Eastern Contexts / Western Theory -- Cultural Studies and Japan.

The article focuses on the contribution of Japanese writers Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro, Karatani Kojin and Asada Akira to the western cultural theory. Asada Akira indicates the potential for ideas of Japanese uniqueness to be taken up by neo-nationalist forces within Japan itself. Asada provides a useful context for such ideas by pointing out that they are entrenched in stereotyped theories about Japan which reappear across a number of contexts and cultural domains. Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro observes in his paper "The Postmodern and Mass Images in Japan," modernization theory, which was dominant in Japanese studies after the war, has been thoroughly repudiated over the last ten to twenty years. But despite this, the notion of Americanization has survived and is still often used in discussions of contemporary Japanese culture. The work of Karatani Kojin also deals with the cultural differences between Japan and the West. As Karatani points out, contemporary western cultural theory is very largely concerned with a critique of nineteenth century concepts, institutions and modes of thought.