The Long Defeat explores war memory in Japan after World War II, showing how and why defeat remains an indelible part of national life. The book shows that assessing the culture of defeat is the key to understanding Japan's "history problem" - the disputes over revising the pacifist constitution, remilitarization, and frictions in East Asia.

In The Long Defeat, Akiko Hashimoto explores the stakes of war memory in Japan after its catastrophic defeat in World War II, showing how and why defeat has become an indelible part of national collective life, especially in recent decades. Divisive war memories lie at the root of the contentious politics surrounding Japan's pacifist constitution and remilitarization, and fuel the escalating frictions in East Asia known collectively as Japan's "history problem."

Hashimoto makes a welcome contribution to the methodology of trauma studies. She proposes and tests an interesting "method of shadow comparisons," the method of data elaboration.