Western Influence on Japanese Traditions

According to Sansom, the lacquerese did non really alter their perception of God; the Jesuits altered their techniques of conversion, being confronted with the "problem of reconciling their birth principles with other people's practices" (Sansom 123).

During this same boundary Japanese culture was engaged in a give of nascent nationalism under the military leader Nobunaga (1534-1583). This conglomerate the rediscovery, or more exactly reformulation, of Confucianism as Neo-Confucianism, together with persecution of Buddhism (Tsunoda, et al. 313). The inclination toward political consolidation within Japan and rejection of Chinese persuade seems to have enabled Nobunaga to portray something like tolerance for the presence of westward people and ideas. Tsunoda, et al., explain:

[C]ordiality toward the Christian missionaries newly arrived in Japan seems to have been inspired fundamentally by a commit to learn, but perversely also by his antipathy for traditionalistic Buddhism. In any case his obvious admiration for the racy intelligence and nobility of these intrepid Jesuits, as well up as his generous treatment of them, won for Nobunaga the distinction of being the start great Japanese leader for whom westward accounts of Japan were to sour important biographical sources (Tsunoda, et al. 313).

The early nationalism of the Japanese in their encounters with the West documented by Tsunoda, et al., may be attributed to the ethnocentrism of the Neo-Confucian impression that dominated the

Between the origination contends, to be sure, Japanese imperialism was mediated by the influence of prewar liberals who were more interested in foreign cooperation and internal scotch development than in expansion and who voiced the influence of Western-style ingrained democracy. But it must also be remembered that the many commercialised treaties between Japan and Euro-America from 1860 onward had been on the whole untoward to Japan. That is why Tsunoda, et al., note with regard to Meiji Japan, that the leadership "kept oneness eye on the West and the other on its own national individuality" (721-4). According to Sansom, there was also a strong impulse toward self-preservation springing from these craftiness treaties.

Perfectly aware of the cheating(prenominal) treatment enshrined in the treaties, Japan's leaders made a sensible popular effort to gain acceptance in European terms so that the balance of favor could be shifted. thence Japan took on foreign ways of life, not so much because it recognized the merits of the west, as because as soon as Japanese could display western sentiments the sooner the unequal trade treaties would be corrected (385). Sansom describes posters, newspapers, and pamphlets that expressed fear of foreign criticism, the main theme of which was, "You must not be laughed at by foreigners." This provides background for a long view of Japan's imperialism as well: For just as Japan wished to demonstrate that it was as evenly civilized as any other nation, it wished to demonstrate that it was as equally powerful as any other international colonizing power.

Pyle, Kenneth B. The Making of Modern Japan. 2d ed. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1996.

Culturally, the case for Western influences is mixed. The well-disposed position of women in contemporary Japan can be contrasted with their position in previous eras. This takes many forms. For one thing, the Western model of dress triumphed among the masses after World War II as it did not in the Meiji and imperialist flow rate
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