Othernesses of Japan: Historical and Cultural Influences on Japanese Studies in Ten Countries

The first international symposium of the institute was held in 1989 and was dedicated to the fundamental theoretical problem of so-called “national approaches” in Japanese studies. The assumption of the two editors was that the differing cultural backgrounds of researchers in Japanese studies from various countries have decisively influenced, and still influence, their approach and their tradition of research. This assumption was discussed by scholars from nine countries: Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, India, and the Republic of Korea. Japanese colleagues familiar with the research tradition in one of these countries gave their comments on the respective contributions. This volume is the first attempt ever made to formulate and analyse this hitherto neglected question.