SJAS STUDENT JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES @ USC
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
SJAS
STUDENT
JOURNAL OF
ASIAN STUDIES
@ USC
2022 IssueABOUT
The USC Student Journal of Asian Studies (SJAS @ USC) is a student-run journal supported by USC faculty
and the East Asian Studies Center to publish graduate and undergraduate research in various disciplines
on Asian studies. Our goal is to establish an interdisciplinary forum for independent student researchers
to share their work and contribute to scholarship in Asian studies.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Emmy Austin, BA East Asian Area Studies
Dionee Simmons, BA East Asian Area Studies & Global Studies
Atharva Tewari, BA Global Studies & Journalism
REVIEWERS
Caleb Huang, BA International Relations and the Global Economy
Claire Fausett, BA International Relations
June Li, BA English & Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Stephanie Liem, MPP Public Policy
Sydney Tsai, BA Law, History and Culture
UNIVERSITY SPONSOR
USC East Asian Studies Center
WITH SPECIAL THANKS
Prof. Youngmin Choe, East Asian Languages and Cultures
Grace Ryu, East Asian Studies Center
Alex Eloriaga, East Asian Studies Center
Kaitlin Lam, East Asian Studies Center
Dr. John Park, Korean Studies Institute
Nayoung Lee, Political Science and International RelationsTABLE OF CONTENTS Articles Foreword Prof. Youngmin Choe iii Japanese Green Tea as an East Asian Example of Globalization Dominik Pfranger 1 “My kokoro is male!”: Bodily resources for constructing gender and Crystal Gong 8 sex in IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai se Evolution and Continuation of Japanese Ultranationalism in Post-War Michael Chow 18 East Asia North Korean cinema and propaganda: A form of intercultural Carolina Pedreros D. 26 communication? Reaching Toward a Queer Futurity: the Postgender, Postnational Alien Eileen Zong 34 in South Korean Science Fiction The Power of Fandom in Korean Popular Culture Sydney Tsai 41 The Rocky Road of Chinese Food’s Rise in America Tricia Saputera 49 Exploring Identity Formation of Visually Impaired LGBTQ+ Individuals Dylan Phung 55 in Taiwan
iii
Foreword
It is with great pleasure that I introduce this inaugural issue of the USC Student Journal of Asian
Studies. The eight papers assembled here in this issue exemplify the interdisciplinary focus of the
journal. Spanning Asian Studies to Asian American Studies, the journal is interregional and transnational,
reflecting the sense of interconnectedness governing the histories and cultural practices explored here.
As these pages make abundantly clear, the editors and authors are dedicated to providing an open
venue and network for sharing undergraduate and graduate work committed to imaginative
investigation.
The core inquiries with which the contributors to this issue contend relate to understandings of
identity, the spread and consumption of culture, and sociopolitical ideologies. Dominik Pfranger
demonstrates how Japanese green tea consumption operates within multiple forms of globalization,
perpetuating orientalist consumption while also contributing to the inter-Asian transformation of
existing tea cultures. Crystal Gong examines the complex rhetoric and semiotic processes of defining
intersex identities in a Japanese television drama through a focus on how a binary karada-kokoro (body-
heart) discourse operates against larger institutional systems.
The next two essays turn our attention to how ideologies dominant in the mid twentieth century
continue to be shaped through popular culture in the current moment. Michael Chow examines
manifestations of Japanese ultranationalism in popular culture from postwar Japan onward, tracing how
perceptions of postwar Japanese superiority still exert influence in “shaping modern East Asian
nationalism.” Carolina Pedreros D. reviews how North Korean cinema, an ideological tool for
communicating the Juche ideology to the masses, serves as a part of its cultural diplomacy program to
facilitate intercultural communication in intended as well as unintended ways as streaming platforms
like YouTube extend its possibility beyond the control of the regime.
Eileen Zong reads Lim Taewoon’s short story “Storm Between My Teeth,” and argues for a joint
consideration of how South Korean science fiction gives expression to postnationalism and
postgenderism, seen as intertwined in their common roots in South Korea’ military modernity and
heterosexual patriarchy as well as in their futurist orientations. Sydney Tsai examines fan-generated
content in the consumption of international K-pop and domestic mukbang, and reconfigures fans as
collaborative agents who proactively and affectively support celebrities in “fan-celebrity reciprocity”
practices of exchange conducive to creating community.
Tricia Saputera looks at the history of the reception of Chinese food in America from the
establishment of the first Chinese restaurant in the US, Canton Restaurant, in 1849 to the expansion of
ubiquitous restaurant chains like Panda Express and Jollibee. The final essay by Dylan Phung focuses on
individuals who identify as visually impaired and LGBTQ+, and explores how identifying with multiple
marginalized communities engenders unique experiences of identity formation.
The articles collected here set the stage for what will, it is hoped, become an ongoing discussion
between emerging scholars here at USC and grow into a worldwide network as graduates move on to
pursue their interests. I hope that the papers published here in this first issue of USC SJAS will encourage
contributors and elicit many exciting future articles and themed issues.
Youngmin Choe
Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures1
Japanese Green Tea as an East Asian Example of Globalization
Dominik Pfranger
Abstract
Japanese green tea is an example of globalization from Asia to the West but also to other
parts of Asia. This includes not only the international trade of the commodity but also the notions of
Japanese culture attached to it. Japanese green tea is popular among consumers in Western countries
like Germany as it resembles health, mindfulness, and meditation for many. This however often stems
from an oversimplified perspective on Japan and Asia. This article discusses how such simplification
may constitute Orientalism, as described by Edward W. Said. Orientalism describes people’s simplified
notion of “the East” and how this view can create a sense of superiority; specifically in this paper, the
concept will be applied to people who think they have understood an entire foreign culture after
having seen only a few representative examples. This argument will be exemplified through personally
observed motives behind people’s tea consumption in Germany. Why is tea chosen for this matter? In
comparison with most other commodities, the consumption of tea requires individual interaction
which displays the individual willingness to understand foreign (Japanese) culture. But this topic is
similarly relevant within Asia: The popularity of Japanese green tea has also influenced the Chinese
tea ceremony, acquiring certain aspects of the Japanese ceremony over the last decades. This in turn
changed how Chinese tea culture is seen nationally and abroad. This article argues that such patterns
of globalization which Japanese green tea creates are complex and nonlinear.
