PROBLEMATIZING “ASIA”   by Shin'ichi Yamamuro November 2001, 210 x 148 mm, 420 pp., 8,000- Is Japan part of Asia? This question might seem strange, but it has been asked again and again throughout the course of modern Japanese history. The Japanese people have internalized the European “modernity” with which Europeans divide the world into the West, the source of modernity, and the Rest, not yet modernized by the West. Japan has not, however, felt comfortable with this division of the modern world. This book examines from a historic perspective how the ambivalent position of modern Japan shaped its worldview and diplomatic policies. The lingering question of identity also suggests that Japan and other East Asian countries modernized in ways that do not conform to the “European model.” The impact of modernity was felt by East Asians not only in the form of so-called “Western impact,” but also in the form of “Japanese impact.” Japan served as a “link” as the rest of the region made the transition to modernity. This book describes the dynamic process of modernization, using such concrete examples as migration, the transfer of knowledge, translation and others. Contents Chapter 1: The Axis of Thinking About Asia   a. Words that Create Borders b. Civilization as a Dividing Axis c. Race as a Dividing Axis d. Culture as a Dividing Axis e. Ethnicity as a Dividing Axis f. Asia as a Basis for an Expanding Japan Chapter 2: Asia's Intellectual Linkages   a. The Formation of Nation States and Intellectual Linkages b. Western Knowledge and East Asia c. Intellectual Linkages According to Western Thought d. Western Knowledge, National Knowledge, and Eastern Knowledge during the Late Qing Dynasty of China e. The Formation of Nation States and the Change of Model Nations f. Corridors of Knowledge g. The Destiny of Intellectual Linkages h. Intellectual Linkages and the Impact of International Politics Chapter 3: Asia-centrism as Active Project   a. Hidden Policy Principles b. Asia-centric Discourse as Diplomatic Strategy c. Two International Systems and Diplomacy within Asia d. The Dilemma of Asia-centric Diplomacy e. Towards Open Regionalism   (Notes are provided in each section.) About the Author Born in 1951, Shin'ichi Yamamuro worked in the Cabinet Legislation Bureau after graduating from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor's degree in law. He currently serves as professor at Kyoto University's Research Institute for the Humanities. Books by Yamamuro include The Age of Legislating Bureaucrats — History of National Designs and Knolwedge; Knowledge and Politics in Modern Japan — from Kowashi Inoue to Mass Entertainment; and Chimera — A Portrait of Manchukuo. Yamamuro's research covers Japan as it experienced modernity in the Asian context, the role Asia played in the formation of the modern world.