ABSTRACT
I will begin this essay with a consideration of some muddles in the ways the
dichotomies of West/Japan and the like are used in anthropological discus-
sions. I will try to find an appropriate way to dismantle dichotomies, not
only specifically the dichotomy of West/Japan, by paying attention to epis-
temological conditions for such dichotomous concepts to be meaningful.
My forecast is that paradoxically the way dichotomies are questioned will
also suggest how useful and fertile a dichotomy can be as a heuristic tool, if
it is used under deliberate, analytical control.
