Pitt to Host International Conference on Japan and World War II

On September 30 through October 1, 2011, an international conference titled, “Japan’s World War II in Asia: 70 Years On,” will take place at the University of Pittsburgh. Twenty-one historians from Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Great Britain, and the United States will join five Pitt professors to discuss issues such as the rise of nationalism in prewar Japan; the origins of Japan’s World War II in Asia; how military and civilian planners created a centrally-directed war economy modeled after German and Soviet systems of total mobilization; how ordinary Japanese viewed and justified their war against China and then against the United States and its allies; the impact of the war on the Japanese home front during the war and even afterward; its impact on other parts of Asia; the nature of its warfare; and postwar Japanese memory of the war. 

The conference will be divided into four sessions of three hours each over two days. In each case, four panelists will make 25-minute presentations, to be followed by formal comments by distinguished American and British historians, and then an open discussion with those in attendance in the audience. 

The conference has been organized by Professor Richard Smethurst of Pitt’s Department of History, with the assistance of the staff of the University’s Asian Studies Center, as well as the University Center for International Studies. Funding has been provided by the Mitsubishi Endowment Fund and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation Endowment Fund of the University of Pittsburgh. 

The conference will take place on Pitt’s Oakland campus at The University Club. For more information about the event, please contact Dianne Dakis of the Asian Studies Center at 648-7367 or dakis@pitt.edu.