Although the Second World War was truly global, historians of the war have been remarkably Eurocentric and America-centric. They fail to appreciate that one of the key belligerents was a non-Western society and that the Asia-Pacific theater constituted one half of the war. This talk argues that by integrating scholarship on Japan into the history of the Second World War, we may ask better comparative and transnational questions about war and society. Wartime Japan should no longer been seen as an exceptional, bizarre case, but as a part of the global history of 20th-century warfare. This lecture reveals the important role of Japan in the transnational circulation of ideas that resulted both in a “global war on civilians” and in efforts to construct “home fronts” that mobilized civilians. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session and a small reception. Details and registration here