler" left behind by the army in wartime Southeast Asia, and the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989 all provoked a reconsideration of the wartime past. Meanwhile, as the economic miracle faded, Japanese society and political leaders were faced with the tasks of finding new goals and visions for the future.