Introduction: Literature Review and personal Experience
This paper discusses the ways in which Japanese green tea is an example for different forms of
globalization.1 More precisely, I’d like to focus on the topic of orientalism by taking a closer look at tea
consumers in Germany. For the second part of this paper, I will discuss how the Japanese tea ceremony
shaped Chinese tea culture and why it can be considered a genuinely non-Western source of
globalization. Edward W. Said’s work on ‘Orientalism’ provides the definition of ‘Orientalism’ and serves
as one of this paper’s primary sources.2 Likewise, Iwabuchi’s Recentering Globalization provides the
basis for examining globalization outside the once predominant focus on exclusively western
globalization.3 Zhang gives further insights into the historic relationship between Japanese and Chinese
tea culture, while Surak and Ludwig provide a historic overview of Japanese tea culture and why the tea
ceremony became such an important symbol of Japanese national identity.4 Lastly, I will apply my
1
This paper specifically treats Japanese green tea, mainly including Matcha and Sencha (with all
its subcategories like Gyokuro and Bancha). While other varieties of tea exist in Japan as well, they do
not have the same significance outside Japan and have less of a connection to the tea ceremony. They
don’t seem to have the same number of cultural values attached to them, at least from the foreign
consumer’s perspective.
2
Edward W. Said, Orientalism (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1978)
3
Koichi Iwabuchi, Recentering Globalization (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002)
4
Lawrence Zhang, “A Foreign Infusion: The Forgotten Legacy of Japanese Chadō on Modern
Chinese Tea Arts,” Gastronomica 16, no. 1 (2016): 53-62; Kristin Surak, “From Selling Tea to Selling
Japaneseness: Symbolic Power and the Nationalization of Cultural Practices,” European Journal of
Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie / Europäisches Archiv Für Soziologie 52, no. 2 (2011):2
personal knowledge, acquired through my work in the tea business to describe the current situation in
Germany.5
Why Japanese Green Tea should be discussed as an example of globalization
This paper hypothesizes that globalization is not a Western phenomenon but can also emerge
from Asian countries. Japanese green tea exemplifies how culture flows across, within, and outside Asia.
The secondary hypothesis is that this cultural flow is often incomplete and inaccurate, which creates
simplified notions about foreign cultures and can even be used to alter historical narratives.
There is something distinctly different about Japanese green tea when compared to most tea
varieties from other countries. Tea connoisseurs might appreciate the taste of famous Indian teas from
Darjeeling, Assam or Ceylon, but – from personal experience– associate it less so with Indian cultural
values. Some actual evidence to this could give the historically high price sensitivity (or price elasticity of
demand) of Indian tea - consumers don’t hesitate to substitute their Indian tea for other varieties if
money can be saved.6 More generally speaking, the perceived interconnectedness of certain tea
varieties with their country or region of origin varies by their type. Japanese green tea is unique as it
represents a notion of Japan: According to Kristin Surak, Japanese companies sell “Japaneseness” to the
rest of the world through Japanese tea (and related merchandise like clay pots, cups or ceremonial
tools). It gives people from other countries the opportunity to experience Japanese culture.7
It is important to note however, that green tea, by which we mean tea leaves (or ground tea in
case of matcha) are not meant to be consumed out of the box but need to be brewed in order to enjoy a
cup of tea. While producers, distributors and retailers can decide how the sold product will look like,
they can only give recommendations for preparation.
As a result, people add their own perception of the adequately correct way to brew a cup of
Japanese tea to acquire the finished product. This does not only include the preparation, but also the
way of consumption: What cups do people drink from? In which environment and under which
circumstances do they choose to drink their tea, and with how many people? While people may
experience what they believe is Japaneseness at home through consuming Japanese tea, there is a
certain limit of authenticity to it. This can be true for several reasons, namely personal time-constraints,
limited knowledge and interest in expanding that knowledge, no availability of authentic equipment, or
simply a preference of own methods the consumer may already follow when preparing other kinds of
tea. This would mean authenticity is either limited by available resources and information provided by
the supplier or the consumer’s own restraint. It is clear however, that there is a separation between the
two in our modern world and Coe, Kelly and Yeung argue that this is another result of globalization:
Consumers become disconnected from suppliers’ global production networks, allowing only certain
175-208; Theodore M. Ludwig, “Before Rikyū. Religious and Aesthetic Influences in the Early History of
the Tea Ceremony,” Monumenta Nipponica 36, no. 4, (1981): 367-390; Theodore M. Ludwig, “The Way
of Tea: A Religio-Aesthetic Mode of Life,” History of Religions 14, no. 1, (1974): 28-50.
5
I have been working in two different tea shops in Germany in the last 7 years and acquired a
certain level of knowledge and experience around all sorts of tea. My personal focus lies on Chinese,
Taiwanese and Japanese tea. I have visited and spoken to Japanese tea farmers and regularly meet with
our importers for Japanese tea to gain a deeper understanding of today’s tea markets in Japan and
Germany.
6
Debasish Biswa, “Export of Indian Tea: Recent Problems,” Journal of Business Management and
Administration, (2013): 5; Neelanjana Mitra, “Indian Tea Industry: Problems and Policies,” Economic and
Political Weekly vol. 26, no. 48, (1991): M155.
7
Kristin Surak, Selling Japaneseness, 205-206.3
information on products to pass through.8 In their example of Starbucks, they point out that suppliers
can be very selective with the information they provide on products in order to optimize sales, e.g. by
creating short, marketing-effective stories - e.g., showing images of vibrant rainforests and foreign
cultures on products - on their coffee or tea which often omit unpleasant details (local working
conditions, consequences of market-price volatilities for farmers, etc.).9 The point is that consumers will
find some products more attractive, if they get the feeling of social interaction with their respective
(supposed) origins.10
Therefore, fully authentic experiences are uncommon when we consume products from abroad.
However, “authenticity” is a non-binary value, meaning there is no clear border between authentic and
inauthentic. Instead, there are varying degrees of authenticity of preparation methods and thus
respective levels of effort to engage with foreign culture.
