Japan's National Identity and Foreign Policy
Russia as Japan's 'Other'
Routledge – 2008 – 192 pages
Routledge – 2008 – 192 pages
This book is the first attempt to examine Japan’s relations with Russia from the perspective of national identity; providing a new interpretation of Japan’s perceptions of Russia and foreign policy.
Alexander Bukh focuses on the construction of the Japanese self using Russia as the other, examining the history of bilateral relations and comparisons between the Russian and Japanese national character. The first part of the book examines the formation of modern Japan’s perceptions of Russia, focusing mainly on the Cold War years. The second part of the book examines how this identity construction has been reflected in Japan’s economic, security and territorial dispute related policy towards post-Soviet Russia.
Providing not only a case study of the Japan-Russia relationship, but also engaging in a critical examination of existing International Relations frameworks for conceptualizing the relationship between national identity and foreign policy, the appeal of the book will not be limited to those interested in Japanese/Russian politics but will also be of interest to the broader body of students of International Relations.
"[T]his book….is an innovative study analyzing Japan's relations with the Soviet Union/Russia from the perspective of national identity…[T]his books fills an important gap in the academic literature by explaining the Japanese socio-political identity from the perspective of Soviet Union/Russia's "otherness" and opens the way to further investigation on Japan's identity issues from several viewpoints." - Hakan Gonen, Turkish Yearbook of Asia Pacific Studies, Issue No:4 (2009)
"It forms part of a bold attempt to resurrect the long discredited notion of national character, albeit in a much more sophisticated form than that employed by cultural determinists from the age of empire. As such, it represents a serious challenge to the vapid reductionism of rational choice theory…I heartily commend it to experienced students of Japan’s foreign relations and international relations more broadly." - Christopher W. Braddick, The International Spectator, Vol. 44, No. 2, June 2009
"A solid study of the course of Russo-Japanese relations in the post-war period." - Edward Boyle; Journal of Borderlands Studies, 28:1, 149-150 (2013).
1. Exploring Japan’s Identity 2. Constructions of Japan’s "Self" 3. Japan’s "Soviet Union", Japan’s "Russia" 4. Ainu, Russia and Japan’s Quest for "Northern Territories" 5. Shiba’s Original Forms of Japan and Russia 6. "Newly Born Russia" and Japan 7. The Idea of the Northern Territories. Conclusion
Alexander Bukh is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Science at Tsukuba University, Japan. He holds an LL.M from Tokyo University and a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics.