Simon Avenell

Simon Avenell is Director of the Japan Institute and Professor at the Australian National University. He specializes in modern Japanese history, society, and politics. Along with many book chapters and journal articles he has four single-authored books: "A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation" (Hawaii 2025), which tells the epic story of Japan from 1945 to the present; "Asia and Postwar Japan: Deimperialization, Civic Activism, and National Identity" (Harvard Asia Center 2022), which traces Japan’s complicated reengagement with Asia after colonial empire and militarism; "Transnational Japan in the Global Environmental Movement" (Hawaii 2017), an exploration of Japanese activists role in environmental movements worldwide from the 1960s; and "Making Japanese Citizens" (California 2010) a history of civic thought, social activism, and civil society in postwar Japan. He is currently researching the history of youth, aging, and generation in contemporary Japan. See more at: https://savenell.wordpress.com/