Japanese green tea, therefore, doesn’t just show that cultural information flows across borders,
but also that the transferred information is incomplete. As this paper will discuss in the following
section, this may nourish problematic mindsets, at least according to Edward W. Said’s understanding of
Orientalism.
Japanese Green Tea and Orientalism in Germany
Orientalism, as originally described by Said, can be summarized as the way people think of the
places that they simply describe as “the Orient” and how they define themselves as “Western” by
comparing themselves with “Oriental” people.11 This way of thinking has emerged from their colonial
relationships with France and Britain, has been expanded and generalized throughout the 20th century,
and can be found in a body of texts created by scholars who studied the Orient12. Said points out that
the Orient is not geographically defined by Orientalists scholars and could be applied to any place that is
not part of the West.13 By design, Orientalist thinking takes dominance of the west over the Orient as a
given and therefore limits any free and unbiased advancements of Orientalist studies.14 Even though
Said criticized the mainstream view in Europe and the United States in the 70s, the topic is still relevant
today, since Orientalist behavior did not cease to exist all of a sudden. The marketing example by Coe,
Kelly and Yeung in the last section is a good contemporary example.
As pointed out, when consumers buy and prepare tea, they have certain expectations about the
product they are buying and what to do with it. But the individual willingness to engage with and
understand foreign cultural notions when consuming tea is limited. Traces of orientalist notions can be
found in German consumer behavior. Based on my own experience, German consumers’ interest in
Japanese tea comes in many cases through superficial ideas about Japanese or “Asian” culture. Like Yoga
and meditation, Japanese green tea is often reduced to the feeling of a balanced and healthy lifestyle
which they in some way admire and wish to follow. By consuming green tea regularly, it becomes easier
to integrate a certain degree of ‘Japaneseness’ into the consumer’s life, without having to deal with
8
Coe, Kelly and Yeung, “Networks: How is the world economy interconnected?” in Economic
Geography: A Contemporary Introduction, by Neil M. Coe, Philip F. Kelly and Henry W. C. Yeung,
(Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub 2020), 105.
9
Coe, Kelly and Yeung, Networks, 105-106.
10
Coe, Kelly and Yeung, Networks, 106.
11
Said, “Orientalism,” 10.
12
Said, 12.
13
Said, 13.
14
Said, 11.4
specific cultural or historical details. In Said’s words, people limit their knowledge through their
Orientalist stance.15
Second, certain preparation and drinking habits of consumers can also reflect an oversimplified
notion of Japan. The act of preparing and drinking tea is often described as “being like a meditation” and
not seldomly compared to coffee, which is rather associated with modern, fast lifestyles.16 But there are
slow and fast preparation methods for both and neither is faster per se. The degree to which
preparation is “ceremonialized” can differ: In Germany, roughly 40% of consumers choose more
convenient tea bags as their preferred brewing method for green and black tea, the rest uses loose tea
leaves.17 For Japanese green tea leaves a consumer may also decide to use a Japanese clay pot (Kyusu)
to improve extraction results and reach higher levels of authenticity.18 My point is that each method will
require a different level of personal engagement (not only financially, but also in terms of time and
effort to acquire knowledge). Some consumers may like Japanese green tea for its meditative image, but
the actual engagement with Japanese culture can be low. As Said would say, people think of Eastern
culture as only exotic and sensational on a superficial level through an Orientalist lens.19
Recentering Globalization
Japanese green tea does not only appeal to westerners, but it also bears a special and historic
relationship to China.20 The exact time when tea made its way from China to Japan is difficult to trace,
but historical sources are pointing back to several priests in the 7th, 8th and 9th century, who traveled
to China and back to Japan.21 They are mentioned as the pioneers of Japanese tea-drinking culture.22 But
it was not until the 13th century that drinking tea became more widely popular in Japan and experienced
the first attempts of ritualization and spiritualization through Abbot Eisai.23 The most significant leap in
tea culture was during the Sengoku-Era (late 14th to late 15th century) under the famous tea-master Sen
no Rikyu, as tea ceremonies became highly ritualized and socially and politically significant.24 After
Rikyu’s death, the traditions of the tea ceremony were carried on by his sons and other scholars in
Japan, while paying highest attention to preserve what was passed down to them.25
Even though China is the home country of tea, its tea ceremony is less known and has – in its
contemporary form – a much younger history. Lawrence Zhang explains how the Chinese tea ceremony
was rather a set of practices in preparing tea, exclusive to a small southern area between the
Guangdong and Fujian provinces; it was only loosely formalized.26 As Zhang points out, as opposed to
15
Said, 11.
16
Francis-Noël Thomas, “Tea,” New England Review (1990-) 33, no. 1 (2012): 87;
Steven Topik, “Coffee as a Social Drug,” Cultural Critique, no. 71 (2009): 102.
17
Deutscher Tee & Kräutertee Verband e.V. “Tee Report 2020,” Teeverband, April 22, 2022.
https://www.teeverband.de/files/bilder/Presse/Marktzahlen/TeeReport_2020_ES.pdf
18
Personal selling experience
19
Said, “Orientalism,” 9.
20
Surak, Selling Japaneseness, 177-80; Ludwig, Before Rikyu, 370-374; Ludwig, The Way of Tea,
44.
21
Ludwig, Before Rikyu, 374.
22
Ludwig, Before Rikyu, 370.
23
Ludwig, Before Rikyu, 377.
24
Ludwig, The Way of Tea, 43-44.
25
Surak, 179-180.
26
Zhang, 53-56.5
the Japanese ceremony, the Chinese method is more focused on the practical result: a good-tasting cup
of tea.27 This local practice of preparing tea experienced some changes and became more sophisticated
throughout the following century but kept its practical character until very recently.28 Before the 1950s,
the Chinese tea ceremony was neither a ceremony in the Japanese sense nor was it pan-Chinese
(meaning it had no national, but only regional character).29 Only then the Guangdong tea practices
acquired a certain popularity in other parts of China and emerged as the nationwide dominant (but not
exclusive) way of preparing Chinese tea.30
What people refer to as “Chinese tea ceremony” today is the surprisingly recent result of a
conscious attempt to approximate the internationally admired Japanese ceremony.31 As people in
mainland China and Taiwan became wealthier during the economic development in the 70s, a demand
for higher quality tea emerged. This also resulted in an increasing demand for more sophisticated ways
of preparing tea – just like the ones popular in Japan.32 Therefore, rules for setting tea utensils and
certain movements during preparation were newly introduced to add a yet unestablished aesthetic
aspect to the Chinese way of preparing tea. As this method of brewing tea gained popularity, the
narratives of Chinese tea culture started to change as well: It was politically more convenient to depict
this new, formalized, and aesthetic way of preparing tea as a treasured, old tradition that is and always
had been natively Chinese (and not just regional) to create a sense of national unity.33
But indeed, today’s Chinese tea ceremony is a fusion of regional Chinese traditions, mixed with
Japanese elements of aesthetics and ritualization. It is an example of globalization in several ways:
Chinese tea came across the ocean to Japan and the Japanese tea ceremony had its influence on China
many centuries later. Moreover, both the contemporary Chinese and the Japanese tea ceremony are
seen as representatives of their cultures worldwide. The stream of information, goods, ideas, and
cultural notions genuinely stems not from the West here. Just as Iwabuchi points out, the idea of
globalization being mere westernization does not reflect reality.34 Instead, we observe the triad of
Japan-Asia-West he describes.35 The popularity of Japanese green tea in Germany and other countries
adds further proof to this point.
Conclusion
Japanese green tea is an example of goods, ideas, mindsets, and cultural notions transcending
national borders. More importantly, it is a non-Western example of globalization, a distinctly Japanese
part of culture that made its way to other countries. The product has inseparable ties to the Japanese
tea-ceremony, which strongly represents Japanese culture and history.
Especially during the past century, we could observe adaptations from mainland China and
Taiwan, especially when looking at changes of their tea preparation habits and modifications to their
27
Zhang, 53.
28
Zhang, 56.
29
Zhang, 53.
30
Zhang, 54.
31
Zhang, 56.
32
Zhang, 56.
33
Zhang, 57.
34
Iwabuchi, 15.
35
Iwabuchi, 6-7.6
own historic narratives of tea culture. But it should not be forgotten that tea plants came originally from
China. The exchange is mutual and stretches back centuries.
Germany served as an example for a non-Asian country consuming Japanese green tea. Apart
from solid factors like taste and probable health benefits, it is popular because it enables people to
experience Japanese culture at home. This leads to the misconception that preferred aspects of
Japaneseness can be simply integrated into the consumer’s daily life. Consumers might not go beyond a
shallow understanding of Japanese culture. The sentiment of “knowing enough” is precisely what Said
calls Orientalist – it creates generalizations and perceptions of dominance of West over East.36
36
Said, “Orientalism,” 13.7
Bibliography
Biswa, Debasish. “Export of Indian Tea: Recent Problems,” Journal of Business Management and
Administration, (2013): 1-6.
Coe, Neil M., Philip F. Kelly, and Henry W. C. Yeung. “Networks: How is the world
economy interconnected?” Economic Geography: A Contemporary Introduction, by Neil M. Coe,
Philip F. Kelly and Henry W. C. Yeung, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub 2020), 102-129.
Deutscher Tee & Kräutertee Verband e.V. “Tee Report 2020,” Teeverband, April 22, 2022.
https://www.teeverband.de/files/bilder/Presse/Marktzahlen/TeeReport_2020_ES.pdf
Iwabuchi, Koichi. Recentering Globalization. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002.
Ludwig, Theodore M. “Before Rikyū. Religious and Aesthetic Influences in the Early History
of the Tea Ceremony.” Monumenta Nipponica 36, no. 4, (1981): 367-390,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2384225
Ludwig, Theodore M. “The Way of Tea: A Religio-Aesthetic Mode of Life,” History of
Religions 14, no. 1 ,(1974): 28-50, https://www.jstor.org/stable/106189
Mitra, Neelanjana. “Indian Tea Industry: Problems and Policies,” Economic and Political Weekly vol. 26,
no. 48, (1991): M153-M156, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4398369
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1978.
Surak, Kristin. “From Selling Tea to Selling Japaneseness: Symbolic Power and the
Nationalization of Cultural Practices.” European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de
Sociologie / Europäisches Archiv Für Soziologie 52, no. 2 (2011): 175–208.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43282178.
Thomas, Francis-Noël. “Tea.” New England Review (1990-) 33, no. 1 (2012): 82–87.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23267102.
Topik, Steven. “Coffee as a Social Drug.” Cultural Critique, no. 71 (2009): 81–106.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25475502.
Zhang, Lawrence. “A Foreign Infusion: The Forgotten Legacy of Japanese Chadō on Modern
Chinese Tea Arts.” Gastronomica 16, no. 1 (2016): 53–62.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26362320.8
“My kokoro is male!”: Bodily resources for constructing gender and
sex in IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei
Crystal Gong
Abstract
The drama IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei is a coming-of-age story of intersex
individual Haru Hoshino. Using critical discourse analysis and embodied sociocultural linguistics, I
discuss how gender and sex are constructed emphasizing how the embodiment of being intersex is
central to the discussion of these social identities. Characters in the drama use an external-internal
body contrast to differentiate gender from essentialist and hegemonic institutions such as the koseki
(family registry) system and medicine. To rectify essentialist definitions of intersex, lexical items
relating to the internal body, in particular kokoro ‘heart,’ are prescribed to discussions about gender;
in contrast, the external body, in particular karada ‘body,’ are used to discuss sex. The semiotic
processes of fractal recursivity and erasure are employed during the assertion of a binary body-heart
discourse in relation to sex/gender, which simultaneously conceals the complexity of intersex
identities. In addition to the gaps in reasoning and rhetoric defining intersex identities, Haru’s
understanding of his own identities is messy, fluid, and intricite. This paper will focus on the
complexity of how intersex identities are embodied and constructed through a karada-kokoro
contrast against larger institutional systems while also simplifying gender and sex to a binary cis-
heteronormative system.
Introduction
Intersex representation in Japanese media and society is nearly non-existent. Therefore, the
drama IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei which centers around intersex identities offers insight into
how Japanese society represents, discusses, and navigates discourses about intersex people. This article
aims to fill gaps in research on intersex identities within linguistics through an analysis on the usage of
kokoro ‘heart’ and karada ‘body’ as it pertains to constructing intersex identities. I use intersex identities
to discuss gender, sex, and sexuality with an emphasis on how the embodiment of being intersex is
central to the discussion of these social identities.
