Japan revisionist scholar Chalmers Johnson dies at 79

Monday 22nd November, 07:00 AM JST

LOS ANGELES —

Chalmers Johnson, an international politics scholar known as the original ‘‘Japan revisionist,’’ died Saturday at his home in California aged 79, people close to him said. The cause of his death was not immediately known.

As a revisionist, Johnson considered Japan different from other developed countries and his book ‘‘MITI and the Japanese Miracle’’ on Japanese economic development had a great impact on both Japanese and U.S. authorities. MITI, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, has since been renamed the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

After teaching at institutions including the University of California, Berkeley, between 1962 and 1992, he founded in 1994 the Japan Policy Research Institute, a think tank devoted to public education concerning Japan and international relations in the Pacific, serving as its president.

Born in 1931 in Arizona, Johnson received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. His other works included ‘‘The Sorrows of Empire’’ and ‘‘Nemesis.’‘

In an article that appeared in the online edition of The Los Angeles Times in May, Johnson called on the United States to withdraw its troops from the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, the relocation plan for which has sparked local opposition.

‘‘I would strongly suggest that the United States climb off its high horse, move the Futenma Marines back to a base in the United States (such as Camp Pendleton, near where I live) and thank the Okinawans for their 65 years of forbearance,’’ he wrote.