The politics of Japanese nationalism: how Shinzo Abe’s kokuminshugi is redefining Japan’s ‘Japaneseness’

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and examine Shinzo Abe’s proposed redefinition of Japanese nationalism from minzokushugi to kokuminshugi, and to place this redefinition within Japan’s larger historical inclusion/exclusion discourse through the redefining of Japan’s ‘Japaneseness’. The first part of this thesis explains the theoretical framework in which this thesis investigates its research aim. This framework is composed of Foucault’s governmentality, Benedict Anderson’s ‘Imagined Communities’, the IR theory of Constructivism and Takeo David Hymans’ theory of the ‘Politics of Memory’. The purpose of this theoretical framework is to breakdown the distorted and contested memories that are used to shift the boundaries of Japan’s ‘Japaneseness’. This framework is furthered by examining the various theories of the Homogenous Nation theory, Mixed Nation theory, and National Polity theory and how they were used within Japan to (re)define the concept of Japaneseness. In the second...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to investigate and examine Shinzo Abe’s proposed redefinition of Japanese nationalism from minzokushugi to kokuminshugi, and to place this redefinition within Japan’s larger historical inclusion/exclusion discourse through the redefining of Japan’s ‘Japaneseness’. The first part of this thesis explains the theoretical framework in which this thesis investigates its research aim. This framework is composed of Foucault’s governmentality, Benedict Anderson’s ‘Imagined Communities’, the IR theory of Constructivism and Takeo David Hymans’ theory of the ‘Politics of Memory’. The purpose of this theoretical framework is to breakdown the distorted and contested memories that are used to shift the boundaries of Japan’s ‘Japaneseness’. This framework is furthered by examining the various theories of the Homogenous Nation theory, Mixed Nation theory, and National Polity theory and how they were used within Japan to (re)define the concept of Japaneseness. In the second part, this thesis examines how this constantly shifting concept of Japaneseness was used to assimilate different minzoku into the Japanese empire. This is initially done by examining how the Ainu and Okinawans were made a part of the Japanese consciousness and how this was achieved through the use of distorted memories. The breaking down of Japan’s distorted narratives is further progressed by examining Japan’s contemporary form of ‘memory politics’ through examining Shinzo Abe’s proposed redefinition of Japan’s nationalism. This thesis argues that while Shinzo Abe’s redefinition towards kokuminshugi can be seen as an attempt to move ‘towards a beautiful country’, it should instead be seen as Abe’s attempt to escape the colonial and post-war narratives that still plague Japanese nationalism today. In conclusion, this thesis argues that Shinzo Abe’s proposed redefinition of Japanese nationalism is not a new phenomenon but instead apart of a larger historical trend within Japan. This trend consists of the boundaries of Japan’s Japaneseness being (re)shifted in order to accommodate Japan’s political aims and agendas of the time. Consequently, the constant redefinition of Japan’s Japaneseness creates the situation where the existences of these minorities (Ainu, Okinawans, Zainichi Koreans, etc.) become distorted in the imagined history of the Japanese nation-state and are blurred into a singular ethnography.Show less

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The politics of Japanese nationalism: how Shinzo Abe’s kokuminshugi is redefining Japan’s ‘Japaneseness’