1 Credit class paper East Asia japan china Korea
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Outline
1.
Introduction discusses the spread of European colonizers to different parts of the world,
including South America, Africa, and Australia.
It goes further to expand on what happened once the westerners made their
way to East Africa. It talks about how Japan embraced modern civilization as
opposed to China and Korea, who were determined to maintain their
traditions.
Thesis Statement: The statement argues on why Japan had to still stand with
China despite their reservations regarding their stubborn neighbor.
2.
Fukuzawa Yukichi talks about how the Japanese found China and Korea arrogant and
shameless for declining to embrace modern civilization.
They felt like their proximity to the two nations would affect them and
hinder their good relations with the Westerners.
3.
Konoe Atsumaro gives a different perspective on why Japan would have felt obligated to
stand with China.
He talks about how the westerners still felt the yellow race was inferior to
the white race. This is one of the reasons he cites for Japan’s motivation to
want to be in good relations with its neighbors.
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4.
Konoe and Fukuzawa have different reasons for their motivation for the role Japan played
in persuading China.
While Konoe feels like Japan and China belong to the same race and
should therefore be united against the white race, Fukuzawa feels like if
they do not persuade China to embrace civilization, the Europeans would
group them with the arrogant nation.
5.
The change of attitude between Fukuzawa’s and Konoe’s opinions regarding Japan and
China’s relations can be traced to the Sino-Japanese war. It was after this war that Japan
realized they were mentally and physically stronger than the Westerners.
Europeans were afraid of them and therefore tried to apply racial
subjugation to achieve their goals in East Asia.
6.
The conclusion ties together the main points discussed in the essay, which include the
role Japan played in persuading China to embrace modern civilization.
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Lydia Rentas-Santiago
One Credit: Perspective in Japan/History of East Asia II
Professor’s Name: Daniel Asen
Date: 3/17/2023
Perspective in Japan/History of East Asia II
The Westerners decided to spread civilization throughout different parts of the world,
including Africa, South America, and Australia, among others. In some regions, there was little
to no resistance to their colonization, as the people in some areas were weaker than others.
However, when it came to Asia, and especially East Asia, the same methods the European
colonizers had used to develop undeveloped regions like Africa could not be applied here. They
therefore tried to use racial subjugation in the East Asian regions, taking advantage of the already
existing war between Japan and China. It was at a time when Japan had won the Sino-Japanese
War and therefore felt superior to the Chinese and Korean people. Additionally, the Japanese
considered themselves more developed than their neighbors, and that is why the Westerners
appealed to them to assist in their takeover of China. The westerners believed that although the
“yellow race” was inferior in terms of material civilization, their physical power and mental
ability were far superior, and therefore it would be a challenge for them to take over. This paper
argues that despite Japanese people considering themselves far more superior to China and
Korea, they had differing perspectives in light of the changing political and economic landscape
in the late 1800s.
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Fukuzawa Yukichi, in his article "On Saying Goodbye to Asia," which was published in
the Jiji Shinp newspaper in 1885, talked about how the Chinese and Koreans would eventually
jeopardize their progress in modern civilization due to their close geographical proximity.
Therefore, even if Japan had already done away with old conventions and embraced modern
civilization, it would be hard for them to ignore their neighbors. Japan considered China and
Korea arrogant and shameless for their refusal to leave old conventions and embrace modern
education despite knowing about the manifestations of western civilization. "As for school
education, they can only cite Confucian precepts of humanity, righteousness, decorum, and
knowledge" (Fukuzawa, p. 2). China and Korea are two countries that are proud of their old
ways, so their minds are unable to be changed to embrace any modern civilization. However,
Japan still knew that being part of East Asia meant that the Europeans would always see them as
one and the same people. "Chinese are mean-spirited and shameless, and the chivalry of the
Japanese people is lost to the Westerners" (Fukuzawa, p. 2). Japan, in this case, should therefore
play the role of convincing China to embrace the ways of the Europeans if they needed the
westerners to consider them civilized.
On the other hand, Konoe Atsumaro, in his article, "An Alliance of the Same Race and
the Necessity of Studying the Chinese Question," Published in a popular Japanese magazine
called The Sun in 1898, it talks about the Japanese being the same race as Chinese. Konoe
realized that the Europeans’ desire to take over China will inevitably also affect them. Although
the Japanese thought themselves better than the Chinese, the Europeans still saw them as one and
the same due to the social Darwinism theory, which considered the yellow race inferior to the
white race. This put Japan in a dilemma since they had already embraced Western Civilization.
