Japanese Political Thought Research Articles

이해(Understanding)’와 ‘생활사(Everyday life)’로서의 정치사상사 연구 : 와타나베 히로시(渡辺浩), 『일본정치사상사: 17-19세기』에 대한 논평

이해(Understanding)’와 ‘생활사(Everyday life)’로서의 정치사상사 연구 : 와타나베 히로시(渡辺浩), 『일본정치사상사: 17-19세기』에 대한 논평

와타나베 히로시 지음/박홍규·김선희 옮김, 『일본 정치사상사-17∼19세기』, 고려대학교 출판문화원, 2017. 5.

와타나베 히로시 지음/박홍규·김선희 옮김, 『일본 정치사상사-17∼19세기』, 고려대학교 출판문화원, 2017. 5.

Maruyama Masao and Modern Japanese Political Thought

Maruyama Masao is one of Japan's influential political thinkers of the twentieth century. This article attempts to briefly discuss Maruyama Masao's thoughts on Japanese political engagement by focusing on the intellectual and psychological causes of Japan's political ambitions over the years. Maruyama Masao commented on numerous issues like the intellectual history of Tokugawa Japan, theory and psychology of ultra-nationalism and reflections on article IX of the Japanese Constitution. Maruyama's modern thought helped the Japanese understand their role in nation building and the importance of preserving peace at all cost. The paper concludes that Maruyama's political thoughts are still relevant in this day and age.

Maruyama Masao and Modern Japanese Political Thought

Maruyama Masao is one of Japan's influential political thinkers of the twentieth century. This article attempts to briefly discuss Maruyama Masao's thoughts on Japanese political engagement by focusing on the intellectual and psychological causes of Japan's political ambitions over the years. Maruyama Masao commented on numerous issues like the intellectual history of Tokugawa Japan, theory and psychology of ultra-nationalism and reflections on article IX of the Japanese Constitution. Maruyama's modern thought helped the Japanese understand their role in nation building and the importance of preserving peace at all cost. The paper concludes that Maruyama's political thoughts are still relevant in this day and age.

A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901. By Watanabe Hiroshi. Translated by David Noble. Tokyo: International House of Japan, 2012. 543 pp. ¥2,858 (cloth).

A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901. By Watanabe Hiroshi. Translated by David Noble. Tokyo: International House of Japan, 2012. 543 pp. ¥2,858 (cloth).

Book Review: A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600-1901, by Watanabe Hiroshi

Book Review: <i>A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600-1901</i>, by Watanabe Hiroshi

A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901 by Watanabe Hiroshi (review)

A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901 by Watanabe Hiroshi (review)

A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901 by Watanabe Hiroshi (review)

A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901 by Watanabe Hiroshi (review)

Public Space in Recent Japanese Political Thought and Activism: From the Rivers and Lakes to Miyashita Park

In this article I consider recent homeless activism in Tokyo's Miyashita Park, including the celebration of ‘vacant lots’ (akichi), and what this can tell us about notions of publicness in Japan. We can provide further depth to the discussion of publicness by situating recent activism in the context of the work of historians such as Amino Yoshihiko and Higashijima Makoto and their recovery of indigenous Japanese conceptions of ‘publicness’ and ‘the public sphere’. The implications of formulations of ‘the public’ based around terms such as ōyake/kō and alternatives including muen are examined, as well as meanings historically ascribed to the Zen concept of ‘lakes and rivers’ (gōko/kōko). I also trace Japanese responses to classical Western notions of the public sphere, as well as some challenges to them in Western scholarship, including the notion of ‘counterpublics’. Whereas in Western modernity the bracketing of social inequalities was considered a prerequisite for the deliberative function of the public sphere, in premodern and early modern Japan there were spaces which allowed for the bracketing of differences even where the function of deliberation was not emphasised.

The Japanese Political Thought of Uchimura Kanzō (1861–1930): Synthesizing Bushidō, Christianity, Nationalism, and Liberalism (review)

The Japanese Political Thought of Uchimura Kanzō (1861–1930): Synthesizing Bushidō, Christianity, Nationalism, and Liberalism (review)

Japanese Political Thought as Seen from Prime Minister’s Speech: Koizumi’s Singularity

Japanese Political Thought as Seen from Prime Minister’s Speech: Koizumi’s Singularity

「亜細亜」の「他称」性 -アジア主義以前のアジア論-

「亜細亜」の「他称」性 -アジア主義以前のアジア論-

A Study in the History of Japanese Political Thought.

A Study in the History of Japanese Political Thought.

Recent Trends in Japanese Political Thought

JAPAN today is in the throes of a spiritual readjustment and reorientation necessitated by internal conflicts in ideals, thoughts, and policies which have arisen chiefly from a too hasty Westernization and modernization, achieved in the too brief span of less than three quarters of a century. During the last three decades of the nineteenth century, the nation was exposed to all the political, social, and economic doctrines, ideas, and experiences which it had taken the West centuries to digest. Of these Japan borrowed freely, but so hastily that maladjustments were inescapable. The system of parliamentary government itself was launched so suddenly that the people were scarcely prepared for the responsibilities it entailed, while the legal system and even the Constitution were put into effect more to impress the Western Powers as a preliminary step to insure success in the revision of the unequal treaties than to fulfill the urgent needs of the nation. Liberty, equality, and natural rights were espoused prematurely by a people to whom the ideas were quite alien. It is small wonder that in a country where there has been no tradition of democracy, liberalism, and individualism, the people could not readily understand the new concepts and the brief space of 50 years hardly sufficed for thorough assimilation. Inconsistencies, conflicts, and maladjustments were to be expected. In spite of their recognized national genius for assimilating alien cultures and syncretizing them with indigenous elements, the Japanese are now passing through a most trying period of readjustment. Economic difficulties, vexing political problems and delicate international situations have immeasurably accentuated the gravity of the situation. Since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, changes in Japan have been rapid and turbulent. From a feudal hermit kingdom the nation was transformed almost overnight into a modern state with