Meiji versus Postwar in Cold War Japan: The Emergence of Economic Nationalism in the 1960s

Abstract

In the 1960s, Takeuchi Yoshimi urged a public debate over the Meiji Restoration centennial. Concerned about the potential for the marginalized and suppressed national perspective to emerge as ultranationalism, Takeuchi called on the pro-West and pro-Japan factions to jointly seize the initiative with respect to the national issue. The discourse surrounding the Meiji Restoration centennial in the 1960s initially developed relative to its encounter with American modernization theory, provoking a Meiji boom, or the idea that the Meiji era was a successful case of modernization (Meiji = modernity). Meanwhile, debates over the Meiji centennial were preceded by those over the postwar vicennial. Following declarations of the end of the postwar and a progressive transformation in the social and economic structure of the nation, the notion of postwar became synonymous with democracy. Engaging with these developments, the discourse on the Meiji centennial passed into a new phase defined by the question: Is it [more important to celebrate the] Meiji [centennial] or the postwar [vicennial]? The debate thus evolved into a conflict between establishment and antiestablishment factions. It was at this time that Takeuchi retracted his comments on the Meiji centennial. Ultimately, it was economic nationalism, rather than the ultranationalism (kageki na nashonarizumu) that had concerned Takeuchi, that emerged as the dominant discourse to accompany the Meiji centennial. This new form of ultranationalism was based upon the intellectual and material developments that accompanied the ascendant contexts of modernization theory, transformation, and high economic growth during the 1960s. Takeuchis attempt to seize the initiative regarding the national issue through debate over the Meiji centennial was thus interrupted before the effectiveness of his idea to create a more progressive nationalist discourse could be realized. With the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration in 2018, concerns over ultranationalism have once again emerged alongside the intellectually sterile idea of Meiji versus postwar. A return to the unfinished debate of the 1960s thus also holds significance for contemporary Japan.