The War Is Not Over: Kishi Nobusuke and the National Defense Brotherhood, 1944-45

Were military commanders and radical young officers the only op-ponents of surrender in 1945? What of their civilian collaborators? Focusing on the "continue the war" faction, this essay highlights Kishi Nobusuke's leader-ship of the National Defense Brotherhood, a radical civilian association formed of Imperial Diet members who openly opposed efforts by the Japanese govern-ment to end the war. The history of the civilian opponents of surrender, and their ferocious commitment to the New Order for East Asia, opens up a range of reflections on the militarization and radicalization of Japanese political culture in the total war era of the 1940s.