Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan

William D. Hoover has been a recipient of National Defense Language, Fulbright, and Japan Foundation fellowships. Prior to his retirement he was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and at Bowling Green State University as well as a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo and Aoyama Gakuin University. He offered a "Seminar on Teaching about Asia" for the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia on several occasions. For 15 years, he served as chair of the History Department at the University of Toledo.

Recommended: The second edition of this dictionary does a fine job of expanding on the original and updating relevant sections (the first edition came out eight years ago). The new addition adds entries on the Great East Japan Earthquake and the upcoming 2020 Olympics, as well as others. The dictionary was clearly reviewed cover to cover, resulting in many revisions. Rarely, a general entry may be a little flat and may not highlight any recent developments or changes, such as the entry on kabuki. But overall, from entries on broad topics such as energy to specific entries such as Nintendo, there are updates and revisions throughout. The chronology and general introduction were brought up to the present.The rich bibliography provides a clear entry into further scholarship on aspects of postwar Japan. It includes internet sites, journals, and (mostly) Japanese newspapers that are valuable for exploring Japan. The appendixes have numerous statistical overviews of the country, although these statistics do not provide their source. The dictionary is easy to use with entry words highlighted, cross-references, and see also entries, although some additional see also references would be helpful. In total, this is a useful one-volume dictionary covering a broad spectrum of topics.