Bsm. entered Japan (c. A.D. 550) from Korea. The Empress Suiko became a convert, and the Prince Regent, known as Shōtoku Taishi (q.v.), did his best to encourage it. He drew up Japan’s first ‘Constitution’. proclaiming the...

The Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國; Shinjitai: 大日本帝国; pronounced Dai Nippon Teikoku; officially Empire of Greater Japan or Greater Japanese Empire; more widely known as Imperial Japan or the Japanese Empire) was a Japanese...

Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan. By Mark Metzler. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. xxiv + 370 pp. Figures, tables, appendix, bibliography, notes, index. Cloth, $49.95. ISBN: 0-520-24420-6. Reviewed by Robert G. Kane...

Mark Metzler. Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. Mark Metzler's Lever of Empire accomplishes two major tasks. It presents by far the most comprehensive analysis in English...

The samurai represent the violent and artistic nature of feudal life in Japan. Trained warriors who often engaged in warfare, the samurai also lived by the code Bushido, which emphasized ethics such as respecting others, honesty, sympathy, understanding, and loyalty. They also obtained a sense of culture from artistic expression, such as literature and the theater; and they achieved self-discipline and balance from an intense study of religion. Some samurai lived as peasants, while others became rich and