book chapter
Public Opinion and Foreign Affairs: The Conscription System, National Consciousness, and the Warfare Propaganda of Japanese Empire
Abstract
The primary condition for the formation of a modern nation is the transformation of people’s identification with their families and regions into the “nation” as a political community. In the modern age, the national identity of the Japanese has undergone a long process of transformation. Enacted in 1873, the conscription system, an important measure to forge the national identity, caused panic and anxiety among people who resisted the system or even fled from being enlisted in military services, showing that the national identity had not been formed at that time and the image of a unified Japan as a nation was still ambiguous. In 1884, with the guidance and the advocacy of the government, intellectuals and the media, the national identity was gradually established during the Gapsin Coup in which Japanese had to “defend” and “avenge” the so-called “foreign humiliation” from China. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the public’s perception of “Japanese” was fully established, and the national characteristics was fully formed under the influences of both modern Japan’s first external war and the development of printed capitalism domestically. However, it was a departure from the original track of the formation of the modern nation and, as a result, citizens became subjects of the state. © TIAN XUEMEI, 2022.
Author keywords
conscription, gapsin coup, national characteristics, national identity, sino-japanese war of 1894