Originally a josei manga (women’s comic) published from 2003-2009 by Chiyo Rokuhana, it was
adapted into a 10-episode drama series in 2011 and broadcasted on TV Tokyo.1 IS: otoko demo nai onna
demo nai sei is a coming-of-age story about Haru Hoshino. Haru, born intersex, identifies as a boy and is
raised by supportive parents Yoko and Taro Hoshino. When Haru reaches high school, however, the
principal refuses to let Haru enter unless he presents as his sex assigned at birth. Along with the
challenges Haru faces in high school, he goes through physical and emotional changes, such as his period
starting and falling in love. As a result, Haru’s own understandings of his identities also start to change.
As a fictional work, these intersex identities are performed. Gender performativity specifically is
a concept introduced in Judith Butler’s seminal work Gender Trouble.2 “Gender is performatively
1
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, directed by Takashi Fujio, written by Masako Iwamura
and Toshio Terada, featuring Saki Fukuda and Ayame Gôriki (2011; Tokyo: TV Tokyo).
2
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (London, England: Routledge, 2006).9
produced and compelled by the regulatory practices of gender coherence,”3 that social norms, such that
actions like putting on a suit every day for work, are acts of performativity.4 Performativity is further
moderated in the fabrication of these characters and drama. Obtaining information on this work is
difficult on the account of obsoleteness and the significance of privacy in Japan, nevertheless, the author
Chiyo Rokuhana is most likely not a part of the intersex community. In a phone interview conducted by
Kiss Manga, Rokuhana acknowledges that they were “benkyô busoku”5 (a lack of study; my translation),
however their research included reading books written by intersex authors, reviewing medical books,
interacting with a total of seven intersex persons, and asking medical specialists questions. Even with
Rokuhana’s effort to properly represent intersex communities, it is important to keep in mind that this is
a drama produced with a tendency to exaggerate scenes. Furthermore, in addition to the author, many
voices such as the producer and director play a role in the creation of this work. This work may not be
indicative of reality or intersex people’s experiences, but it does provide a lens into how society
conceptualizes gender and sex.
Data Analysis
Systems of Essentializing Gender and Sex
Before analyzing how these various identities interact and are constructed in intersex
characters, it is important to identify critical structural institutions to avoid imposing a Western
perspective onto the Japanese environment that the director and writers created this drama in. I will be
using post-structuralist theories that assert that gender and sex are socially constructed as a foundation
for the complexity found in intersex identities.6 Essentialism is defined by the idea that gender and sex
are based in a set definition with set attributes.7 This often pans out to gender based in sex, and sex
based in biology, as in biological essentialism.8 Gender and sex are essentialized in two primary
institutions in the drama, the medical institution and koseki system, or family registry system.
The koseki system is an institution integral to Japanese society that acts as a “form of
identification [that] institutionalizes marriage and the family and positions familial relationships, gender
identity, and gender role at the center of an individual’s legal identity.”9 The koseki system records all
data related to both nuclear and extended family units, including information regarding marriages,
divorces, deaths, adoptions, etc., and functions as a census and lifelong document essential for many
governmental benefits.10 The system itself has many criticisms as its “conservative definitions of family
are at odds with social diversity and do not reflect the lived realities of many Japanese nationals,”11 and
3
Butler, Gender Trouble (London, England: Routledge, 2006), 34.
4
Butler, Gender Trouble.
5
“六花チヨさん インタビュー!,” http://www.kisscomic.com/interview/0412_rokuhana_
chiyo/index.html.
6
Butler, Gender Trouble.
7
Lal Zimman. “The Discursive Construction of Sex.” Queer Excursions, 12-34, ed. Lal Zimman,
Jenny Davis, and Joshua Raclaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. DOI:10.1093/acprof:os
o/9780199937295.003.0002.
8
Butler, Gender Trouble, 34.
9
David Chapman. “Gender and the Koseki,” In The Routledge Companion to Gender and
Japanese Culture, ed. by Jennifer Coates, Lucy Fraser, and Mark Pendlton. (London: Routledge,
2019), 83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315179582.
10
Chapman, “Gender and the Koseki,” 84.
11
Chapman, “Gender and the Koseki,” 84.10
defies essentialist definitions of gender and sex that it is used to enforce.12 For example, transgender
individuals who legally transition no longer fit neatly into the koseki. If they are the first son and they
have a sister who is listed as “first daughter” in the koseki, then the first son effectively becomes the
“first daughter,” resulting in two “first daughters” registered in the koseki. These duplicated labels are
illogical and clash with the gender and familial ideologies of the koseki. While these substantial flaws are
recognized, the koseki system remains a tool of essentialism ingrained in Japanese society.
While medical institutions define sex and gender-based on external genitals, having ambiguous
genitalia like Haru reveals how sex and gender are socially constructed. Haru has what the doctor calls
“onna no ko to suru nara ôkii sugiru kuritorisu to mijuku na chitsu,”13 (a too large clitoris and
underdeveloped vagina for a girl; my translation), and “otoko no ko to suru nara, chiisasugiru penisu to
sonzai suru hazu wa nai chitsu,”14 (a too small penis and a vagina that shouldn’t exist for a boy). The first
indication of sex being socially constructed is the standard measurement of genitals imposed by the
medical institutions as a marker for female/male binary categories. The second indication of sex as a
societal construct is in following conversations where sex is contrived as a decision. The doctor
recommended that Haru's parents should decide on Haru’s gender in consultation with medical
professionals, conflating gender and sex as the same.15
Upon initial inspection, Haru was found to have a uterus and ovaries, which the doctor takes as
evidence that Haru is female. It was then recommended that Haru’s parents’ “decision”16 should be
based on the internal genitals. However, Haru was later found to have testes hidden in the intestines
but had to have them removed. The drama then goes back on the initial assessment of Haru’s sex of
being female to male due to the idea that having testes made Haru male originally. Haru may have been
identified as male according to medical institutions, but the physical removal of Haru’s testes is taken as
removing any biological source of being male. While the drama explicitly mentions that “Haru becomes
a girl,”17 because he no longer has testes, even confirmed by Haru himself, this does not cancel out the
fact that Haru identifies as a boy. Regardless of the biological body, gender identity is teased out as a
separate entity; the physical embodiment of gender and sex do not have to “match” the biological
notions of gender and sex, as Zimman (2014) discusses with transgender men’s bodies and genital
terminology in the discursive construction of sex, dissolving the relationship between gender and the
body. Identity, instead, reproduces these embodiments and “is best viewed as the emergent product
rather than the pre-existing source of linguistic and other semiotic practices and therefore as
fundamentally a social and cultural phenomenon.”18
The External-Internal Body and Gender Identity
Haru’s gender identity is constructed as separate to sex through an external-internal body
contrast. The most prominent binaries in distancing the biological aspects of being intersex are in the
drama’s usage of kokoro ‘heart’ against karada ‘body.’ I draw specifically on Bucholtz and Hall’s
framework of embodied sociolinguistics to focus my analysis of how the body intertwines with identity
and is used to not just index, but construct gender and sex in discourses and counter discourses found
12
See Note 11 above.
