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Research Papers
Egyptianizing
Korea: The Role of the Egypt Analogy in Meiji Japanese Political Thought
By Michael Penn
Abstract: During the Meiji era, analogies involving Egypt appeared
repeatedly in elite political discussions in Japan. The precise content
of these Egypt analogies changed dramatically as Japan’s own
circumstances transformed. In the early days, Japan was compared to
Egypt as an Eastern nation attempting to Westernize itself in the face
of threatening European pressures. In later years, the Egypt analogy was
directed at the Korean Peninsula, and Japanese leaders began to see
themselves as playing the role of Great Britain in East Asia. All along,
Japanese political discourse was deeply influenced and even shaped by
British commentators. This paper traces the evolution of the Egypt
analogy over the period of a half century and discovers that the
Japanese elite of that period looked to Egypt, not to see a foreign
nation, but to see themselves.
Michael Penn is the Executive Director of the Shingetsu Institute for
the Study of Japanese-Islamic Relations.
"Problematic"
Foreign Policies: How the United States Came to Resemble Imperial Japan
By Rustin Gates
Abstract: This paper draws an analogy between post Cold War American
policy in Iraq and prewar Japanese policy for the region of Manchuria
(northeastern China), arguing that both the United States and Japan
became obsessed with “solving” a perceived foreign policy “problem” that
had plagued them for decades. In both cases, the “problem” grew in
proportion to the fear that domestic radicals and ideologues were
successful in instilling in their fellow citizens. However, the
perception of threat often existed in an inverse relationship to any
actual threat presented to national interests. The rising level of
fear—as well as the posting of ideologues to serve in key policy
positions—resulted in efforts by both prewar Japan and post Cold War
America to “solve” its perceived problem through the use of military
force.
Rustin Gates is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History,
Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois.
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