The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904–1932. By Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 522.

Extract

Aside from a few articles and chapters in books, there has been no comprehensive history of Japan's informal empire in the three northeast provinces of China (called Manchuria) between 1904 and 1932. That void no longer exists. Y. T. Matsusaka's brilliant account explains how Japan's expansionist aims meant that its leaders and elites could never consider withdrawing from Manchuria.