SDHF Newsletter No.54 Japan and China; How Different They Are!

Japan and China: How Different They Are!
by KASE Hideaki and SEKI Hei (Shi Ping)

January 11, 2013

Mr. Kase Hideaki, Japanese diplomatic critic and Seki Hei (Shi Ping), China born writer have extensive and insightful discussions about the nature of Japanese and Chinese culture in this book.
A prevailing notion by Sinologists, both in the West and Japan, is that as the wealth of the Chinese “middle class” rises, they will want more democracy and political freedom—they will want to be like the middle class found elsewhere. However, this notion is far from correct is sustained by the flawed belief that Japan and China are historically and culturally the same: the Japanese and Chinese think in the same manner, therefore, if Japan can be democratic, then democracy in China is inevitable.
In fact, as Mr. Kase and Mr. Seki Hei point out with numerous examples, not only are Japanese and Chinese cultures distinct from one another, Chinese cultural elements assimilated by Japan were significantly altered to fit into a Japanese social context.
The changes are indeed marked in the authors extensive and insightful narration of Chinese history. It will be evident to the reader that historic Japan and China—and modern Japanese and Chinese—share almost no commonalities aside from perhaps a sharing of basic forms of kanji.

*Summary: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/96_S2.pdf
*Full text: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/96_S4.pdf
*Author profile: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/96_S3.pdf

Questions are welcome.

Sincerely,

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Secretary General
for KASE Hideaki, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact