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abhatia · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 37

Is Fukuzawa Yukichi right in advising Japan 'leave Asia behind'? Does he honestly think that Europe and the US will welcome Japan?

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squashie · Joined: 07 Sep 2011 Posts: 22

I don't think Fukuzawa was right in advising Japan to "leave Asia behind" despite the differences between the country and the continent. The lack of development in China and Korea should be seen as a way to help them get up to Japan's level. Japan was highly influenced by the West's perception of themselves and thought that they were at the same caliber and just wanted a sense of respect and belonging in a different context. Because of this high acclaim, Fukuzawa saw East Asia as "bad company,"and as a disadvantage to Japan's worth.

I think Fukuzawa honestly thought that Europe and the U.S. would welcome Japan because the nations share a modernized government and had racial differences in each nation where people looked different depending on where they resided. With the advantage of a modernized society compared to the rest of East Asia, Fukuzawa thought that they would receive respect and also enlighten Korea in changing their policies as well.

lizzieyang · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 14

I cannot help but perceive Fukuzawa's statement as a racial bias against Chinese and Koreans. By stating that "The Chinese and Koreans are more like each other and together they do not show as much similarity to the Japanese. These two peoples do not know how to progress either personally or as a nation," Fukuzawa is apparently criticizing the ways of life of others. Japan's original plan of opening gates to the Western countries and help develop themselves is absolutely reasonable and great way to go about. However, harassing other oriental countries' ways of life is a wrong step to take for Japan. In theory, China, Korea, and Japan are closest and strongest countries in Asia for a long time and they theoretically descended from the same ancestors and share many cultures together. If Japan wanted to restore the country and progress through the time, they cannot possibly abandon their historical connections with other Asian countries because that would be abandoning their traditions entirely.
Also, although transportation and communication were becoming easier and faster from one continent to another, physical closeness is crucial in assisting each other on earth. Japan cannot stand superior as a nation unless it tries become a cosmopolitan nation, which maintains stable relationship with all countries.

rpulak2012 · Joined: 03 Dec 2011 Posts: 9

Before I post this, I must warn you I reference a number of obscure pieces of culture you might or might not know.

I tend to agree with Lizzie. A (relatively) famous net comedian once pointed out the rampant stereotyping in many modern Japanese videogames, and says "But we all know they're a bunch of xenophobic <censored>." Although he was being ironic, Japan does have the reputation, and rightly so. Quite a bit of Japanese culture in modern times and throughout history HAS been very nationalist, anti-foreigner in nature. Yukichi says in his editorial "It may be that we are different races of people, or it may be due to the differences in our heredity or education..." He then goes on to say that Japan has to "escape from Asia" to join the progress of modern Western civilization. To clarify, first he says that Japan and other Asian countries are different, and then he says, or rather implies that China and Korea are poorly-developed. This leads to the conclusion that he is dissaproving of the general Mainland Asian populous, and that his editorial is based at least somewhat on personal opinion. Japan seemed to admire Western civilization and "broke company with East Asia and shared many affinities... with the United States and Great Britain." The recent anime Ikoku Meiro no Croisée (Crossroads in a foreign labyrinth) is about a young Japanese girl who is sent to live in France in the mid-1800s, just after Japan is fully re-opened to all forms of trade. The opening scenes, and the flashbacks of the Japanese girl Yune, depict a Japan that is enamored with the West because of the new experiences and culture it presents. In short, I feel that Yukichi's statement that Japan needs to "escape from Asia" was made as a direct result of the xenophobia towards the group of people they had grown so used to and the promise of newer, better technology from the newly rediscovered west, and that it wasn't a true need so much as a momentary desire.

mkim2013 · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 9

I also agree with Lizzie about Japanese racial bias against China and Korea. Not only Japan had viewed condescendingly about China and Korea but also judged on their ways of life and politics. For example, Fukuzawa says, "These two countries cannot survive as independent nations" and "within a few short years they will be wiped out from the world with their lands divided among the civilized nations" (40).

Extending from this, it was obvious that Japan was the strongest asian nation, and that it was strong enough to take part in the European imperial power, if accepted by the imperial powers. It was also acceptable that Japan was trying "enlighten" those other east asian countries the "western" civilization. Japan had put so much works for the world to recognize Japan. However, the recognition was not a friendly recognition. For example, the reading mentions that when Japan tried to take part of League of Nation after world war 1, the "imperial" nations FEARED the potentiality of Japan. Moreover, the reading mentions that later, in the last years of nineteenth century, "rivalry, competition and estrangement" (38 ) increased between the United States and Japan. From hindsight, it would have been better if Japan had actually spent the effort trying to be acknowledged by the imperial powers to help other eastern asian countries such as China, Korea and Taiwan.

wlotas2013 · Joined: 14 Nov 2011 Posts: 20

Due to Japan's past isolation to global change, it is vital that they remain connected with their neighbors. Due to being in Asia, they will most likely receive the greatest amount of influence from Asian countries as opposed to Europe or other nations. Breaking away from such a large source of information will disallow the creation of communities and prevent further relations despite geographical convenience.

