From the moment Japan opened its ports to Western ships, Japanese people from all over the country played catch-up to Western technology, ideas, and beliefs. However, they quickly noticed that Japanese national and cultural identity was rapidly disappearing in favor of the seemingly more sophisticated Western style of thought. The Meiji Period, lasting from 1868-1912, was a huge pivotal point in the fusion of Japanese and Western styles. Novelists penned many works during this time, detailing the aspects of the transition from traditional to modern such as the benefits and consequences of moving forward versus centering life on core, old-fashioned values. In addition, new standards were set out on what defines a novel. The Essence of the Novel by Tsubouchi Shoyo and Fukuzawa Yukichi ideas pushed the framework of the Western novel as the more preferred style of writing than the Japanese writing style, as well as introducing contemporary literary criticism to the Japanese literary community. Despite many writers gradually accepting their criticisms, there were some pundits who believed that Japan shouldn’t blindly accept everything Western at the cost of their own, unique identity. Nagai Kafu’s The River Sumida and Kanagaki Robun’s “The Beefeater” explore the Western-Japanese cultural fusion, each placing their praise and criticism of Western indulgence at similar but unique points.
“The Beefeater” is a simple tale; it barely pushes two pages in a normal sized book. It merely portrays a man having beef at a restaurant, bragging to another customer about how good the beef is. He also marvels at Western technology, even calling the steam engine “the flaming chariot of hell.” It ends with the other customer leaving, leaving ...
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...ions of Chokichi from winter, spring, summer, and fall. The two stories do draw criticism from the same source, Western civilization. The reasoning of such criticism is the same as well. Japan in the Meiji period was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of culture, technology, and ideas Western civilization possessed. Japanese people had a hard time discerning them all and opted to cherry-picked the ones are the most interesting, eating beef for example, or embrace the values that are most likely to get rich or influential, a Western style education for example. Writers noticed this fact and either had two choices, go all out on Western culture or slow down the pace and enjoy traditional beliefs. Kanagaki Robun and Nagai Kofu took the latter, encouraging the Japanese reader to take a couple steps back and enjoy what their own culture has been doing for generations.
European Imperialism of China and Japan Imperialism is the practice by which powerful nations or peoples seek to extend and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or peoples. By the 1800’s, the Western powers had advantages in this process. They led the world in technological advances, giving them dominance when conquering other countries. The European Imperialists made attempts to conquer China and Japan.
Western influence played a significant role in the downfall of the Shogunate. The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 and the signing of the ‘unequal treaties’ lead to further discontent in Japan’s Feudal Structure and rebellions against the government. Although in the lead up to the arrival of Perry, there were already problems within the Feudal structure of Japan, it was the response of the Shogunate to Western influence that ultimately lead to an alliance, which sped up the downfall of the Shogunate.
Imperialism began with Western European countries looking to expand their reach of influence on the East. These countries would conquer and colonize any region not of the West in hopes of bettering their economy or to help the native people they found in the East, carry up the “The White Man’s Burden.” When meeting the native people, Westerners named the things from the East “Orient,” and along with this name came many stereotypes and assumptions of the people and the land. Although, imperialism is no longer present, effects such as orientalism still resonates within the culture being expressed through media such as the Academy Award winning movie of the year Argo.
Christopher Benfey’s work The Great Wave is a narrative driven by a collection of accounts, stories and curious coincidences tying together The Gilded Age of New England in particular with interactions and connections to the Japan of old and new. In the context of The Great Wave, Benfey's own personal journey to Japan at the age of sixteen should be understood. Embarking on this voyage to learn traditional writing, language and Judo, his story can also be seen as a not only a historical continuation, but also a personal precursor to the vignettes he discovers and presents to the reader.
Throughout history artists have used art as a means to reflect the on goings of the society surrounding them. Many times, novels serve as primary sources in the future for students to reflect on past history. Students can successfully use novels as a source of understanding past events. Different sentiments and points of views within novels serve as the information one may use to reflect on these events. Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro successfully encapsulates much of what has been discussed in class, parallels with the events in Japan at the time the novel takes place, and serves as a social commentary to describe these events in Japan at the time of the Mejeii Restoration and beyond. Therefore, Kokoro successfully serves as a primary source students may use to enable them to understand institutions like conflicting views Whites by the Japanese, the role of women, and the population’s analysis of the Emperor.
