ABSTRACT
It is often argued that the dominant analytical frameworks employed in the studies of International Relations, because they have their roots in Western experience, do not reflect the experience of other geographical areas and regions. There is no doubt that the “self/other” analysis which anthropomorphizes the nation-state is firmly rooted within the Western conception of the person (Neumann 1996). Below, however, I argue for the applicability of the “self/other” framework to the study of Japan’s identity through a review of existent scholarship. As such, here I also introduce the main arguments regarding modern Japan’s construction of the “self” that are particularly pertinent to the present study. For the purposes of this study, Stefan Tanaka’s Japan’s Orient (1993) and Oguma Eiji’s A Geneaology of “Japanese” Self-images (2002a), originally published in Japanese in 1995 as Tan’itsu minzoku shinwa no kigen (The Origins of the Myth of “Homogenous Nation”) are probably the most relevant accounts of modern Japan’s identity construction. Both explore the discourse on the origins of Japan during the formative years of Japan as a modern state, analyzing the constitution of the Japanese “self” through a discourse on Orient (Tanaka 1993) and the homogeneous/ pure national construction of Japan (Oguma 2002a). The second part of this chapter provides a brief overview of the main Japanese discourses on Russia and the Soviet Union prior to the end of the war in Asia-Pacific.
