Imperial Japan and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Dr. Jeremy Yellen is a historian of modern Japan based in Hong Kong. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University, and since 2014 has been teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Jeremy’s research focuses on modern Japan’s international, diplomatic, and political history. His work largely grapples with questions of warfare, empire, diplomacy, and international order, and pair Japanese high policy during World War II with developments in the periphery of Japan’s empire. Much of his work makes use of transnational and comparative perspectives to place Japanese history in its proper global context. 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 and is being re-released in paperback, and is the subject of our conversation today.