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Recognition of Otherness displayed in Traveler’s Journals of Japanese Modern Writers : Soseki’s 『Journey to Manchuria and Korea』 and Akutagawa’s 『China Trip』

  • 日本硏究
  • 2014, (36), pp.159-176
  • Publisher : The Center for Japanese Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Japanese Language and Literature
  • Published : February 20, 2014

Kim Nan Hee 1

1제주대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This thesis explores the views of Japanese modern intellectuals toward others during the period of Imperialistic competition based on the texts of Soseki’s 「Journey to Manchuria and Korea」 and Akutagawa’s 「China Trip」. An additional attention was paid to the fact that their views had a thread of connection with the discourse of orientalism that the West applied to the colonization of Africa and Asia. Narrative attitudes exhibited in the travel journals reveal that Soseki maintained consistent leisureliness of ‘saseibun’ attitude, looking away from the realities of colonies, while Akutagawa at least passively participated in the realities of China connected with international situations of the time. It can be seen as their limitation that the two writers stayed in the perception of ‘the others’ and did not have lucid historical awareness. The two travel journals stood out in the narrative that China is a filthy, ignorant and grotesque place with natural beauty and exotic atmosphere while at the same time they emphasize the modernity of Japan. The more emphasized Japan’s modernity is, the more obvious China’s savagery becomes. Like the Oriental image from Europeans’ perspective as Edward Said pointed out, Japanese intellectuals provided foundation and rationale to fortify the domination-subordination relationship by looking at China and Korea as ignorant places. Edward Said exposed ‘Orientalism’ as a view of the West toward the East. ‘Orientalism’ is a criticism on Western view of the East. It aroused the awareness that Orientalism is the way to relate with the Orient, or the East, not the essence of the East. Orientalism is characterized by backwardness, sensuality and passivity as European image to be aware of the different culture of the East that lies far afield. And this image symbolized the ‘discourse’ to establish the superiority of the West and seek cause of domination over the East. This Western attitude and Japan’s relationship with China and Korea have in a lot common.

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