Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

OKAKURA, TENSHIN • 195
These islands include Chijijima, Hahajima, and Iwojima. Shipwrecked
sailors from Japan, such as Manjiro Nakahama, have landed on the
Ogasawara Islands since the 1600s, but the first permanent residents
were Americans and Europeans who settled on Chijijima in 1830.
Commodore Matthew Perry and his ships briefly stopped at Chijijima
before sailing to Edo in July 1853. The islands came under formal control
of the Japanese government in 1876, and were an area of heavy
fighting between Japanese and American military forces during World
War II, especially the Battle of Iwojima. After World War II, the Ogasawara
Islands were administratively controlled by the United States
military until returned to the Japanese government in 1968. See also
PACIFIC WAR.
OIL SHOCK. The oil shock (or oil crisis) was a worldwide economic
depression because of shortages of oil and a rapid rise in the oil price
in 1973–1974. Because Japan depended heavily on imported oil especially
from the Middle East, it suffered from a severe economic crisis.
The oil crisis was a turning point in postwar Japanese rapid high
economic growth. When the fourth Middle East war broke out in October
1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OAPEC) and the Organization of Pacific Economic Cooperation
(OPEC) resorted to reducing crude oil production, to restricting exports
of oil to pro-Israeli nations, including the United States, and to
quadruple oil prices. Following pro-Israeli U.S. policy, Tokyo had
been very close to Jerusalem. The oil shock demonstrated the decline
of U.S. hegemony and pushed Japan to adopt more flexible foreign
policies and to majorly revise its Middle East policy in particular. In
November 1973, the Kakuei Tanaka administration decided to recognize
the rights of the Palestinian people and it promised to review its
policies toward Israel. Moreover, OPEC’s continuous increase of the
crude oil price and disruption of crude oil exports because of the Iranian
Revolution in 1979 precipitated the second oil shock (oil crisis).
OKAKURA, TENSHIN (ALSO KNOWN AS KAKUZO OKAKURA;
1862–1913). Influenced by American professor Ernest Fenellosa at
Tokyo University, Okakura studied and promoted Japanese art and
culture. Okakura established two art academies, promoted Japanese
art and culture to the West through writings, such as The Book of Tea,