ABSTRACT

Though the tone of recent arguments that reaffirm nationalism do not directly affirm xenophobic nationalism, they still actively affirm the view that the state is a bulwark against global capitalism. From the 1980s to the 1990s, this phenomenon emerged as a reaction to widely touted critiques of nationalism and postmodern statements about transcending the nation-state, rather than being aimed at modernism and the universalism embodied within modernism. This chapter draws attention to the reaffirmation of nationalism that can easily turn in the direction of xenophobia when it is divorced from the possibility of what can be called the "earthly universalism" that is part of modernism and internationalism. From the modern to contemporary period, it seems that Japanese nationalism has not been able to completely overcome what Nakajima describes as a "fascist-like violent expansionism that attempts to universalize and spread distinctive religious values through" or "a value system that is inward focused and closed to both others and the world".