ABSTRACT
As Northeast Asia regains its historical position as a world center, the history of regional relations to the nineteenth century becomes more critical. Heretofore, Europeans and Americans have largely considered East Asia for its failure to modernize, industrialize, and democratize. Now, with every East Asian success, considerations are shifting to: why are they successful while we languish? In addition to importing pedagogical approaches to improve the desultory state of Western secondary education, can we also fi nd styles of international relations that might preserve peace? 1 Why and how did Northeast Asia maintain nearly fi ve centuries of international peace from 1400 to the late nineteenth century, and why was this peace broken by only one major war – the Imjin War? 2 The questions are no longer antiquarian.
