Over the past two weeks in this column, I have looked at Japanese society in the 1980s and '90s in order to trace how the nationalistic policies of the current Shinzo Abe administration, particularly in the educational and military spheres, are the outcome of developments in the preceding decades.
Next week I will conclude this series with a discussion of the 1970s. Here, though, I go back to the 1960s, when it was inconceivable that a Japanese prime minister would make a statement such as Abe made in Europe last month, when he said he would "unhesitatingly send the Self-Defence Forces overseas."
In the 1960s, it was well-nigh impossible to foresee Japan becoming the bastion of political reaction that it now is. With the possible exception of the 1920s, modern Japan had never before seen such activism across a wide swath of society, and such hope that this country would become more liberal-minded, open and socially democratic.