"Religion, Secularism and the Japanese Shaping of East Asian Studies", in Paramore (ed.) Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies (Bloomsbury, 2016) (original) (raw)
Although some politics and international relations discourses continue to maintain that there is a causal link between secularism and political modernity, religious studies, anthropology, and history research over the past decade has been rather merciless in debunking this idea as one of the tropes of Western imperialism. This article considers at how Japanese political thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries engaged this trope, and how that engagement contributed to the particular relationship between religion and governance that emerged in the modern Japanese empire (1868–1945). The article argues that developments in the Confucian political thought of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868), particularly in the works of Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728) and Aizawa Seishisai (1792–1863), contributed significantly to the capacity of Japanese thinkers and politicians to creatively engage the role of religion in Western imperialism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
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.
Revisiting Japanese Studies in Southeast Asia
Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies, 2017
Asia. The paper presents a number of stumbling blocks of various institutions in Southeast Asia, such as language issues and funding. The study ends with possible suggestions as well as solutions towards success in this area.
American Imperialism and the Japanese Encounter with "Religion": 1853-1858.pdf
2016
It was during the years of intense American-Japanese treaty negotiations from 1853 when the Japanese first encountered the generic concept ‘religion’. The generic meaning of ‘religion’ was initially lost in the linguistically multi-layered process of translations during the earliest stage of the negotiations. When the term ‘religion’ was subsequently encountered more directly by Japanese translators, the formulation of new Japanese terms was required. For the Japanese in the 1850s, ‘religion’ was a diplomatic category, and no single word in Japanese could capture the contours of this Euro-American category. It was not until the 1870s that the generic concept of religion was popularised in Japan. This article examines the ways in which the Japanese elite engaged with the generic term ‘religion’ before the Japanese equivalent was developed. It focuses on Japanese interactions with the discourse on ‘religion’ conveyed by Commodore Perry’s expedition to Japan (1852-1854) and by Townsend Harris (1804-1878) who represented the United States in the subsequent negotiations. This resulted in the signing of the American-Japanese treaty in 1858, which guaranteed ‘religious freedom’ for American citizens in Japan. The notion of ‘religion’ in this treaty was not easily articulated by the Japanese. Japanese translators had to employ a variety of terms and phrases to accommodate the idea of ‘religion’. This article also highlights the American projection of ‘religion’ upon Japan. The articulation of ‘religion’ as a generic category, essentially distinct from the ‘secular’ realms of ‘state’, ‘politics’, ‘economy’, and the like, first appeared in the late seventeenth century. It was most powerfully institutionalised in late eighteenth-century North America. The nineteenth-century notion of religion in the United States constructed two types of discourse: ‘One discourse has been on Religion as Christian Truth and civility in opposition to superstitions as barbarous irrationalities; the other has been on “religion” in relation to the secular state and civil society conceived as neutral or indifferent towards religion’ (Fitzgerald 2007: 311). These were clearly observed in the American negotiations with Japan in the 1850s. Importantly, these discourses had ideological functions. ‘Both of these discourses, often mixed together, have at least facilitated a rationale for Western imperialism and a justification for colonial rule’ (Fitzgerald 2007: 311). American narratives on ‘religion’ in the nineteenth century appear to be closely related to the norms and imperatives of imperialism. This article assesses the validity of such a claim in the context of the American-Japanese negotiations between 1853 and 1858. Reference: Fitzgerald, T. 2007. Discourse on Civility and Barbarity. Oxford University Press.
"Premodern Secularism", Japan Review, 30, 2017, pp. 21-37.
This article argues that secularism is not an exclusively modern phenomenon, but is rather a recurring pattern which arises throughout different periods of premodern and modern history. I begin with a longue durée overview of Japanese history as a case study, proposing a regime of such historical cycles over a 1,200-year period. I then focus on changes in religious-political relations which occurred in one specific, important cycle, through the transition from the late medieval into the early modern period. I argue that this period ushered in a new form of political-religious relations where Neo-Confucianism, instead of Buddhism, for the first time represented the religious element in Japanese politics. I demonstrate how this early modern regime of political-religious interaction supported by Neo-Confucianism was particularly stable and functioned to support public discourse. In conclusion, the article notes the destruction of this early modern form of political-religious relations during East Asian modernization, and suggests that the continuing lack of a stable regime of political-religious relations in both contemporary China and Japan can be seen as an ongoing legacy of that destruction.
The Invention of Religion in Japan (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
2012
Winner of the SSSR 2013-Distinguished Book of the Year Award. "Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions”—and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition."
Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History
Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History, 2017
This chapter is a survey of Japan's relations with other Asian nations. It focuses on the ideology and movement known as Pan-Asianism, 1 which emphasized Asian solidarity and unity, from the early Meiji era (1868-1912) to the present day. Throughout its history, Pan-Asianism has assumed many forms. Embodying the ideal of cooperation among the nations of East Asia against the threat of Western imperialism and domination, the movement was egalitarian in theory. Whereas the Japanese government's diplomatic efforts (see Chapter 2 in this volume) focused on establishing and maintaining friendly relations with the Western powers, Pan-Asianist writers and activists emphasized the need for closer relations with Japan's Asian neighbours and, in some circumstances, a Pan-Asian alliance against the West. However, in many cases, this aim also implied Japanese claims to leadership in Asia. In the immediate postwar period, scholars avoided Pan-Asianism as a research subject because of its complex and ambiguous legacy; however, recent decades have seen much scholarly interest in the history of regionalism in East Asia, stimulated by the ongoing regional integration and its problems. The growing body of works on Pan-Asianism include studies by Koschmann (1997),
Asianism: Continuity and Divergence in Japan’s Foreign and International Cooperation Policy
2024
Asianism has often been discussed in Anglophone literature as rhetoric used to justify Japan's imperial expansion. Yet both the genesis of the concept prior to World War II and its evolution in the post-World War II era have received less attention. This chapter examines how shifting conceptions of Asianism have influenced Japan's foreign policy stance and international cooperation development agenda. By tracing the historical roots, development and diffusion of Asianism from its origins in early Meiji Japan to present, the chapter shows how Asianism, though its influence has declined over time, has endured in the post-war era through the concept of Asian regionalism.
Critical Reflections on the Religious-Secular Dichotomy in Japan
Making Religion: Theory and Practice in the Discursive Study of Religion
For at least the last two decades, the concept of ‘religion’ has been examined critically by a number of scholars. In the light of this scrutiny, this chapter takes the concept in Japan as a subject for investigation. The Japanese concept for ‘religion’ shūkyō was invented in the nineteenth century. The term was a key constituent element in the technology of statecraft. The term’s nineteenth century construction has been extensively studied by many, but the same critical thread has not been reached to the post-1945 era. This is the main area of the inquiry for this chapter. First of all, this chapter reviews how the term ‘religion’ was imported to and appropriated as shūkyō in Japan in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. This is followed by the examination of how the concept was reformulated after the Second World War under the influence of American-style liberal democratic values. To the present day, the boundary between religion (shūkyō) and the non-religious secular is ambiguous and often contentious. Importantly, this exploration leaves us with the under-researched area of shūkyō in the colloquial discourse. Thus, this chapter concludes with implications for further research.
History and Progress of the Department of Japanese Studies
Japanese Studies: Evaluation and Way Forward, 2022
This chapter attempts to reveal the history of the Department of Japanese Studies at Dhaka University. This is a primary research work based on the interviews of the key informants and document analysis. Japan Study Circle, established in 1994, was turned into Japan Study Centre in 2002. It has since started offering different courses and programs. The momentum came in 2012 when Prof. Dr. Abul Barkat became its director. His visionary leadership turned the centre into a full-fledged department in 2017. Since then, it offers Bachelor and Master's in Japanese Studies. The department gathered pace when Dr. Abdullah-Al-Mamun became its chairman in 2020. His dynamic leadership has turned the department into a hub of Japanese Studies in the region, and it has recently received the prestigious Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation 2022 for promoting Japanese Studies in Bangladesh and beyond. The implication of area studies in academia is now better understood, and the department is on the right track to make significant academic and policy contribution. 1.1 Introduction The Department of Japanese Studies at the University of Dhaka is this hundred-year-old institution's first-ever area studies department. Unlike language and literature, the department aims at studying Japan from a broader spectrum. It is a department under the Faculty of Social Sciences at the university which covers many aspects of Japan. Hence, it encompasses a variety of disciplines such as politics, economy, society, trade and business, international relations, business management, media, language and literature, philosophy, religion, archeology, history and civilization and many more. Thus, it has developed as a multidisciplinary department thriving to become the center of excellence. Because of Japan's miraculous economic success, technological advancement, longstanding. history and heritage, uniquely unique culture and 'Cool Japan' image, Japanese Studies or 'Japanology' has become a popular subject
The 1890S Korean Reformers' View of Japan – a Menacing Model?
The International Journal of Asian Studies, 2005
This paper explores the nuances of the perceptions of Japan by Korea's reformist press of the late 1890s, chiefly by Tongnip sinmun (1896-1899, edited by So b Chaep'il and Yun Ch'iho). The main finding of the paper is that, despite the Christian reformists' avowed allegiance to the USA as their ideal model of "civilization", Japan was taken as a practical model-an example of how a fellow East Asian country, which was supposedly "30 years ago even more backward than Korea", could succeed in "civilizing" itself. At the same time, reformists' nationalist reaction against domineering "colonial" behavior of the Japanese inside Korea often took the form of an appeal to "international"-read "American"/"European"-"standards of civilization". The conclusion the study of some of the earliest forms of Korea's Westernizing nationalism leads us to is that the "Occidentalist" worldview of the early Christian nationalist reformers was a complex, multi-layered and often self-contradictory phenomenon, in which "oppressive" features are not easily distinguishable from "liberational" ones. Its key treatment-the prettified, essentialized picture of the "Occident", believed to be the only "true", "ideal" civilization-could work "oppressively" as it put Korea's traditional culture in the position of "barbarism" to be exorcized, while looking "emancipatory" when used as the yardstick for criticism of Japanese encroachment.