Naoki Sakai

The Loss of Empire and Hikikomori Nationalism

The End of Pax Americana

Gavin Walker

As technological innovation and cultural exchange challenge conventional borders, national identities, and notions of the nation-state, scholars have increasingly argued that the traditional concepts of "area" are ideological and political constructs tied to a schema of the world that no longer exists. This special issue of positions: asia critique posits that this "end of area" does not necessarily mean the end of area studies as a discipline. Rather, contributors suggest that "area" has detached itself from the realm of geopolitics and entered into the realm of biopolitics and biopower, which provides an opportunity to reevaluate and remap the goals of area studies. To address that change, this issue centers translation and the biopolitical as new theoretical mechanisms for area studies to order, combine, separate, and classify life. Topics include the concept of "area" itself; the philosophy of translation; reflections on Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, and Edward Said; governmentality and biopower in the time of global capital; and biopolitical management of geocultural areas. Contributors: Étienne Balibar, Ken C. Kawashima, Sandro Mezzadra, Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Naoki Sakai, Shu-Mei Shih, Jon Solomon, Tazaki Hideaki, Gavin Walker

Biopolitics, Geopolitics, History

The End of Area

"In The End of Pax Americana, Naoki Sakai focuses on the long history of US hegemony in East Asia and the effects of its decline on contemporary conceptions of internationality. Engaging with themes of nationality in conjunction with internationality, the civilizational construction of differences between East and West, and empire and decolonization, Sakai focuses on the formation of a nationalism of hikikomori (or "reclusive withdrawal") -Japan's increasingly inward-looking tendency since the late 1990s, named from the phenomenon of the nation's young people reclusing themselves from public life. Sakai argues that the exhaustion of Pax Americana and the post-World War II international order-under which Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China experienced rapid modernization through consumer capitalism and a media revolution-signals neither the "decline of the West" nor the rise of the East but rather a dislocation and decentering of European and North American political, economic, diplomatic, and intellectual influence. This decentering is symbolized by the sense of the loss of old colonial empires such as those of Japan, Britain, and the United States"--

The End of Pax Americana and the Nationalism of Hikikomori

Jun'ichi Isomae

This book aims to present the historical and political significance of literary and philosophical debates conducted in East Asia during the war years of the 1930s and 1940s. The volume includes seven essays, an introduction and a translation of the manifesto “Principles of Thought for a New Japan (1939),” based on which the vision of the East Asian Community was later put forth. Its perspective is decidedly transnational. In view of the current situation in East Asia, some essays in this volume will attempt a critical re-assessment of Area Studies, within the purview of which the majority of scholarship about the Japanese intellectual history of the interwar period, literary debates such as the symposium entitled Overcoming Modernity and the round-table discussion of “World History and the standpoint of Japan, as well as the Kyoto School of Philosophy have been conducted, both in English and Japanese, during the post World War II period. Furthermore, the book will situate the intellectual debates about the East Asian Community and the symposium 'Overcoming Modernity' in the global context of the 1930s.

East Asian Community and the Kyoto School

Overcoming Modernity

Jon Solomon

Translation, Biopolitics, Colonial Difference, the fourth book in the Traces series, focuses on the problems of translation and the political dynamics surrounding multiplicity -- linguistic, regional, transnational, and civilizational -- today.

Translation, Biopolitics, Colonial Difference

Traces 4

In The End of Pax Americana, Naoki Sakai focuses on U.S. hegemony's long history in East Asia and the effects of its decline on contemporary conceptions of internationality. Engaging with themes of nationality in conjunction with internationality, the civilizational construction of differences between East and West, and empire and decolonization, Sakai focuses on the formation of a nationalism of hikikomori, or “reclusive withdrawal”—Japan’s increasingly inward-looking tendency since the late 1990s, named for the phenomenon of the nation’s young people sequestering themselves from public life. Sakai argues that the exhaustion of Pax Americana and the post--World War II international order—under which Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China experienced rapid modernization through consumer capitalism and a media revolution—signals neither the “decline of the West” nor the rise of the East, but, rather a dislocation and decentering of European and North American political, economic, diplomatic, and intellectual influence. This decentering is symbolized by the sense of the loss of old colonial empires such as those of Japan, Britain, and the United States.

"Toward the end of the seventeenth century, Naoki Sakai maintains, a radical change took place in Japanese discourse--the sudden emergence of multiple new possibilities of conceptualizing the world. In this brilliant and searching reinterpretation of the cultural history of the Tokugawa period, Sakai traces this shift across a spectrum of artistic and critical texts from puppet theater to Confucian commentary. He asserts that during this time a new emphasis was placed on textual performance, practice, and communication, and he illuminates its ethical and political consequences." "Sakai draws upon the insights of recent critical theory as he explores the historical consciousness of texts and the self-consciousness of language itself. Analyzing the conditions of discourse formation, he seeks to suggest how language may be used to inform historical investigation. He first considers the Confucian philosopher Ito Jinsai's critiques of Neo-Confucianism. Showing how the historical other was constructed and theorized, Sakai discusses key works of visual art, performance pieces, poetry, and wakun, a genre of graphic translation. Finally, he considers writings representative of intellectual movements that began to construct the identity of the Japanese language and culture." "Intellectual historians, specialists in Japanese culture, anthropologists working with historical texts, literary theorists, linguists, philosophers, and others interested in East Asian thought will welcome this rich and challenging book."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Naoki Sakai

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