Although it may initially appear rather self-evident to describe Japan as part of East Asia, a moment’s reflection should give us pause for thought. ‘Japan in East Asia’ is not a given reality – it is a geopolitical premise. Japan is constructed as a unit within the wider body of ‘East Asia’, simultaneously in conflict with it whilst also represented as a fully integrated component in opposition to the construct of ‘the West’. Conceptions of ‘Japan in East Asia’ can be described with Edward Said as ‘imagined geographies’. But these imagined geographies are often determined by Realpolitik in the 19th and 20th century: after interactions in the region had been shaped by the dominance of China, the question of ‘Japan in Asia’ was defined by Japan’s forced opening by the West and Japan’s subsequent imperial expansion. Japan, as we know it today, is a product of trans-national, imperial, regional, and even global processes and so is East Asia. Even though they are historically constructed, they are nonetheless effective, powerful entities. This ambiguity is reflected in today’s politics and social conditions in the region and this course seeks to understand such tensions historically.

In the seminar, we will assess the topic chronologically. We start with a first period, which could be subsumed under the keywords ‘modern/imperial’ and which lasted roughly from 1850 to 1949. Then we focus on a second period, the post war years and cold war era. We end with a third period, defined by a post-cold war world order and accelerated globalization. The goal is to bring into view conceptions of ‘Japan in Asia’ as well as regional interactions, interdependencies, conflicts and cooperation. This course will discuss East Asia as a region shaped by imperial as well as national competition. Some of the questions we will consider are: What did Empire building look like in East Asia? How was the region shaped by colonialism, and what is the legacy of the Japanese Empire? Theoretically, we will familiarize ourselves with approaches that challenge both the temporal and spatial ‘naturalness’ of the region and aim to transcend internalist and essentialist forms of historical narratives. close