ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a little analysed source of inspiration for early Indian anticolonial nationalism, namely Japan. It looks at Indian radical nationalism (sometimes also called 'Extremism') as it was theorized and disseminated between 1890 and 1910 and the ways in which Japan was presented within it as a model and an iconic example. Cultivation of the indigenous languages through 'print-capitalism' and the creation of a modern indigenous written culture were the only means by which Western hegemony could be resisted. The Bengali religious leader, Swami Vivekananda rapidly rose to all-Indian and international fame during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Japan was an example of an Asian nation that had successfully modernized itself without Western colonial interference. The example of Japan acted as a leaven for the Indian national movement, as a source of inspiration.
