Japan Encounters the Barbarian - Japanese Travellers in America and Europe (Hardcover)

For over a hundred years the Japanese have looked to the West for ideas, institutions and technology that would help them achieve their goal of 'national wealth and strength'. In this book a distinguished historian of Japan discusses Japan's 'cultural borrowing' from America and Europe. W. G. Beasley focuses on the mid-nineteenth century, when Japan's rulers dispatched diplomatic missions to the West to discover what Japan needed to learn, sent students abroad to assimilate information and invited foreign experts to Japan to help put the knowledge to practical use. Beasley examines the origins of the decision to initiate direct study of the West at a time when western countries counted as 'barbarian' by Confucian standards. Drawing on many colourful letters, diaries, memoirs and reports, he describes the missions sent overseas in 1860 and 1862, in 1865-1867 and in the years after 1868, in particular the prestigious embassy led by Iwakura in 1871-1873. The book also tells the story of the several hundred students who went overseas in this period. It concludes by assessing the impact of the encounters on the subsequent development of Japan, first by examining the later careers of the travellers and the influence they exercised (they included no fewer than six prime ministers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), and then by considering the nature of the ideas they brought home.

General

Imprint:	Yale University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	September 1995
First published:	September 1995
Authors:	W.G. Beasley
Dimensions:	235 x 156 x 25mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Cloth over boards
Pages:	264
ISBN-13:	978-0-300-06324-0
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General Books > History > American history > General Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General Books > History > European history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > History > World history > 1750 to 1900
LSN:	0-300-06324-5
Barcode:	9780300063240

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