Repository logo
 

REVERSE EMULATION AND THE CULT OF JAPANESE EFFICIENCY IN EDWARDIAN BRITAIN

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

TONOOKA, CHIKA 

Abstract

jats:titleABSTRACT</jats:title>jats:pThis article considers a particular moment in world history when an instant of epoch-making triumph in the non-West – Japan's defeat of Russia in 1905 – coincided with a period of intense national anxiety in Britain in the wake of the South African War (1899–1902). One outcome of this historical intersection was the emergence in Britain of a euphoric ‘cult of Japan’ that saw many Edwardians, obsessed with the idea of ‘efficiency’, deploy Japan as both a referent for British shortcomings and a model for reform. The article asks why proponents of ‘efficiency’ – most of them ardent imperialists – deemed it acceptable, even strategically advantageous, in such domestic debates to draw upon examples from Japan – an ‘Oriental’ race and former protégé – in apparent contradiction of Western supremacism. The article contends that Britain's emulative attitudes were underpinned by an emergent plural conception of ‘civilization’, which appraised Japan's attainment of civilization as consistent with Western standards whilst at the same time recognizing elements of Japanese particularity – an outlook that justified reciprocal learning.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

4303 Historical Studies, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology

Journal Title

The Historical Journal

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0018-246X
1469-5103

Volume Title

60

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)