Interwar Japan Beyond the West The Search for a New Subjectivity in World History

In the late nineteenth century, Japan was the only non-Western country to have successfully faced the challenges of Westernization. At the end of the Meiji Era, just three decades after the end of the countryâ (TM)s feudal age, it became Great Britainâ (TM)s ally, while its soldiers were deployed in Beijing, operating alongside the great European powers. Meanwhile, in Japan, the perception of a scientifically and technologically advanced West came to be imbued by negative connotations, generated by the threatening Western presence in Asia. In order to avoid succumbing to the European imperialist yoke, Japan has itself gradually converted its international status by embracing an imperialistic identity. The new image of the world responding to the current historical situation could only result from a philosophy immersed in historicity, far from its metaphysical dimension. In a philosophy mediated by history, self-awareness would have coincided with the â oehistorical manifestations of historyâ . Based on these premises, the ChÅ«Å kÅ ron group seemed to have presented Japanâ (TM)s hegemonic aspirations as an expression of its â oereal historical manifestationâ . This sounded like an explicit declaration of ideologically supporting the countryâ (TM)s involvement in the war. But what is the meaning that the participants in the debates attributed to the idea of Japanâ (TM)s â oereal historical manifestationâ ? The answer lies in a moral obligation that the country saw as â oethe dutyâ of world history: overcoming modern civilization while promoting a new culture.