Wittenberg University Journals
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An Intellectual Debate: Ueda Akinari and Motoori Norinaga
Get PDFThis intellectual biography examines the conflict between 18th-century Tokugawa Japan scholars of the Kokugaku tradition Ueda Akinari and Motoori Norinaga by juxtaposing the thoughts and ideas of the two men. The dispute shows us what was truly at stake for these two scholarly figures: the importance of ancient Japanese texts and Japan’s role as a world power during the Tokugawa period
Myopia in Korea: The U.S.-South Korea Alliance and the Relationship Between Lyndon Johnson and Park Chung-hee, 1963-1969
Get PDFThis is an in-depth analysis of the relationship between South Korean President Park Chung-hee and US President Lyndon Johnson and how said relationship impacted the character of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. I use a variety of primary (mainly documents from the archives at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library) and secondary sources as I examine three specific developments (The Treaty on Basic Relations, Vietnam mobilization, and the security crisis of 1968) as inflection points in the history of the U.S.-ROK relationship. I specifically emphasize two main arguments throughout, although they may be a bit subtle at times: (1) By virtue of his identity as a strongman and staunch nationalist, Park\u27s relationship with whoever was the U.S. president was nearly synonymous with the relationship between the ROK and the U.S.; and (2) The U.S.-ROK alliance was largely transactional in nature, i.e. grounded in a common desire to promote an anti-communist agenda vis-a-vis shared political and security interests and mutual acquiescence to demands and policy decisions rather than genuine goodwill -- I find that Park\u27s embrace of the U.S. as his preeminent partner is a calculated but ultimately begrudging decision. 
China and LGBTQ+ Rights
Get PDFThis study presents a qualitative analysis of China’s engagement with international norms regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) rights. The evidence shows that China is a norm defender of heteronormativity. The study utilizes content analysis of UN speeches, discourse analysis of the Universal Periodic Review and two United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reports, and a case study examining the connection between Chinese philosophy and China’s compliance to international law. The research finds that China does not comply with SOGIE rights norms. China fails to mention SOGIE rights in UN speeches, participate in SOGIE rights meetings, support SOGIE-related documents and resolutions, or enact domestic policy regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. This project adds to research in the field of human rights and efforts to hold states accountable for protecting LGBTQ+ individuals
Cyberpunk Anime: Expressions of Japanese Anxiety in a Modern World
Get PDFAs Japan rapidly modernized in the decades after the Pacific War, the Japanese people saw decaades of unique, accelerated circumstances ranging from nuclear anxiety to student riots and anti-government extremists and through sociopolitical and economic booms culminating in a genre of unique pop culture works, in particular anime, from the 1980s to the 1990s: cyberpunk. Like its Western counterpart, Japanese cyberpunk focuses on criticisms of the government thorugh thick layers of low-life, high-tech combinations. As such, the unique circumstances of Japanese cyberpunk\u27s conception and its lasting influence on the anime medium make it an interesting point for examination; one that exposes much about Japan\u27s growing anxieties in a newly global world evolving at never-before-seen rates
The Creation of China\u27s Rural-Urban Divide
No full textThis paper analyzes how the implementation of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) household registration (hukou) system in the 1950s has created material resource disparities between the urban and rural sectors that have persisted in the market reform economy. It examines hukou founding documents, urban population management laws, and pilot solutions to address structural inequities. It concludes with an analysis of current provincial and national government solutions seeking to bridge the rural-urban economic gap, notably the need to reform the hukou instrument to increase equitability and social stability. Although previous scholars have linked the PRC’s household registration laws to its socialist modernization economic platform, this project contributes to the field by linking that body of research with current scholarship on present-day welfare inequities in the Chinese state
Evolution of Womenomics: Comparing and Contrasting Abe and Kishida’s Policies
Get PDFJapan has long presented the paradox of being an economically advanced nation with consistently low rankings in gender equality—placing 116th out of 146 countries in the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report. Within the past twenty years, Japan has experienced ten changes in the Prime Minister position. Subsequently, with the leadership changes comes inevitable changes in administering gender equality and women empowerment policies. In comparing the policies surrounding gender equality under Abe Shinzo and Fumio Kishida, fruitful observations can be made regarding the magnitude of the shift away from the patriarchal Japanese society that has been achieved in the last couple of decades
Japanese Imperial Education in Korea and Taiwan and the Lens of Reciprocal Assimilation
Get PDFWhile the Japanese Empire colonial relationship with Taiwan and Korea was undoubtedly unequal—the Japanese Empire exerting its power and influence even to a coercive extent in Korea when it brutally suppressed peaceful protest during the May 1st movement—there were also attempts by the Japanese colonial governments and Japanese citizens (both in the metropole and abroad) to establish and maintain a symbiotic relationship and (at least to some extent) learn about the culture, language, and experience of the colonies that the Japanese Empire held. This is especially relevant to education as ethnic Japanese both living in colonies abroad and the metropole would either experience firsthand or learn secondhand about the colonies that the Empire had subjugated. The assimilatory policies employed in Korea and Taiwan worked to integrate these colonies and their inhabitants into the Japanese Empire. As ethnic Koreans and Taiwanese began to enter the metropole, they also exposed ethnic Japanese in educational hubs such as Tokyo to the lives of colonized subjects in a more personal manner. Reciprocal assimilation therefore also took place as Taiwan and Korea were respectively inducted into the wider Japanese empire because at the same time that the Japanese Empire sought assimilate its colonial subjects, Japan too became a part of a wide-reaching colonial family