shawks · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 13

An important thing to note is how "unwesternized" Japan was only a few decades before Fukazawa Yukichi talked about leaving Asia behind. There is no evidence towards Japan having no interactions with other nations, but China and Korea were openly trading with the West before Japan officially opened its doors to the outside world. Hoshi Toru described Japan as having some Christian substance in its culture. Most likely, there were some Christian missionaries in China and Korea, while being Christian in Japan was still illegal.
I agree with Lizzy. I don't think it's right to neglect East Asian nations, which at one point were more Westernized than Japan. It's also too one-sided to only follow values of one type of culture but not another.
Besides, the United States was going to be racist and discriminatory even if East Asian countries, like Japan, tried to adapt to Western customs. The Civil War had just ended so Americans were still judging people on their skin color and origin. Arguably, America is still racist as ever. The National Origins Act of 1924 denied non-"free white persons" the right to citizenship.

fxin · Joined: 17 Feb 2011 Posts: 10

Since Japan is an isolated island, the people are geographically isolated from the rest of the world, thus creating a mind set that they are the superior among the Asian nations. With that kind of mind set with a closed door policy it has created

not only the population but also the government system to regard everything else (China, Korea) as inferior units. Fukugawa's plan to "give up asia" is absurd to me. His plan completely disregards the European's power and their military

status. Also he completely disregards the traditions and the huge amount of culture in Asia. To even think about Japan as a similar power as the Europeans just make me laugh.

Vsylva2012 · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 6

Sorry for replying so late... I had a bit of trouble figuring this out.

I cannot answer if Fukuzawa Yukichi believed what he was saying would be true (since I am not in his head) but I think by how passionately he seems to feel about the breakoff of Japan from Asia that he does infact believe Europe will accept them. Personally, I think that the notion of abandoning and alienating one's closest associates for the sake of "getting into" the exclusive club that is the European nations is a bit twisted. To make matters even worse, more than half of Yukichi's argument seemed to be based entirely on racial inequality, and how the Japanese were born "inherently better" than other asian races simply due to the "white influence" that runs in their blood. The argument that their culture and society, having come from many backgrounds (China, Korea, Dutch) much like England (France, Normans, Saxons) might have been somewhat convincing and valid since there was factual evidence to back up his claim; not to mention that saying this was a clever was to relate Japan to England and "suck up" to them.
But I felt that when race got thrown into his argument it lost all credibility. By saying "Japanese are the least-mongolian of all the asian peoples" Yukichi displays his opinions on the Japanese "inherent superiority" which are not at all based on fact or study and should not at all aid him or his argument. Yet judging by how people thought back then, I would guess that YES saying Japan did have "white roots" and that they were the "cream of the crop" of Asia would help his case for why Europe should accept them. But rationally speaking, he should have focussed more on how their culture/society's could benefit from each other and less on how they were similar by type, and thus are destined to be together.

JasonJeong · Joined: 20 Oct 2011 Posts: 13

I think Japan's attempt to leave Asia (weak colonized or semi-colonized nations) behind and join the power league was fairly reasonable. I see this not as a racial bias toward other Asian countries, but as a desperate attempt to be seen as an equally standing nation with Europe and USA. In fact, it did bring benefits to the nation as the western powers considered Japan to be different than other Asian nations. However, I do not think it was a smart move for Japan in the long term, because such idea definitely has brought negative reactions from the neighboring countries.

Yqi2013 · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 21

As Fukuzawa criticizing China and Korea being 'arrogant' and 'ignorant', he was showing his arrogance in this essay. I don't think it was smart for Japan to assimilate itself to the Western way. By abandoning other countries in east asia, Japan was putting itself in the position of not having support from bordered countries. A Chinese proverb goes, 'Having a good neighbor is better than having a friend who is faraway'. If Japan needed help, the most convenient way is to reach out for the physically close countries, but it was losing that opportunity. Being disdained and insulted, China and Korea would take the side opposite against Japan. Also, Japan was inherently very different from western countries in many aspects. Japan had a whole different economical system from western countries and it would be hard to simply adopt the western way. Although Japan claimed they shared some racial heritage with European, we all know that it was a lie. Japan pretended to have a new racial identity in order to gain approval from Europeans and Americans. Japan was not doing the righteous thing, instead, they bowed to westerners and asked for their welcome. The westerners indeed welcomed Japanese at first, but the Japanese were rejected later on.

jgottesdiener2013@csw.org · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 4

No i don’t think he is right in advising japan to leave Asia behind. Asia is already extremely isolated and I think closing themselves to their neighbors like china would be a bad idea. I don’t know if Fukuzawa Yukichi actually believes that the US and Europe will welcome Japan.

rcumberbatch2013 · Joined: 22 Feb 2012 Posts: 1

in the hopes of helping Japan gain the acceptance of the US and Europe, leaving Asia behind was the smartest option. This choice allowed the US to see that unlike its "weaker partners" Japan was a force to be tamed. This mindset also allowed Japan to be confident in its actions in the future allowing them to prove to the US that they were not just a tiny island in the pacific ocean.

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