Borderline Japan

Tessa Morris-Suzuki is Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a former president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia. Her research covers issues of historical conflict and reconciliation in Northeast Asia and her work has been translated into Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Dutch. Her previous publications include The Technological Transformation of Japan (1994), Reinventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation (1998) and Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War (2007).

• Introduction; 1. Border politics: rethinking Japan's migration controls; 2. Drawing the line: from empire to Cold War; 3. Crossing the line: 'unauthorized arrivals' in occupied Japan; 4. Guarding the line: the Cold War and the immigration bureau; 5. A place apart I: the armed archipelago; 6. A place apart II: the liminal world of Ōmura; 7. Special permission to stay: 'hidden lives' in postwar Japan; 8. A point of no return: repatriation to China and North Korea; 9. Beyond the postwar system: what changed; what stayed the same?

“Unlike much academic writing, Tessa Morris-Suzuki’s work is almost always clearly written and jargon-free, impeccably researched and, above all, original… Morris-Suzuki’s writing is consistently innovative and thought-provoking. Her new work, Borderline Japan, is no exception…Morris-Suzuki’s book should not only be considered required reading for Japanese Studies scholars and students, but for all Japanese who are unaware of the circumstances and sufferings of non-Japanese, the vast majority of whom wanted and continue to want nothing more than to peacefully work and live in—and travel in and out of—a country they have come to call home.” -Chris Burgess, Tsuda College, Pacific Affairs