This chapter draws attention to the psychology of interactions between Japanese and English native speakers in relation to dominant social representations, status attributes and threat perception. It outlines some of the ways in which "Japanese identity is the anti-image of foreignness and, as such, can only be affirmed by formulating the images of the Other, namely the West". Interactions between the national-self and the authentic national-other may be seen as circular, in that Japan's perceived need for the native speaker of English is drawn from domestic beliefs concerning the authenticity and value of native as the legitimate carriers of national culture and knowledge. Given that fear, aggression, hostility and antagonism are known products of insecurity and anxiety, it is possible to suggest that the Japanese national-self remains under the influence of what psychologists would term "classical fear conditioning" relative to the national-other.