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Adopting historical perspectives, this thesis explores domestic, aesthetic, and cultural conflicts in modern Japan surrounding Masuji Ono, the protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro¡¦s An Artist of the Floating World, as he looks back on his past. His memory narrative reveals his transformation from an iconoclastic young artist to a militarist propagandist in pre-war time, and finally to an old man who comes to terms with the loss of his prestige through none too reliable remembrances. Reading Ono¡¦s narrative in cross reference to historical texts, I argue that his transformation is in step with Japan¡¦s shift from a thriving nation to a militarist empire, and ultimately to a defeated nation subject to the Occupation after World War II and subsequent social changes. These changes are induced by democratization and disarmament engineered by the American army, which drastically undermine Japanese values, including the apotheosis of the Emperor, patriarchy, and social hierarchy. Forced to redefine themselves in the midst of the drastic social transformation, the Japanese harbor mixed feelings toward the emperor, regarding him as a guardian of the nation and a traitor. This ambivalence is profoundly felt by Ono, whose fall parallels the emperor¡¦s, since his authority as a father and a painting master is interrogated by the younger generation, most notably his daughter. In particular, his interaction with his grandson, who is brought up with American values, registers the Japanese attitudes toward the American, considering the occupier as both a welcomed authority and an alien monster. By examining three prominent authority figures in the novel¡Xfather, master, and monster¡Xthis thesis uncovers Ishiguro¡¦s agenda for negotiating an interface between history and personal memory.

Abstract The post-war educational reform implemented in Japan by the American occupation forces has been studied widely, and this study discusses the reform policy in the light of American wartime planning process. Wartime American interest in the imperial educational system was first awakened in the context of psychological warfare and all information that might help in gaining victory was gathered. Japan capitulated unconditionally in August 1945, and the plans made for a combat situation were revised for the new circumstances of occupation. During the war the most crucial problems were, on the other hand, finding Japanese who would be responsive to the reform policy, and on the other, persuading the Japanese to be responsive. The invitation of the United States Education Mission to Japan, which consisted of distinguished educators that visited Japan in March 1946, proved to be the catalyst for acceptance of reforms. The report of recommendations of the Mission was also utilised in justifying reform policy for the Allied partners and for aligning the American officials who were responsible for implementing the reforms. The new educational legislation came into effect in the 1st of April, 1947. The wartime aims were essentially attained. The indoctrination of militarism and ultra-nationalism was abolished and replaced by an extended compulsory education, which emphasized individualism and aimed at the extensive alteration of Japanese society. / Tiivistelmä Japanissa toisen maailmansodan jälkeen amerikkalaisten toimesta toteutettua koulujärjestelmän uudistamista on tutkittu varsin laajasti, mutta tällä tutkimuksella avataan uusi näkökulma aiheeseen aloittamalla tarkastelu toisen maailmansodan aikana Yhdysvalloissa muotoutuneista näkemyksistä Japanin koulujärjestelmästä sekä siihen kohdistetuista haltuunotto- ja muutossuunnitelmista. Sodanaikainen kiinnostus keisarillista koulujärjestelmää kohtaan lähti liikkeelle psykologisen sodankäynnin tarpeista sekä niiden toimenpiteiden valmistelusta, joilla vihollismaan koulujärjestelmä otetaan amerikkalaisjoukkojen haltuun Japanin pääsaarista käytävien taisteluiden aikana. Suunnitelmat säilyivät pääpiirteissään samoina, vaikka Japani antautui ehdoitta elokuussa 1945, eivätkä amerikkalaiset joutuneet pystyttämään miehityshallintoa taistelutilanteessa. Jo sodan aikana koulujärjestelmän muuttamisen vaikeudeksi oli ennakoitu japanilaisten vastustus sekä uudistuspolitiikalle myötämielisten japanilaisten löytämisen vaikeus. Maaliskuussa 1946 Japanissa vierailleen arvostetuista amerikkalaisista koulutuksen ammattilaisista kootun koulutuslähetystön roolin ja sen jättämän suositusraportin merkitys avautuu nimenomaan sodanaikaisen suunnittelutyön valossa. Koulutuslähetystöä ei tarvittu muotoilemaan koulu-uudistuspolitiikkaa vaan avustamaan japanilaisten tekemisessä suopeiksi koulujärjestelmän uudistusta kohtaan. Koulutuslähetystön suositusraporttia käytettiin myös koulu-uudistustoimien perustelemisessa muille liittoutuneille sekä riviensuoristajana miehityshallinnon koulu-uudistuksen toimeenpanosta vastaavien keskuudessa. Uudet koululait, joilla kumottiin sodanaikaiset koulutusta määränneet säädökset, astuivat voimaan huhtikuun 1. päivänä 1947. Näin sodanaikana määritellyt tavoitteet oli pääpiirteissään saavutettu: koulutus militarismin ja äärinationalismin kanavana ja yhteiskuntaryhmiä erilleen sosiaalistavana mekanismina oli murrettu ja tilalle oli luotu laajennettu yksiön oikeuksia korostanut oppivelvollisuus, jolla pyrittiin laaja-alaisesti japanilaisen yhteiskunnan muuttamiseen.

Studies of postwar Germany, from 1945-1955, have concentrated on the American influence as a military occupier, the development of German reconstruction and national identity, and memory of this period from the German perspective. Within the memory analyses, firsthand accounts have been analyzed to understand the perspectives of Germans living through the postwar period. Absent from this historiography is an account of American memories and firsthand perspectives of the occupation, particularly during the 1950-1955 period. This thesis employs oral histories of American veterans stationed in postwar Germany, American propaganda and popular cultural mediums during the early 1950s, and modern historiographical trends to provide an understanding of how Americans remember the German postwar decade. American veterans remembered this period, and their encounters with local Germans, as a positive experience. These positive memories were mediated by 1950s Cold War rhetoric and propaganda and were subsequently predicated upon the men's perspective as occupying soldiers. Their recollections align with American popular memory delineating the military occupation as ending in 1949 upon the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany, therefore overshadowing the 1950-1955 period of occupation. The ways in which Americans remember the postwar occupation in Germany, particularly from 1950-1955, inform broader memory and historical narrative trends of this era.