Japan's World and the World's Japan: Images, Perceptions, and Reactions
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The 31st Japan Studies Association of Canada ! Annual Conference! ! Japan’s World and the World’s Japan:! Images, Perceptions, and Reactions! ! Conference Proceedings October 11-14, 2018 University of Alberta Edmonton JAPAN’S WORLD | THE WORLD’S JAPAN A Collection of Papers from the Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) 2018 Annual Meeting held at the University of Alberta Edited by Aya Fujiwara (University of Alberta) and James White (University of Alberta) © 2019 Japan Studies Association of Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS________________________________________________________ LIST OF TABLES iii LIST OF FIGURES iv LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS vi EDITOR’S PREFACE vii 1. JAPAN-WEST INTERCULTURE: TIME’S STEP BACK—DŌGEN, 1 WATSUJI, KUKI AND HEIDEGGER 2. THE EJCA HISTORY PROJECT AND 2013 SURVEY: 27 BACKGROUND, ACCESS AND SOME REFLECTIONS 3. TRANSLATION WITHOUT WORDS: WHAT KYŌGEN CAN TELL 38 US ABOUT SAMUEL BECKETT’S TOLERANCE FOR ADAPTATION 4. FORTY YEARS AFTER THE CHINA-JAPAN TREATY OF PEACE AND 47 FRIENDSHIP: REFLECTIONS ON CHANGING ECONOMIC AND COMMERICAL RELATIONS 5. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF ABENOMICS 85 6. FOUR DECADES SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF E.W. SAID’S 109 ORIENTALISM: BRIEF COMMENTS ON ITS IDEOLOGICAL ROOTS AND IMPACT ON JAPAN AND JAPAN-RELATED SCHOLARSHIP 7. THE TOURIST WALKING ROUTES OF BUNKYO WARD, TOKYO: 125 FOREIGN PERCEPTIONS OF WALKABILITY JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan ii LIST OF TABLES_____________________________________________________________ Table 1.1 Western Civilization and East Asian Civilization 10 Table 1.2 Summary Comparison of Heidegger and Dōgen 19 Table 4.1 2001-2017: The Dangerous Years 58 Table 4.2 Major Events and High-Level Visits Leading up to the 40th Anniversary 66 of the 1978 Treaty of Peace and Cooperation Table 4.3 Japan’s Major Export Markets in 2017 70 Table 4.4 Reports of Japanese Companies Leaving China 71 Table 7.1 Example of a Walkability Checklist with 23 Criteria Based on Icanwalk.ca 133 JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan iii LIST OF FIGURES____________________________________________________________ Figure 2.1 The EJCA History Project and 2013 Survey 28 Figure 2.2 EJCA History Project 28 Figure 2.3 Phases 1&2: Summary and Finding Aid 29 Figure 2.4 Phase 1/2 29 Figure 2.5 Phases 1&2: Access 30 Figure 2.6 Phases 1&2: Newsletter Moshi Moshi 30 Figure 2.7 Phases 1&2: Insights and Challenges 30 Figure 2.8 Phase 3: Survey 31 Figure 2.9 Phase 3 Survey: Access 31 Figure 2.10 Survey Details 31 Figure 2.11 Survey Sections 32 Figure 2.12 Survey Insights: Narrative 32 Figure 2.13 Survey Insights: Narrative 32 Figure 2.14 Survey Insights: Quantitative 33 Figure 2.15 Survey Insights: Quantitative 33 Figure 2.16 Reflections and Future 33 Figure 2.17 Metaphor 1: A Snapshot 34 Figure 2.18 Metaphor 2: A Canadian Census Snapshot 34 Figure 2.19 Metaphor 3: Energy/Matter 35 Figure 2.20 Metaphor 4: Enlightened Entanglement 35 Figure 2.21 Metaphor 5: “There’s Magic in Them There Fields” 35 Figure 2.22 Metaphor 6: Social Fields (for Humans) 36 Figure 2.23 Metaphor 7: Sequencing Japanese Predispositioning on Earth 36 Figure 2.24 Metaphor 8: Enlightened Entanglement 37 JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan iv Figure 4.1 China’s Belt and Road Scheme and 62 Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy Figure 4.2 Competing Global Trade Blocs: TPP and RCEP (2015) 63 Figure 4.3 Japanese ODA to China, 1980 to 2016 72 Figure 5.1 A Casual Framework for Assessing Japanese Economic Performance 87 Figure 5.2 Output Gap as a Percentage of Potential Output, IMF 88 Figure 5.3 A Stylized Representation of Edward Lincoln’s Output-Gap Framework 89 Figure 6.1 Books Critiquing Orientalism 118 Figure 6.2 Tweets by Hamid Dabashi 122 Figure 6.3 An Israeli Student Quoted in the Article 122 Figure 7.1 Ueno no Oyama Walk That Passes Through Bunkyo Ward 126 Figure 7.2 Bunkyo Ward (Bunkyo-Ku) in Metropolitan Tokyo 128 Figure 7.3 Bunkyo Ward Looking Northeast Toward Tokyo University 128 from Bunkyo Ward Tower Figure 7.4 Bunkyo Ward from Bunkyo Gakuin University Looking Toward 129 Shinjuku and Mt. Fuji Figure 7.5 Four Bunkyo Ward Walking Routes: Purple, Green, Pink and Orange 134 (with Most Stops Included) Figure 7.6 The Landscape Around the Printing Museum (Right) 136 Figure 7.7 Yureizaka Hill Walking Path 136 Figure 7.8 Rikugien Park at the End of the Pink Walking Route near 138 Komagome Rail Station Figure 7.9 Walking Route Sections of Brandon’s Orange Route 140 Figure 7.10 Stepping Stones Across Stream 141 JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan v LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS_____________________________________________________ David W. Edgington, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia Jay Goulding, Professor, Department of Social Science, York University Jacob Kovalio, Associate Professor, Department of History, Carleton University Brian K. MacLean, Professor, Department of Economics, Laurentian University Daiyo Sawada, Professor Emeritus, Department of Elementary Education, University of Alberta David Sulz, Academic Librarian, University of Alberta Jane Traynor, Ph.D. Student, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University Tom Waldichuk, Assistant Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences, Thompson Rivers University JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan vi EDITOR'S PREFACE__________________________________________________________ The 2018 Japan Studies Association of Canada’s Annual Meeting was held under the title, “Japan’s World / the World’s Japan: Images, Perceptions and Reactions.” Its goal was to promote the analysis of the current global trend of resurgent nationalism in the face of accelerating globalization. Japan’s interactions with the rest of world produce images, perceptions and reactions constantly. In the era in which much of critical decision-making processes and reactions depend on the mass production of images and perceptions, an analysis of their contents and mechanisms by which they are produced help identify challenges that Japan is facing and find solutions to them. The selected papers in this volume have conceptualized this theme in their own ways, situating Japan in a global context. Three papers are included in the field of the Humanities. While Jay Goulding, Jacob Kovalio and Jane Traynor exhibit some similarity in their focus on the intersections and interactions between Western and Asian philosophies and cultures, they approached major Western thinkers in a different way. Goulding revealed very intriguing interactions between major Western and Japanese philosophers, revealing the existence of a transnational sphere that cannot be explained through the binary between the West and the East. Jane Traynor pushes the West-East boundary questions a bit further, analyzing translation in the performing arts. Focusing on the work of Samuel Beckett, her study also recognizes the space that emerges between two different languages and cultures in theatres—what she called “artistic liberties.” Kovalio too analyzes the encounter between Western and Asian scholars but expresses concerns about the popularity and influence that Edward Said’s Orientalism has had in the field of Asian studies. He stresses the fact that Western scholarly interaction with the study of Japan and the East has little to do with colonial power system and Western hegemony. David Edgington and Brian K. MacLean examine the political economy of Japan from different angles, the former from international relations and the other from domestic economic politics. Focusing on the forty years of Japan-China relations, Edgington identifies several stages in the shifting Japanese perception of China as a trading partner. He refutes the static view of Japan- China relations that was established forty years ago, revealing that Japan has often changed its approach to China, as it increases its economic opportunities and competitiveness. MacLean’s article shifts attention to Japan’s internal economic politics, evaluating the first six years of Abenomics. While the assessment of its policy differs significantly among scholars and commentators, his analysis, focusing solely on the GDP and figures, points to a moderate success in economic recovery. The essays by Tom Waldichuk et al. and by David Sulz and Daiyo Sawada are both written as reports of major projects that their teams have conducted for many years. Reviewing the stages by which the Edmonton Japanese Community Association collected personal documents and historic photos from community members and challenges that the process entailed, Sulz and Sawada present a unique analysis of the project. Revealing the gap between goals and reality, their essay offers a useful tool and insights to anyone who compiles community history projects. Similarly, Waldichuk et al. offers insightful analysis of one of the tourism routes, based on the field work. Interestingly, they reveal that the Bunkyo walking route is not necessarily designed JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan vii for foreign tourists and thus more international consideration is necessary to make it accessible, safe, and enjoyable for foreign tourists. All articles make valuable a contribution to the understanding of Japan’s World and the World’s Japan and bring Japan studies to a global audience. The editors hope that our dialogue will enrich future Japan studies in Canada. Aya Fujiwara, Ph.D Chair of the 2018 JSAC Annual Conference JSAC 2019 | Japan’s World / The World’s Japan viii 1. JAPAN-WEST INTERCULTURE: TIME’S