Their alliance with European colonizers would bring them those benefits from the West, but it
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would put them in a hostile position with China. "If we mock the Chinese people and put them to
shame and, in return, earn their hostility... does it not also create a massive impediment to the
advancement of our China policy" (Konoe, p.1). Konoe realized that the hostility would only
cause problems in the future, considering they are close neighbors, and that if Japan were to run
into a problem, their closest neighbor is more likely to come to their aid as compared to
Europeans, who are thousands of kilometers away. Therefore, it is the role of Japan to try and
learn Chinese traditions and be friendlier with them. "Attempting to solve the Chinese problem
without a proper knowledge of China would be extremely dangerous" (Konoe, p.3) If Japan got
themselves acquainted with Chinese affairs, they would be more informed and be in a position to
help in the event of a European takeover.
Konoe and Fukuzawa disagreed on the reasons motivating the role of Japan in China and
Korea. Fukuzawa saw China as a shameless country that in several years would be done away
with and their territory would be divided among the civilized nations. He stated that Japan was
ready to follow what westerners dictated for them to treat China and thought that just because
they were neighbors did not mean that they owed them special treatment. However, because of
their geographical proximity, Japan had to play the role of forcing civilization on China since
they felt that their actions put them in a bad light with the Westerners (Fukuzawa, p.2). Konoe,
on the other hand, saw Japan and China as two nations that belonged to the same race and whose
alliance would be helpful in the long run. Konoe believed that any bad treatment of Japan by
China would only breed hostility, which would be detrimental in the future. He therefore advised
Japan to learn about Chinese traditions if they wanted to be in a position to help the country.
By the time Fukuzawa wrote his article, the Sino-Japanese war had not yet happened.
Additionally, the Westerners were only starting to spread their civilization in East Asia. At the
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time, Japan thought the Chinese were arrogant and shameless and unable to let go of their
traditions. Although they knew that the European colonizers would group them as one and the
same people, they thought announcing their stand and making sure that the colonizers knew that
they stood together would be able to differentiate them. Fukuzawa believed that Japan should
leave behind its traditional culture and embrace Western culture in order to become a modern
nation through positioning itself as equal to Western powers and compete with them for
influence in East Asia (Fukuzawa, p. 3). They did not think that it was their responsibility to
enlighten their neighbors. All the Japanese were concerned with was embracing the new
civilization, which they believed made them better than Chinese and Koreans at embracing it.
They saw the Chinese refusal to acknowledge the western civilizations as a shameless act,
arrogance, and their over-reliance on Confucianism's teachings of humanity, righteousness,
decorum, and knowledge.
In the years 1894 and 1895, however, the Sino-Japanese War occurred, and the Japanese
were victorious over the Chinese. This could have been an in with the Westerners and could have
sealed their hateful treatment of the Chinese. However, they soon realized that the European
colonizers still saw them as the inferior race, “the yellow race”. As such, Japan and China had
shared struggle against the western imperialism and there was need to work together to protect
their sovereignty and interests (Konoe, p.1). They learned that the European powers were not
going to benefit them as they were determined to subjugate other races. In this case, even if the
Japanese embraced modern civilization, the Westerners would always see them as inferior,
despite their hostility and alienation of Chinese. With their win in the Sino-Japanese war, they
realized that the only thing they had been inferior to the Europeans with was modern weapons.
Otherwise, in terms of mental ability and physical power, they were superior, and that is why the
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Europeans were determined to subjugate the yellow races (Konoe, p.1). The Japanese therefore
realized that the Westerners would turn on them, but it would be late since the two neighbors
would already be hostile to each other. This made them want to learn the traditions of China in
order to help them in case the Europeans decided to invade.
In essence, modern civilization might have been a good thing, as it brought a civilized
education system and civilized institutions. However, the westerners were not doing this out of
the goodness of their hearts. They had already successfully invaded South America and Africa
since these areas had an imbalance of power, which they used to their advantage. They realized,
however, that they could not use the same methods in East Asia, which is why they approached
the Japanese, who already thought themselves superior to the Chinese. The Sino-Japanese war
opened the Japanese eyes, and they realized that the Europeans would never see them as different
from Chinese, and if a conflict occurred, the white race would soon turn on the yellow race. This
is what prompted them to change their attitude towards their neighbor and decide to learn their
traditions.
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Works Cited
Fukuzawa Yukichi, “On Saying Goodbye to Asia.” Published in Jiji shinpō newspaper in 1885.
Konoe Atsumaro, “An Alliance of the Same Race and the Necessity of Studying the Chinese Question.” Published in a popular Japanese magazine called The Sun in 1898.