The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Creates Modernity

Abstract

When one works on modern Japanese history in a global context in the English language medium, one constantly encounters descriptions, such as Japan’s ‘imitation’ or ‘mimicking’ and ‘Western tutelage.’ These works often stress ‘Western influence’ with little attention to the roles of the Japanese actors, the historical contexts of Japan, or the rich Japanese-language scholarships in the given fields. A recently acclaimed work, The Internationalists,[8] is one such example, despite the fact that it is significant in drawing the people’s attention to the Pact of Paris of 1928.