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Spanning prehistory to the present, concise essays by established and emerging scholars trace the movement of people, texts, images, beliefs, and commodities in and out of Japan, and beyond.
From ancient trade routes to contemporary pop culture, Japan has always been connected. This book reframes Japan not as an isolated exception, but as an active participant in exchange-absorbing, adapting, and contributing across borders and centuries-and invites readers to see connection, circulation, and hybridity as central to Japan's past and present. Unexpected case studies sit alongside clear syntheses to show how "international" approaches-comparative, bilateral, cross-border-relate to newer "global" frames that situate Japan within multidirectional networks and entanglements. Topics range across religion, literature, visual culture, media, technology, environment, and everyday life. Throughout, contributors foreground translation, adaptation, and reciprocity. The result is a lively, readable collection that joins deep expertise to lucid storytelling, without sacrificing nuance or rigour.
This volume offers a fresh lens on Japan's place in the world for scholars and researchers interested in East Asia, cultural history, and global studies. It equips readers to connect international and global perspectives, think beyond disciplinary silos, and recognise the creative power of exchange in culture.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
List of contents
List of ContributorsAcknowledgementsIntroduction
1. Power & Influence1.1 'Koreans' in Satsuma Domain
1.2 Tokugawa Ieyasu and Seventeenth-Century Globalism
1.3 Chiang Kai-Shek and Japan: An Epitome of Modern Sino-Japanese History
1.4 Tokugawa Yoshimune's Investigations of the Qing Dynasty and their Implications for Japan
1.5 Modern Japan from the Colonial Perspective: Issues in the Study of 'Imperial History'
1.6 Translating Blackness: Framing 'Black Literature' in Japan
1.7 Negotiating Asymmetry: Natsume S¿seki's Reading of
H¿j¿ki and Projecting Japanese Culture
1.8 Embassies from the Ry¿ky¿ Kingdom: Tokugawa Japan and Diplomatic East Asia
2. Border & Movement2.1 Ainu and the Borders of Japan
2.2 Conservative Movements and Immigration Politics in Japan
2.3 Reconsidering 'Vicarious Consumer Travel': A Comparison of Travelogues by Murakami Haruki and Furuichi Noritoshi
2.4 The Social Impact of the 'Healing' Drama Oshin in 1980s Iran
2.5 The Weaving of Translocal Networks: Gender, Dékasegi, and Livelihood within and beyond the Japanese Archipelago
2.6 The Fezzes in Japan: Japanese Media Reflections on the
Ertürul Frigate's Visit
2.7
The Usual Exercise of Fine Arts: Baroque Humanism in the Pre-Modern Non-West and Japan
3. Body & Sense3.1 Defying the Nation: Nuclear Disasters and Japan
3.2 Questions on the Oversea Deployment of 'Martial Arts': The Case of Aikid¿ in the West in the Post-War Period
3.3 No Cloud-Boat as a Guide: On Navigating the Affective Proximity of 'China' in
Genji Monogatari's Construction of Grief
3.4 The Curious Case of Ms. Tommy Japan: Non-Colonial Intimacy and Oceanic Affect among
Hyakush¿, 1895
3.5 Japan as Portrayed in 19th century Western Music
3.6 The Significance of Excrement in the Buddhist Narratives of Medieval Japan
3.7
Il tamburo di panno: An Italian Adaptation of the N¿
Aya no tsuzumi3.8 Flowing Between the Bogwood Boulders: A
Shinsaku Ai-Ky¿gen Case Study
3.9 Proust in Japan and Japan in Proust: Notes on Yoshida J¿ and the École japonaise of Proust Studies
4. Ecology & Technology4.1 From Vishwakarma to Lu Ban to Sh¿toku Taishi: Indian and Chinese Deities in Japanese Carpentry Mythology
4.2 The Role of Travel in the Formation of Japanese Modernism in Interwar Visual Art and Architecture
4.3 Hiruko: Myth's Identity in Tawada Yoko
4.4 Isolating the Global in the Prehistory of the Ry¿ky¿ Islands
4.5 Moveable Type in Japan and the World
4.6 Soil, Symbol, and Synecdoche: The Albert Kahn Garden as a Reflection of Global Japanese Culture
4.7 Seaweed, Science, and Sushi: Cross-cultural Knowledge Transmission between Japan and the UK
4.8 Fermentation, Hospitality & Planetary Dwelling in Contemporary Japanese Comics
5. Ritual & Belief5.1 The Blossoming of Buddhist Art During Nara Period
5.2 De-Isolating Ise in Early Meiji Japan
5.3 Imperial Sacrifice to an Uncrowned King
5.4 Buddhism in Japan from a Global Historical Perspective in the Early 12th Century
Fus¿ ryakki5.5 Monuments of Hindu-Buddhist Kingship in Medieval Japan
5.6 'After The Manner of This Land': The Dutch East India Company's Envoys Pay Homage to the Emperor of Japan
6. Beauty & Pleasure6.1 Chikushiji, a Lyrical Lingua Franca of the Late-Edo Period
6.2 The
Mingei Movement and World Crafts: A Perennial Attraction
6.3 Kuroiwa Ruik¿'s
Suteobune: The Japanese Adaptation Bridging Western and Chinese Literature
6.4 Tea in the History of Japan's Global Interfaces
6.5 Hybrid Origins of Japanese Animation and Manga
6.6 Making Modernism: American Audiences and Post-war Japanese Prints
6.7 Chinoiserie in Early Modern Japan
Index
About the author
Oliver White is Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto, Japan.
Mai Kataoka is Associate Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto, Japan.
Timon Screech is Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto, Japan.
