Japan and its Region: Changing Historical Perceptions

Abstract

The Northeast Asian region today stands at a crucial turning point. The rise of China and tensions on the Korean Peninsula pose challenges to Japan's relations with its region. The changing regional order has profound implications for the future of Japanese studies. In the context of contemporary changes, this article explores shifting visions of Japan's position within its region, particularly how they have been expressed by historians from the early twentieth century onward. Over the past two decades, new notions of space and society have challenged the traditional visions of "area" that underpinned much historical twentieth-century writing on Japan. This article argues that, in searching for new paradigms for understanding Japan's place in the region, historians can find valuable insights in the work of Japanese grassroots researchers of the 1970s and 1980s, who developed alternative frameworks for exploring their country's connections to other parts of Asia.