In 1900 Britain was in many respects the world’s leading nation, enjoying a large share of world trade, a dominant position in the international money market, and possessing a far flung empire supported by the world’s most powerful navy. Japan was a complete contrast, sharing with Britain only the fact that it too was a nation of Islands lying off the shore of a major continent. Until the 1860s it had possessed a social and economic structure more akin to that of feudal, rather than twentieth century, Europe. By the 1990s, the positions were almost reversed. This paper sets out to examine the contrasting democratic political systems of the two nations and to explore the social and democratic consequences of the changes that have occurred.
In the middle of the 19th century, despite a few similarities between the initial responses of China and Japan to the West, they later diverged; which ultimately affected and influenced the modernizing development of both countries. At first, both of the Asian nations rejected the ideas which the West had brought upon them, and therefore went through a time period of self-imposed isolation. However, the demands that were soon set by Western imperialism forced them, though in different ways, to reconsider. And, by the end of the 19th century both China and Japan had introduced ‘westernizing’ reforms. China’s aim was to use modern means to retain and preserve their traditional Confucian culture. Whereas Japan, on the other hand, began to successfully mimic Western technology as it pursued modernization, and thus underwent an astounding social upheaval. Hence, by the year 1920, Japan was recognized as one of the world’s superpowers, whereas China was on the edge of anarchy.
Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe had similarities and differences. Both Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe had professional warriors, for Japan it was the samurai, and for Europe the knights. They both had religious beliefs such as Buddhism and Christianity. Japan was an island and was isolated, whereas Europe wasn’t isolated nor an island. Feudal Japan lasted from 1185-1603, while Feudal Europe lasted from the 9th to the 15th centuries.
Suzuki, Tomi. Narrating the Self: Fictions of Japanese Modernity. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1996.
Then in the 1800's , Europe thrust its way into the heart of the Middle
By this time in the era of Kokinshū Paul Varley explains that “refinement, taste, and decorum took absolute precedence over candor and vigorous emotional expression” (59). As can be seen the time of the Kokinshū took on a very different view point from those poets in the time of the Man’yōshū. The Kokinshū was not only known for its poetry but also it gave birth to the first literary criticism in the history of Japan. Ki no Tsurayuki who was
Imperialism has not only influenced colonial territories to better themselves or to further the mother country’s realm of power, it also had a significant impact on the people’s culture, education, environment, and political systems. Japan and Britain were two imperial systems that countered each other in many facets but also had strikingly similar qualities that had helped them become strong imperial powers that needed one another to continue their position amongst others.
The Heian period(794-1185), the so-called golden age of Japanese culture, produced some of the finest works of Japanese literature.1 The most well known work from this period, the Genji Monogatari, is considered to be the “oldest novel still recognized today as a major masterpiece.”2 It can also be said that the Genji Monogatari is proof of the ingenuity of the Japanese in assimilating Chinese culture and politics. As a monogatari, a style of narrative with poems interspersed within it, the characters and settings frequently allude to Chinese poems and stories. In addition to displaying the poetic prowess that the Japanese had attained by this time period, the Genji Monogatari also demonstrates how politics and gender ideals were adopted from the Chinese.
The 21st Century has witnessed Asia’s rapid ascent to economic prosperity. As economic gravity shifts from the Western world to the Asian region, the “tyranny of distance [between states, will be] … replaced by the prospects of proximity” in transnational economic, scientific, political, technological, and social develop relationships (Australian Government, 1). Japan and China are the region’s key business exchange partners. Therefore these countries are under obligation to steer the region through the Asian Century by committing to these relationships and as a result create business networks, boost economic performance, and consequently necessitate the adjustment of business processes and resources in order to accommodate each country’s employment relations model (Wiley, Wilkinson, & Young, 2005). Cognizant of the fact that neither Japan nor China has given up on its external (protectionism or parity) adjustment tools, it is posited that they can nonetheless coexist since both “produce different things and in different ways” and as such avoid the cited perilous US and Mexico competition; but due to globalization, the operating environment portends a convergence or divergence of Industrial Relation (ER) strategies between China and Japan (Lipietz, 1997; Zhu & Warner, 2004).
Japan is a large island off to the east of China it is a great country that has a rich culture. The Japanese religion is based off of two main beliefs, the belief in Shinto and Buddhism many Japanese people believe consider themselves both. The Japanese people were known to be around as early as 4,500 B.C. They have constructed their government style to a constitutional monarchy where they do in fact have an emperor, but he has limited power within the country. The main power of the country is held by the Prime Minister of Japan. Japan is made up of many islands that extend along the Pacific coast of Asia. The land area is made up of a lot of forest and mountainous area that cannot be used for agricultural, industrial or residential use. Japan also has one of the largest and growing economies in the world. They are growing every day and it is all because the people of Japan work very hard in order for their economy to flourish as it has.