Japan as “Self ” or “the Other” in Yoshinori Kobayashi’s On Taiwan

Hwang, Yih-Jye

doi:10.1177/0920203x09344907

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Politicians, academics, and online netizens debated whether On Taiwan should be banned in Taiwan. As scholar Yih‐Jye Hwang has argued, the controversy laid bare how different swaths of Taiwanese society understood the Japanese colonial era (Hwang, 2010). Lee Teng‐hui was interviewed by Kobayashi, who in turn publicly valorized Lee as a true inheritor of the Japanese spirit.…”

Section: Trauma and Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nostalgia for Japanese colonialism: Historical memory and postcolonialism in contemporary Taiwan

Lin

2022

History Compass

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Taiwan is unique among postcolonial societies today for a widespread social nostalgia for Japanese colonial rule. Contrasted with anti‐Japanese sentiment in neighboring East Asian societies like South Korea and China, Taiwan seems to present a puzzling instance of “pro‐colonial” nostalgia. This article discusses this phenomenon through reviewing recent scholarship of Japanese and Guomindang rule of Taiwan and Taiwanese postcolonialism. Nostalgia for Japanese colonialism in Taiwan emerged after the traumatic experiences of later Guomindang authoritarian rule and the politics of democratization and decolonization that followed the end of Guomindang martial law. While some of this social memory is shaped by a generation who lived through Japanese rule, much of the reshaping of Taiwan's historical memory is more complex than merely “pro‐colonialism.” Colonial nostalgia reflects a historical memory shaped by contemporary social experiences of trauma, counterhegemony, and postcolonial agency.

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Section: Trauma and Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nostalgia for Japanese colonialism: Historical memory and postcolonialism in contemporary Taiwan

Lin

2022

History Compass

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“…Although Japan has remained an important Other in Chinese (and Taiwanese) narratives in the post-war period — not least ones related to history ( Gustafsson, 2011 ; Hwang, 2010 ; Sejrup, 2012 ; Suzuki, 2007 ) — very few works speak of China as an object of collective Japanese imagination in the post-war period ( Kano, 1976 , is one exception). Only when it began to appear obvious that the Chinese modernisation drive from 1978 onwards had succeeded did China again start to loom larger in Japanese discourses ( Hosoya, 2012 ; Togo, 2012 ; quite as predicted by Oe, 1995 ; and Befu, 2001 ).…”

Section: Japanese Identity and Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘abnormal’ state: Identity, norm/exception and Japan

Hagström

2014

European Journal of International Relations

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The term ‘abnormal’ has frequently been used to describe post-war Japan. Together with the idea that the country will, or should have to, ‘normalise’ its foreign and security policy, it has been reproduced in both academia and Japanese society. Why is Japan branded as ‘abnormal’, and from where does the desire to ‘normalise’ it come? Drawing on a relational concept of identity, and the distinction between norm and exception, this article argues that the ‘abnormality–normalisation nexus’ can be understood in terms of three identity-producing processes: (1) the process whereby the Japanese Self is socialised in US/‘Western’ norms, ultimately constructing it as an Other in the international system; (2) the process whereby the Japanese Self imagines itself as ‘legitimately exceptional’ (what is called ‘exceptionalisation’), but also ‘illegitimately abnormal’ — both of which are epitomised by Japan’s ‘pacifism’; and (3) the process whereby both the Self’s ‘negative abnormality’ and China/Asia are securitised in attempts to realise a more ‘normal’ (or super-normal) Japanese Self. How Japan is inter subjectively constructed on a scale between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ enables and constrains action. Although Japan has not remilitarised nearly as much in the 2000s as is often claimed, these processes might very well forebode an exceptional decision to become ‘normal’ and therefore more significant steps towards remilitarisation.

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“…In this context, revisionist comic books or manga, and particularly the highly controversial works of Kobayashi Yoshinori, a one-time member of the JSHTR, became one of the most popular subjects in the debates over Japan's historical memory and national identity. These works were scrutinized in a number of scholarly works both in Japanese and English, the majority of which engage in a critical analysis of the ideas advocated in these texts (Uesugi 1997(Uesugi , 2000East Asian Network of Cultural Studies 2001;Clifford 2004;Morris-Suzuki 2005: 185-205;Sakamoto 2008;Hwang 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reception of the revisionist historical manga in Japan: a case study of university students

Bukh¹

2012

Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

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Since the emergence of the so-called 'liberal historiography' in the mid 1990s, historical revisionism in Japan has been one of the most hotly debated academic topics in Japanese studies. While the majority of the current scholarship focuses on the structure of the revisionist texts and the individuals behind them, the case study presented in this paper seeks to explore the way young readers in Japan actually receive the revisionist texts, with a particular focus on the revisionist manga. Building on Stuart Hall's conceptualization of the relationship between media producers and the audience, this paper analyzes the results of a survey conducted among students of two Japanese universities. Its main argument can be divided into two parts. In terms of empirical findings it shows that in general the respondents engage in critical reading of those narratives that contradict the dominant discourse. Drawing on these findings the paper argues that academic scrutiny of a certain cultural product needs to take into account the broader discourse when speculating on its possible effects on the reader.

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Japan as “Self ” or “the Other” in Yoshinori Kobayashi’s On Taiwan

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

Nostalgia for Japanese colonialism: Historical memory and postcolonialism in contemporary Taiwan

Nostalgia for Japanese colonialism: Historical memory and postcolonialism in contemporary Taiwan

The ‘abnormal’ state: Identity, norm/exception and Japan

Reception of the revisionist historical manga in Japan: a case study of university students

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