User:Marskell/Sinophobia

The balance of power in East Asia has long rested between China and its neighbour Japan. Much of the initial cultural foundation of Japan, including its writing system and early administrative apparatus, is of Chinese origin, due in large part to intense cultural exchange during the Tang dynasty. China, however, would also provide a foil against which Japanese nationalism developed. The attempted Mongol invasions of Japan (carried out by Kublai Khan acting in the role of Emperor of China) were particularly decisive: Japanese self-identity and a concomitant sense of the "foreign", bordering on the xenophobic, were shaped by the event.

The isolation that eventually rose in Japan during the Edo period was not wholly directed at Asian neighbours such as China—as it was also a response to European incursions in the area—but a Sinophobic element is easily discernable in Japanese culture of the time. The Kokugaku (国学) school particularly, rejected a Sinocentric view of Japan's history for an enthnocentric one, which foregrounded the supposed superiority of Japanese culture and history. Yamaga Soko would assert that Japan was superior to China in Confucian terms and more deserving of the name Chūgoku (中国 Central Country).

http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue28/lyman28.htm

China and Japan: A Facade of Friendship - WINTER 2003, Washington quarterly

http://www.twq.com/03winter/docs/03winter_self.pdf