13
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1.
14
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1.
15
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1.
16
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1. (my translation)
17
See Note 16 above.
18
Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall. “Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach.”
Discourse Studies 7, no. 4–5 (2005): 588. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407.11
throughout the drama.19 As Bucholtz and Hall put it succinctly, “language produces bodies.”20 The body
often is referred to embody one’s sex with a distinction made against the heart which is referred to
embody one’s gender identity. Kokoro has been explored in cognitive linguistics as a locus for cognitive
activities, often contrasted with the karada, as “the [em]bodied mind,”21 and represents a space for
spontaneous thoughts and emotions. I focus on kokoro in its embodiment of gender identity and usage
as a linguistic resource for navigating different situations within the drama.
To consider the importance of the body, I have quantified lexical items referencing body parts
that relate to gender and sex throughout the whole drama. By far, karada ‘body,’ is referenced the most
with 51 referents.22 References to genitals had a total of 40 referents, and words referring to the
internal body and heart came up 29 times.23 While there is a disproportionate number of references to
the external body and genitals in comparison to the internal body/heart, many of those were used by
medical professions or in defining intersex. The number of references speaks to the markedness of
intersex bodies in the drama, and what becomes prominent is the discourse of how karada ‘body’ is one
aspect of Haru’s identity while kokoro ‘heart’ is another aspect of Haru’s identity. The following displays
a visual chart for the quantitative data mentioned in this paragraph.
Table 1. Total Number of Body Part References.
Primarily using the word kokoro, which distinguishes the meaning of onna ‘woman’ or otoko
‘man’ from the meaning of intersex, the concepts of gender and sex become comprehensible for
everyone to understand. In general, intersex is something prescribed by non-intersex people and gender
identity is something intersex characters self-identify as. Even if intersex is prescribed, characters may
also identify as intersex, and it is also possible for gender to be prescribed. Research in cognitive
linguistics adds to the understanding of kokoro in its’ semantic construction. The characters are utilizing
what linguistic anthropologist Occhi calls “the Japanese HEART model”24 which is a cultural model that is
a “presupposed, taken-for-granted model[s] of the world that are widely shared… by the members of a
19
Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall. “Embodied Sociolinguistics.” In Sociolinguistics:
Theoretical Debates, ed. by Nikolas Coupland. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107449787.009.
20
Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall. “Embodied Sociolinguistics,” 173.
21
Debra Occhi. “How to have a HEART in Japanese.” In Culture, Body, and Language:
Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and Languages. ed. by Farzad
Sharifian, René Dirven, Ning Yu and Susanne Niemeier. (Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton,
2008), 202.
22
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1-10.
23
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1-10.
24
Occhi, “How to have a HEART in Japanese,” 192.12
society and that play an enormous role in their understanding of the world and their behavior in it.”25
The abstraction kokoro, which is translated just as ‘heart,’ is one aspect of the Japanese HEART model.
Like heart in English, kokoro functions as “the locus of emotion,”26 but is also a “locus for experience and
understanding.”27 This is why kokoro can be translated as ‘mind/heart’ rather than the more literal
translation of ‘heart.’ While we see heart-body models used in Western discourses to work toward
obtaining transgender rights, such as the assertion that one has always felt a certain gender inside,
Japanese culture has a more nuanced understanding of these issues through kokoro. Using these
functions of kokoro to examine how the word is used and interpreted in relation to Haru’s gender
displays the discursive construction of gender.
To analyze the usage of kokoro in context, I draw upon critical discourse analysis (CDA), which
states discourse is “language use as social practice that is influenced, if not determined, by social
structures.”28 I use CDA to analyze speech acts that take apart dominant powers at work and reveal how
people relate to a pathologized body as their own. Looking at marked language used to describe intersex
bodies displays a refusal to align with dominant narratives of what it means to be intersex. Markedness
describes language that sticks out, like kokoro and karada in the discussion of gender and sex. The
embodiment of gender in the heart, therefore, becomes a locus of agency in defining the self against
hegemonic powers institutions assert on the body, and as Haru’s mother Yoko Hoshino says, “Karada
towa betsu ni kokoro niwa kokoro no seibetsu ga arun da”29 (Regardless of the body, the heart has its
own gender; my translation, emphasis added).
The semiotic process of fractal recursivity is described by Irvine and Gal 2000 as "the
dichotomizing and partitioning process that was involved in some understood opposition [...] recurs at
other levels, creating either subcategories on each side of a contrast or supercategories that include
both sides but oppose them to something else"30 occurs in this karada-kokoro contrast used to frame
gender and sex.
25
Occhi, “How to have a HEART in Japanese,” 191.
26
Occhi, “How to have a HEART in Japanese,” 195.
27
Occhi “How to have a HEART in Japanese,” 195.
28
Veronica Koller. “Critical Discourse Studies of Language and Sexuality.” In The Oxford
Handbook of Language and Sexuality, ed. by Kira Hall and Rusty Barett. (New York: Oxford
Univeristy Press), n.d. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212926.013.5.
29
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1.
30
Judith T. Irvine and Susan Gal. “Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation.” In Regimes
of language: Ideologies, Politeness, and Identities, ed. by P. V. Kroskrity. (Santa Fe: School of
American Research Press, 2000), 38.13
Figure 1. Fractal Recursivity of Gender/Sex
The people who enact this binary narrative are often not the people who are intersex
themselves but surrounding characters who support Haru. For example, Haru’s father, Taro Hoshino
says, “Sono aida ni, mi mo kokoro mo sô toki ni, nyûgaku mae to wa akiraka henka shikita wake da”31
(During that time, both the body and heart at that time has clearly changed compared to before
entering school; my translation, emphasis added). This indicates that both Haru’s body has physically,
and heart has emotionally changed, complicating the promise they made to the school principal to have
Haru enroll as a girl. In another scene, Taro further aligns with his wife’s views, stating, “Mitame wa dô
de yare, Haru no, Haru no nakami wa, kokoro otoko nan da”32 (It doesn’t matter how he looks, Haru’s,
Haru’s inside, his heart is male; my translation, emphasis added).
Haru’s parents both assert that regardless of Haru’s body, his heart is male in contexts where
they are defending Haru, such as getting Haru enrolled without having to go to school as a girl and
playing with trucks as a child despite the mismatch with his assigned sex/gender at birth. In this way,
similar to social justice discourses used to gain rights for marginalized groups, strategic essentialism is
employed. Strategic essentialism is a political strategy utilized by minority groups that claim an
overarching statement to essentialize a single identity.33 Haru himself participates in this with
statements such as “knowing he was male ever since he was young,”34 in his coming out speech to his
school, yet at the same time wishes for people to acknowledge the “gradation”35 inherent in humans.
Haru is unable to vocalize his own confusions about his identities except in monologues or with the
other intersex character Miwako who doubts Haru’s gender identity and is often confrontational. These
discourses become restricting, as Haru feels he must perform a certain way.
Fractal recursivity leads to another semiotic process, “erasure.”36 The plurality of intersex
identities is erased, alongside with how gender, sex, and sexuality interact with one another in the
31
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 10.
32
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 2.
33
Gayatri Spivak. “Subaltern talk, interview with editors.” In The Spivak Reader : Selected Works
of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, 287-308. (New York : Routledge, 1996).
34
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 8. (my translation)
35
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 8. (my translation)
36
Irvine and Gal, “Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation,” 39.14
language produced. The focus on kokoro overlooks Haru’s understanding of his own identities. By
implying that gender and sex are static, this karada-kokoro binary problematically erases diversity and
pushes intersex identities into hegemonic norms. Haru’s homeroom teacher, Nishiki, for example,
questions Haru’s gender identity with heterosexist and homophobic comments via kokoro. He says,
“Kokoro, otoko ii nagara otoko to dakiatteru towa nê”37 (While saying your heart is male, hugging
another guy is… you know; my translation).
Nishiki, therefore, reduces Haru’s sexuality based on a binary gender system, questioning if Haru
is really an otoko if he is hugging another guy. Nishiki reinforces heteronormative ideologies with the
same external-internal body contrast even though it can also be used as a tool for promoting autonomy
and rights. As the previous examples have shown, these binary and hegemonic discourses are
inadequate for discussing intersex identities. This binary made through fractal recursivity is used to
discuss Haru rather than discourse Haru uses himself. Haru instead is still trying to understand how his
own identities are developing as he goes through physical and emotional changes. For example, Haru
uses the grammatical construct -tsumori, which indicates intention, future plans, and beliefs, with
kokoro wa otoko. The statement below then displays how gender is constructed as something that can
be self-identified and fluid.
“Kokoro wa otoko no tsumori de ikitekita nanoni seiri ga hajimari
mune ga fukarame hajime otoko de aru Ibuki-san ni kokoro ga yureru”38
(I had lived with the intention of being male, however, my period
started, my chest started to get bigger, and my heart started to sway for
Ibuki-san who is a man; my translation, emphasis added)
These discourses about the body, however, can be a starting point toward the “intelligibility for
intersex bodies.”39 By using existing systems, people are raising awareness about intersex communities
and bodies while simultaneously highlighting current systems’ inadequacy for accommodating identities
outside the binary. This is where the idea of “non-dualistic divisions,”40 in which intersex is situated not
at the extreme ends of the binary but in a “fuzzy (or murky) grey middle,”41 which is applicable for all
bodies. Haru’s grandma is one example of a person who is unable to find the right words to talk about
Haru and relies on the pre-existing binary system to bring to light her new understanding of intersex,
positioning Haru as “otoko no ko demo ari, onna no ko demo aru,”42 (both a boy and a girl; my
translation).
Intersex identities are never as simple as presented, and the drama concludes with more
questions rather than a concrete statement about Haru’s identities. Even though Haru is finally able to
present masculine as he wished in the beginning of the drama, his identities are also in flux. He says that
unexpectedly “fukuzatsu na kimochi ga umareteita,”43 (complex feelings were born; my translation),
even though he is now able to wear the boy’s uniform to school. He realized that something inside him
felt different, “dokoka chigau to kanjiru jibun ga kizuita.”44 The drama concludes with Haru walking into
37
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 7.
38
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 6.
39
Brian W. King. “Becoming the intelligible other: speaking intersex bodies against the grain.”
Critical Discourse Studies 13, no. 4 (2016): 374. DOI:10.1080/17405904.201 5.1113190.
40
King, “Becoming the intelligible other: speaking intersex bodies against the grain,” 365.
41
King, “Becoming the intelligible other: speaking intersex bodies against the grain,” 365.
42
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1.
43
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 10.
44
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 10. (my translation)15
school, presenting as the gender he identifies with, but with a sense of irresolution. Haru’s identities are
not a simple sex/gender split manifested by an external-internal body split but something that is messy
and complicated that becomes manifested through his language and internal discourse as a social
phenomenon.
Conclusion
This paper has explored how an external-internal body contrast is used to both advocate for and
normalize Haru’s identities through the semiotics of fractal recursivity and erasure. Haru’s identities are
not as simple as a reductive, binary external-internal contrast that reflects sex/gender, however, there is
merit in using these discourses as it allows for a starting point of conversation and comprehension.
While intersex people are still made to fit the binary in many ways, the language used in this drama
offers new perspectives into how Japanese people construct intersex identities and what it means for
the person in question. In sum, the bodily resources for constructing sex and gender in Japanese society:
the duality of kokoro-karada.
