Good Neighbor? Bad Neighbor? A Historical Perspective on Sino-Japanese Relations

Thursday, January 23, 2014
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
(Pacific)
Philippines Conference Room
Speaker: 
  • Peter Duus

“Is Japan really part of Asia?” This question has agitated Japanese intellectuals, pundits and politicians since the country embarked on the road to modernity in the Meiji era. By the turn of the twentieth century the widening cultural and economic gap between the Japanese and their neighbors on the Asian mainland suggested that Japan’s geography no longer matched its position the world order.  It raised the question of just where Japan belonged: with the countries immediately across the sea or with more distant “civilized” societies it sought as models and mentors? In a sense this issue still confronts the Japanese today as they face escalating friction with China and Korea in a much more complicated world.

Peter Duus has written extensively on the history of Japanese imperialism and colonialism before World War II and together with Mark Peattie and Ramon Myers co-edited a trilogy of conference volumes on the subject.  His most recent book (edited with Kenji Hasegawa) is Rediscovering America: Japanese Perspectives on the American Century (2011).