Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity and the Evolution of Security Practice (original) (raw)
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East Asian History and Culture Review E-Journal No. 6, 2013
In 1915, with the support of Jōdo Shinshū (True Pure Land) Buddhism's Higashi Honganji sect and dozens of private Buddhist donors, Buddhist priest Chikazumi Jōkan erected a new, one-ofa-kind Buddhist meeting hall in Tokyo, the Kyūdō Kaikan. Chikazumi conceived of the building as a clear and deliberate spatial challenge to the crowded Protestant churches and lecture halls of turn-of-the-twentieth-century Tokyo. He chose prominent Western-style architect Takeda Goichi , rather than a traditional Japanese shrine or temple carpenter, to design it. The new building, in tandem with the adjacent Kyūdō Gakusha (Salvation Dormitory) that Chikazumi established in 1902, spoke to, and significantly impacted, the socio-moral, intellectual, and religious life of hundreds of young Tokyoites. These two buildings represented a response to Protestant Christianity's popularity and relevance like no other in imperial Japan. In order to achieve the religious evangelism and suprasectarian reform that he envisioned for Buddhism, Chikazumi proved willing to apply observations made in the West and appropriate practical Western Christian architectural features. Through an analysis of drawings, photographs, periodicals, institutional records, and other sources, this article tells the story of the rare fusion of opposites as Chikazumi equipped Buddhism to compete with Protestantism for the attention and devotion of the educated elite.
Making and Un-Making Modern Japan
2015
This essay offers a critical reading of Japan’s attempt to craft a modern identity. Eschewing the conventions of most scholarly writings, however, the essay builds on a personal history of political and intellectual engagement with key figures in post-war Japan to outline a counter-narrative about the ethno-politics of contemporary Japan. In distinction to both Orientalist and Occidentalist versions of Japanese modernity, the essay draws attention to the invidious return of notions of ethnic supremacy in Abe Shinzo’s contemporary state project and the occlusion of a long-standing tradition in Japan of pluralistic co-existence among diverse communities. In drawing attention to the occlusions shaped by the entanglements of Japanese colonialism and state-building with American hegemony, this essay attempts to locate practices of exclusion within Japan (and vis-à-vis its Asian neighbors) in an account of what the essay contends is a civilizational project, best thought of as “Smart Occi...
Introduction: Formations of the Secular in Japan
Aike P. Rots and Mark teeuwen early modern power configurations, and their "universalization" was embedded in imperialist projects even if the categories were appropriated and transformed by non-Western actors. 4 Thus, Asad and like-minded postcolonial scholars have contributed significantly to the re-historicization of these concepts and, accordingly, to the overcoming of universalistic, sui generis understandings of religion. 5 The title of this special issue, Formations of the Secular in Japan, is a direct reference to the work of Asad, whose genealogical approach and conceptual criticism constitute an important source of inspiration for us. At the same time, however, some of the articles in this volume depart from Asad, notably in problematizing his assertion that "the secular" was a uniquely Western product, developed in a Christian context and forcibly imposed upon non-Western Others. They show that the religioussecular dichotomy played a central part in modern state formation in Japan, in spite of the fact that Japan was one of a handful of non-Western countries that escaped colonization. 6 The categories of religion and the secular were not simply imposed by "the West": they were also shaped by Japanese (state and religious) actors, who drew on preexisting notions and practices as much as on newly imported ones.
Patriotism, Secularism, and State Shintō: D.C. Holtom’s Representations of Japan
Wittenberg University East Asian Studies Journal, 2011
This paper explores the ideology of religious studies with respect to early 20th century studies of Japan. Since 1945, “State Shintō” has been defined in academicliterature as a state religion which was enforced by the Japanese government froman undetermined date after the Meiji Restoration until it was disestablished by theAllied Occupation. In fact, the Japanese government took concrete steps to separatetheir patriotic ceremonies from religion. Our current definition of the term “State Shintō” was produced by the religious scholar D.C. Holtom.
Politics and Religion in Japan
Religion Compass, 2009
The relation between church and state, or religion and politics, has always been an uncomfortably close one in Japan, but it is only in recent years that this relationship has been seen as problematical, both from a political and a religious perspective. This article surveys two major areas of contention in particular: the present Japanese government's apparent attempts to revive an Emperor-centered State Shinto, and the lively recent debates over the role of Buddhism, especially of ‘fascist Zen’, in the Asia–Pacific War. I also consider the political implications of the new movement of so-called ‘Critical Buddhism’, as well as of the ‘religious violence’ practiced by the Aum Shinriky? ‘doomsday cult’.
2015
Western) students at a Japanese university, and have found it to pos sess many excellent features as an introduction to modern Japanese culture. The book was compiled mainly for the undergraduate, who will find the well-researched range of material of an appropriate level of complexity. The articles, all of which have been published previously, cover a wide range of subjects, from mountain asceticism to factory ritu als, and take a variety of approaches, including the historical ， textual, empirical, and theoretical. This range is part of the book’s strength, allowing it to provide considerable factual detail about many aspects of contemporary Japanese culture while simultaneously offering a his torical perspective (as in its presentation of important documents from the Meiji era and the American Occupation). The editors have succeeded in putting together an interesting and useful book that will generate many questions among an enthusiastic class and encourage further reading on con...
A History of Japan: A Book Review
A History of Japan was originally written from 1969 and was published in Australia in 1972. The book was revised and translated into Hungarian by Dr. Lajos Kazar, moreover the authors were grateful since Mr. Nicholas Ingleton of Tokyo agreed to revise the Hungarian version into a new and revised English version. Revision of the book has been thoroughly made by Richard Henry Pitt Mason or known as R.H.P. Mason. Mason graduated from Cambridge University and he obtained his Ph.D. from the Australian National University. Furthermore, Mason specialized in Meiji period politics but he had also some interest on Japanese poetry. As Mason progressed with the preparation of the book, he consulted Dr. Caiger from time to time to keep him informed about the progress and for the consultation of facts and some others. Dr. John Caiger was born in Japan and graduated from Sydney University and had studied history in the University of London, like Mason, he also earned his Ph.D. from the Australian National University. Authors claimed that the study of any Asian country cannot be seen solely in terms of its recent history and its present situation. (Mason and Caiger 1997) They also hoped that through this book, students will have a more subtle and sympathetic understanding of the characters of the Asians. As a history student, I agree to the authors claim since one can understand the modern situation of such event or place if one must know and explore the history of such. Like understanding a character of a person, or to have a deeper comprehension of one’s culture, the researcher should exhaust all the possible sources because as what the author have said to perceive the perseverance of convention into the present and the path in which contemporary conduct may mirror the long established examples of antiquated social orders. (Mason and Caiger 1997) And most importantly, for me, it is essential and worthy to study the traditional societies, people and culture.