The Idea of Japan: Western Images, Western Myths

by Ian Littlewood

A hundred and fifty years ago Japan was a country so remote from the West that it might have existed on another planet. Today its influence touches all of us, yet in the West we know almost as little about it as we did in the days when Henry Adams, visiting Japan, called it a toy-world. Ian Littlewood s Idea of Japan offers a framework for making sense of a culture that puzzles us. His book is about the Japan we encounter when we turn on the television, open a newspaper, or flip through a magazine the Japan that has been created by the West. What emerges as we move through a mythical world of subhumans and superhumans, of temples and cherry blossoms, of exotic women and strange fanatical men, Mr. Littlewood writes, is a striking picture of how closely our current images of the Japanese are tied to the cliches of the past. Drawing from a wide range of sources from the accounts of Jesuit missionaries to the japonisme of the nineteenth century and the images of contemporary Hollywood he shows why we have too long seen Japan only as a projection of our own fears, dreams, and desires. The Idea of Japan is also a provocative insight into the processes by which we understand, or fail to understand, another culture."

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, History

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Elena Sala · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE IDEA OF JAPAN: WESTERN IMAGES, WESTERN MYTHS (1996) is a book about stereotypes: the images of Japan which recurred frequently and had a major influence on popular attitudes about Japan until a few years ago.

The author begins with the first contacts in the 16th century to the 20th century. He draws from a wide range of sources: from the writings of Jesuit missionaries, to popular literature (he cites authors Pearl Buck, James Clavell, Ian Fleming, Lafcadio Hearn, Rudyard Kipling, Pierre Loti and many others), operas such as Madame Butterfly as well as contemporary Hollywood movies about Japan.

Littlewood argues that the Western world has initially shown a patronizing attitude towards Japan but with the advent of World War II the views of the Allies became increasingly racist and ethnically prejudiced. After the war, especially, Japan was viewed as an economic threat, the Yellow Peril.

"Stereotypes offer an illusion of understanding by presenting us with a reality that is known rather than unknown. They short-circuit the painstaking explorations and discriminations by which we can try to learn something of the world; instead of understanding, they become a complacent alternative to it", Littlewood argues. That's why stereotypes can be pernicious.

Maybe now we don't see Japan as the author describes it anymore. In that sense, this book might seem to have aged a bit. However, could it be possible that the West has replaced the "Yellow Peril" by another Peril? Islam, perhaps? The legacy of orientalism might have changed the focus during the 21st century and this book could provide a healthy insight into understanding the ways we look at other cultures. Littlewood's observations are perceptive, witty, jocular and very enlightening.

[Gary Bourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drawing from a wide range of resources, this book tells the story how Western observers have portrayed Japan since 1600 through to the late 1980s.

Well written and every entertaining, all in all, a good read.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Background reading on Western visions of Japan for my own book on Hiroshima

[Alice Jennings · Rating 2 out of 5]

My memory is fuzzy, but I remember being a bit disappointed by this book for not going into another analysis and depth