Japanophilia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lafcadio Hearn , a well-known Irish-Greek writer with a keen interest in Japan.

Japanophilia ( Japanese 親 日 shinnichi , consisting of 親 shin , in German about “pro”, and 日 nichi , meaning “Japanese”) describes the appreciation and love for the culture , the people and the history of Japan . The term was first used in the 18th century, but its meaning changed over time.

history

The term japanophilia dates back to the late 18th century and early 19th century, before Japan became more open to global trade. Carl Peter Thunberg and Philipp Franz von Siebold helped arouse interest in Japanese flora , art and other areas in Europe . The Irish-Greek writer Lafcadio Hearn settled in Japan in the 19th century and was described by the Charles E. Tuttle Company as a "confirmed Japanophile" in the forewords of several of his books. Other works also attribute a major role in establishing the term to the French military officer Jules Brunet in the Boshin War .

Many British writers praised Japan in the first decade of the 20th century. For example, Beatrice Webb wrote in 1904 that "Japan was a rising star of human self-control and enlightenment ," praised the innovative collectivism of the Japanese and the "uncanny determination" and open-mindedness of the enlightened professional elite. Similarly, HG Wells described in his work Jenseits des Sirius (original title A Modern Utopia ) this same elite as " Samurai ". This resulted in part from the rejection of the power position of the British Empire with the comparable rise of Japan and Germany in the same period. While Germany was seen as a threat at hand, Japan was seen as a potential ally. The British sought efficiency as a solution to productivity problems and after Alfred Stead published Great Japan: A Study of National Efficiency in 1906, experts looked for lessons in Japan. This interest ended with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

On José Millán Astray , founder of the Legión Española , the philosophy of life Bushidō of the Japanese samurai exerted a great influence. He described Bushidō as the perfect creed and said that the Spanish legionaries are also like samurai who practice the values ​​of Bushido, which he identified in honor , valor , loyalty , generosity and sacrifice . Astray also said that Spain could attain as much power as Japan if one adhered to these values. He also translated Inazo Nitobe's book Bushido: The Soul of Japan and wrote a foreword based on it.

Wapanese and Weeaboo

In the early 21st century, slang words were created to humiliate those who dignified Japanese popular culture . So in 2002 the term wapanese - wannabe Japanese (in German " wannabe Japanese" ) or white Japanese - was born, describing a white person who is obsessed with Japanese culture, including anime and manga . The term weeaboo comes from the comic strip The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch , in which it has no other meaning than something unpleasant. According to an unpublished master’s thesis , the online platform 4chan picked up the word very quickly and misused it for the already existing term wapanese .

It is debatable whether weeaboo has the same meaning as otaku or not, with weeaboo as a generic term suggesting a certain connection. Kim Morrissy of Crunchyroll wrote that the meaning of otaku has been hindered by cultural appropriation and the term is mistakenly used in Western culture solely to describe a Japanese person. Justin Sevakis differentiated the two terms in a blog post on Anime News Network and came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with appreciating Japanese culture. However, he also stated that a person should only be called a weeaboo if they behave in a hideous, immature and ignorant manner towards the culture they love. Matt Jardin of the Alaska Dispatch gave his take on the definition, describing that weeaboos prefer Japanese things blindly, looking down on everything else despite the obvious merit.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Japanophile . In: Merriam-Webster (Ed.): Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged . 200 ( Online [accessed February 21, 2016]): "one who especially admires and likes Japan or Japanese ways"
  2. ^ William R. Johnston: William and Henry Walters, the Reticent Collectors . JHU Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-6040-7 , pp. 76 .
  3. ↑ Robin D. Gill: Topsy-Turvy 1585 . Ed .: Paraverse Press. 2004, ISBN 0-9742618-1-5 , pp. 25 .
  4. ↑ Heather Hale: Lafcadio Hearn . In: Japanfile, the Website of Kansai Time Out Magazine . September 1990 ( archive.org [accessed March 5, 2016]).
  5. ↑ Bruce Cumings: Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American-East Asian Relations . Ed .: Duke University Press. 1999, ISBN 0-8223-2924-7 , Archeology, Descent, Emergence: American Mythology and East Asian Reality, pp. 25 .
  6. ^ Geoffrey Jensen: Irrational Triumph: Cultural Despair, Military Nationalism, and the Ideological Origins of Franco's Spain . Ed .: University of Nevada Press . Reno , Nevada 2002, ISBN 0-87417-481-3 , pp. 150 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ^ Allison María Teresa Beeby Rodríguez: Millán-Astray's Translation of Nitobe's Bushido: The Soul of Japan. (PDF) Autonomous University of Barcelona , 2009, accessed June 6, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Chris Kincaid: Am I a Weeaboo? What does Weeaboo Mean Anyway? Japan Powered, August 30, 2015, accessed February 21, 2016 .
  9. ^ Jesse Christian Davis: Japanese animation in America and its fans. (PDF) Retrieved December 12, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Kim Morrissy: FEATURE: Found in Translation - The Evolution of the Word 'Otaku' [PART 1]. Crunchyroll , August 22, 2016, accessed August 26, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Justin Sevakis: Nobody Loves the Weeaboo. Anime News Network , August 22, 2014, accessed March 10, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Matt Jardin: Going to Senshi Con this weekend? Here are 5 terms to know. Alaska Dispatch , September 26, 2016, accessed June 18, 2017 .