Nakae Chomin's Political Theory for Japan

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In dealing with the issues of Japan at the time, this Discourse was written in 1887 concerning political thought and written by Nakae Chomin and translated by Nobukuo Tsukui who is a major Japanese scholar in literature. Nakae Chomin was very interested in the area of political theory in his home country of Japan. There had been a call, in particular by Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher with many areas of study of which one in particular was political theory. Spencer as well as others had called for changes in Japanese culture and to conform to the ideas of social progress. Nakae and other intellectuals had spent a decade with the idea that this call should be met as a challenge and as a cause for freedom rather than accommodating the western powers of Great Britain, Russia, France and Germany. The competition of these countries gaining dominance in Asia was creating a strain on Japan and had to be addressed. Japan could not ignore what was happening internationally on the world stage or ultimately be left behind as a nation to never be recognized unless it could show the will to conform to western culture. Nakae was focused on the issues of national defense and pacifism especially in the twentieth century where men decided that national well-being was more important than national defense. There are three characters in the book: the Gentlemen who is promotes the idea of democracy, the Champion who promotes the thought of aggression and lastly, Nankai who loves to drink and discuss politics of the time. It seems that none of these characters hold the greatest wisdom but the one that is closest to Nakae is Master Nankai. Western liberal politics is well received by Nakae through the Gentlemen, Japanese traditionalist...

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... event that national pride is not damaged, the country should not take up arms or act in any aggressive manner. The defense of a nation is not a means to take up arms as invaders but to be simply preserved as a means for self-defense. The book conveys that Nakae would have a smile on his face to see that his theories of war and pacifism would come to fruition after the defeat of Japan in World War two and the resulting after effects of Japans aggression. We saw the disarmament of Japan and the prohibition of weapons with Article IX of the countries new constitution and how it related to the international community. Thus, the book reveals that the thoughts portrayed by the Champion and the Gentlemen have been on-going for almost a century. It is said that the Gentlemen went to North America and the Champion went to Shanghai, Master Nankai continues to drink.

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