Acknowledgment
I would like to express my gratitude for the support I received in the making of this paper. Thank
you to Lal Zimman, my advisor, the members of TRILL for their generous feedback, and the people of
UCSB’s Linguistics and East Asian Languages and Culture Studies Department who have helped me grow
as a student. Lastly, I would like to offer a land acknowledgment, for the land which UCSB conducts
research upon is the stolen, unceded, and occupied land of the Chumash people who are the traditional
custodians of this place. I pay my respects to Chumash Elders past, present, and future.16
Bibliography
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall. “Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach.”
Discourse Studies 7, no. 4–5 (October 2005): 585–614. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1 461445
605054407.
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall. “Embodied Sociolinguistics.” In Sociolinguistics:
Theoretical Debates, edited by Nikolas Coupland, 173–198. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2016. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107449787.009.
Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies that matter: on the discursive limits of "sex."
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. London, England: Routledge, 2006.
Chapman, David. “Gender and the Koseki.” In The Routledge Companion to Gender and
Japanese Culture, 83-91. Edited by Jennifer Coates, Lucy Fraser, and Mark Pendlton.
London: Routledge, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315179582.
Ikegami, Yoshihiko. “The heart - What it means to Japanese Speakers.” In Culture, Body,
and Language: Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and
Languages, 169-189. Edited by Farzad Sharifian, René Dirven, Ning Yu and Susanne
Niemeier. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 2008.
Irvine, T. Judith, and Gal, Susan. “Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation.” In
Regimes of language: Ideologies, Politeness, and Identities, 35-84. Edited by P. V.
Kroskrity. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 2000.
IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei, episode 1-10, directed by Takashi Fujio, written by
Masako Iwamura and Toshio Terada, featuring Saki Fukuda and Ayame Gôriki, aired
July 2011-September 2011, on TV Tokyo.
King W. Brian. “Becoming the intelligible other: speaking intersex bodies against
the grain.” Critical Discourse Studies 13, no. 4 (December 2016): 359-378. DOI:
10.1080/17405904.2015.1113190.
Koller, Veronica. “Critical Discourse Studies of Language and Sexuality.” In The Oxford
Handbook of Language and Sexuality. Edited by Kira Hall and Rusty Barett. New York: Oxford
University Press, n.d. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212926.013.5.
Motschenbacher, Heiko. “Speaking the Gendered Body: The Performative Construction of
Commercial Femininities and Masculinities via Body-Part Vocabulary.” Language in Society 38,
no. 1 (2009): 1–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40207912.
Occhi, Debra. “How to have a HEART in Japanese.” In Culture, Body, and Language:
Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and Languages, 191-212. Edited by
Farzad Sharifian, René Dirven, Ning Yu and Susanne Niemeier. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter
Mouton, 2008.
“六花チヨさん インタビュー！” http://www.kisscomic.com/interview/0412_rokuhana_
chiyo/index.html.17
Rokuhana, Chiyo. IS: otoko demo nai onna demo nai sei. (Kodansha, 2003-2009).
Spivak, Gayatri. “Subaltern talk, interview with editors.” In The Spivak Reader : Selected Works
of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, 287-308. New York : Routledge, 1996.
Zimman, Lal. “The Discursive Construction of Sex.” In Queer Excursions, 12-34. Edited by Lal
Zimman, Jenny Davis, and Joshua Raclaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937295.003.0002.18
Evolution and Continuation of Japanese Ultranationalism in Post-War
East Asia
Michael Chow
Abstract
Throughout the Japanese conquest and control of East Asia from the Meiji Period to the end
of World War II, an ideology of Japanese superiority over the rest of East Asia permeated formal state
policies and informal cultural perceptions. While Japan’s imperial conquest has been far from over
and controlled territories have been seemingly “decolonized,” with Japanese control and influence
removed, perceptions of Japanese superiority still manifest in both the immediate post-war and
contemporary context as Japanese ultranationalism, a belief in Japanese hegemony and national
faultlessness. Wartime Japanese superiority formed the basis of modern Japanese ultranationalism
and revisionism, particularly through the role of the United States in preserving nationalist powers in
the immediate post-war context. In exploring its manifestations in popular culture and foreign
policies, this paper aims to remove the amnesia on Japanese superiority in the modern context and
argue for its evolving manifestations in different periods of post-war Japan, as well as its continued
role in shaping modern East Asian nationalism.
Introduction
“It’s more that the Japanese are special [than Chinese and Koreans]. Japanese are taught not to
lie since we were children [whereas] both Chinese and Korean are taught that it’s worse to be a dupe
than to lie. Lying is a norm of their society and [Japanese] society does not have much lying. So there is
this gap between us.” This is what Mio Sugita, a member of the House of Representatives of Japan, said
on camera for Japanese-American historian Miki Dezaki’s 2018 documentary Shusenjo: Comfort Women
and Japan's War on History.1 During World War II, such sentiments of Japanese ethnic superiority were
perpetuated with the practical implication of objectifying their East Asian enemies and subjects (namely
Korea, China, and Taiwan), facilitating imperial conquest.2 More than 75 years later, it would be logically
unlikely that such baseless ultranationalism based on ethnicity would exist in an era of relative regional
peace and cooperation, much less so from an elected parliamentarian. Unfortunately, Sugita’s gross
claim that Japanese are above lying (compared to their regional counterparts) is just one example of
modern, blatant racism and individual manifestations of Japanese superiority. Beneath the guise of
proclaiming world peace, lies a heavily prevalent neo-nationalist movement. This paper aims to explore
and argue for the evolving implicit manifestations of Japanese superiority complex in post-war East Asia,
particularly in economic domination in the immediate post-war period, as well as within cultural and
political discourses beyond the 1980s. The paper will also briefly argue for the neo-Japanese superiority
complex’s continued influence on regional nationalism movements and its implication within an endless
cycle of nationalist discourse.
1
Miki Dezaki, Director. Shusenjo: Comfort Women and Japan's War on History (No Man
Productions LLC, 2018), 01:26:26-01:27:10.
2
John W. Dower, in War without Mercy: Race and Power (New York: Pantheon Books, 1986):
262-265.You can also read
