ABSTRACT
This paper surveys the study of Japan in and outside Japan, and explores the potential to study Japan as the ‘other’. It points out that the size of Japan’s domestic market for scholarship and publication is so large that its cultural commodities have not often considered the needs of overseas markets, with a resulting prevalence of monological studies for domestic consumption. Overseas studies of Japan on the other hand have often adopted an Orientalist approach. Academia in Japan has addressed the monologic tendency to a degree, as Japanese scholars increasingly share theories and methodologies with overseas scholars as a result of globalization. However, monologic discourse continues to be more accepted amongst ordinary Japanese people who are marginalized and isolated from this process. The paper proposes a fruitful collaboration between overseas and Japan-based scholars.
