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That Distant Country Next Door: Popular Japanese Perceptions of Mao's China by Erik Esselstrom (review)

That Distant Country Next Door: Popular Japanese Perceptions of Mao's China by Erik... Reviews 35 Erik Esselstrom. That Distant Country Next Door: Popular Japanese Perceptions of Mao’s China. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019. x, 230 pp. Hardcover $68.00, ISBN 978-0-8248-7656-2. In a compact, four-chapter narrative, Erik Esselstrom’s new book brings to life the vibrant cultural currents and sub-currents circulating between China and Japan during the three decades since the end of WWII. Major events in “that distant country next door” often stimulated “everyday Japanese” to review their recent past of war on the continent and reassess the meaning of their own progress. Repeatedly, popular discourse on relations with China found its hinge on the highly contentious domestic debate about the U.S.-Japan relations, especially the Mutual Security Treaty, which had moved millions to the streets in protest. This study of Japanese perceptions of China, therefore, becomes also a study of Japanese reflections on their own society and its relations with the rest of the world. Stepping away from the beaten track of political narrative of relations between China and Japan, That Distant Country Next Door captures a large section in history by way of delineating the Japanese images of China under the Communist leadership. Historian Erik Esselstrom makes a strategic choice of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png China Review International University of Hawai'I Press

That Distant Country Next Door: Popular Japanese Perceptions of Mao's China by Erik Esselstrom (review)

Yan, Lu
China Review International , Volume 25 (1) – Mar 6, 2020
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Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1527-9367

Abstract

Reviews 35 Erik Esselstrom. That Distant Country Next Door: Popular Japanese Perceptions of Mao’s China. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019. x, 230 pp. Hardcover $68.00, ISBN 978-0-8248-7656-2. In a compact, four-chapter narrative, Erik Esselstrom’s new book brings to life the vibrant cultural currents and sub-currents circulating between China and Japan during the three decades since the end of WWII. Major events in “that distant country next door” often stimulated “everyday Japanese” to review their recent past of war on the continent and reassess the meaning of their own progress. Repeatedly, popular discourse on relations with China found its hinge on the highly contentious domestic debate about the U.S.-Japan relations, especially the Mutual Security Treaty, which had moved millions to the streets in protest. This study of Japanese perceptions of China, therefore, becomes also a study of Japanese reflections on their own society and its relations with the rest of the world. Stepping away from the beaten track of political narrative of relations between China and Japan, That Distant Country Next Door captures a large section in history by way of delineating the Japanese images of China under the Communist leadership. Historian Erik Esselstrom makes a strategic choice of

Journal

China Review International – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Mar 6, 2020

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