Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2019


The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and the Wars for Asia


Dr. Jeremy A. Yellen

Chinese University of Hong Kong


18:00-19:30, July 8th, 2019

Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University


ABSTRACT: This book talk explores the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japan's ambitious attempt to create a new order in East and Southeast Asia during World War II. I highlight the Sphere as the epitome of two broader conflicts. On the one hand, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity 'sphere constituted a total war among empires for a new type of international order, one that Japanese elites blindly groped toward as the World War II in Asia progressed. The Sphere also served as the site of a political war, wherein nationalist leaders in Southeast Asia jockeyed for agency and a say in the region's future.


BIO: Jeremy A. Yellen is a historian of modern Japan and an assistant professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research projects largely grapple with questions of warfare, empire, diplomacy, international order, and transnational history. His first book, The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War was published by Cornell University Press in April 2019.


This talk is organized by Professor Sven Saaler (FLA)

Lecture in English / No RSVP required


Institute of Comparative Culture (ICC) Sophia University

7-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8554, JAPAN

Web: http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/ <http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/>