Abstract
In this chapter, I want to explain how Yanaihara strongly opposed the anti-Western thesis embedded in Japanese attempts to establish a new political and economic order in East Asia. In the 1930s when the Japanese army took steps to extend control of the northern part of China, a wide range of scholars in humanities and social sciences were eager to provide a philosophical rationale and strategic explanation for the reordering of East Asia. The idea of Asian unification was justified as the application of the Western imperial and international systems had failed to improve the political and economic situations of the Asian populations including the Japanese. However, Yanaihara refused to accept this pan-Asian justification. For him, it was apparent that any further military expansion would increase Japan’s further isolation both from Western powers and other Asian nations and eventually bring the whole thesis of Asian justice and harmony to an end. How did he come to a different conclusion from the majority of Japanese scholars? What was the alternative to championing an Asian collective identity to overcome the gap between the civilized and uncivilized, the strong and weak, and ultimately, the West and Asia? This chapter mainly focuses on his writings in the 1930s.
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Notes
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© 2013 Ryoko Nakano
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Nakano, R. (2013). Asianism versus Internationalism?. In: Beyond the Western Liberal Order. Palgrave Macmillan History of International Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137290519_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137290519_6
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