This paper is the text of the presidential address presented at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Philadelphia, March 22–24, 1968.

¹ William Eleroy Curtis' book by this tide and subtitled Sketches of Modern Japan (2 vols., New York) was published in 1896.Google Scholar

² The most concerted opposition to the government's plans for celebrating the Meiji Centennial has been voiced in the pages of Rekishigakukenkyū (A journal of historical studies). Number 330 (November 1967)Google Scholar of the journal entitled “‘Meiji hyakunen sai’ hihan—gendai fuashizumu no shisō to undō” (A criticism of the “Meiji Centenary”—the thought and activity of contemporary Fascism) was devoted entirely to an attack upon the centenary idea and an exposé of the government plans for celebrating the event. An earlier systematic criticism of the centenary idea appeared in Matsue Shōichi “Meiji hyakuenen sai wo meguru jōsei” (Circumstances surrounding the celebration of the hundredth year of Meiji), Rekishigakukenkyū, 322 (march 1967), 1–11.Google Scholar

³ The reference is to Smith, Thomas C., “Japan's Aristocratic Revolution,” The Yale Review, (Spring, 1961), 371–383.Google Scholar

⁴ As an example of a high school study text, Tsuda Hideo's Nihonshi sōgōkenkyu (A general study of Japanese history), Tokyo, 1956, presents two preliminary drafts of the Charter Oath besides the original (p. 292) showing that the word kaigi was meant to stand for an assembly of han (domain) representatives.

⁵ Taken from the minutes of the fourth meeting of the government committee for the preparation of the Meiji Centennial celebration, as quoted in Rekishigakukenkyū, 330 (november, 1967), 55–56.Google Scholar

⁶ The original Japanese phrase “Tōyōteki no yosa” is rather inadequately rendered “Eastern virtues.”

⁷ Embarrassment over the possible analogy with the 1940 celebration was not lost on the members of the government planning committee. See committee minutes contained in Rekishigakukenkyū, 330 (november, 1967), 53.Google Scholar

⁸ While I refer here to younger historians who have yet to express their political opinions publicly, the search for a new approach to Japanese history has led to open debate over the issues of Marxism, nationalism, and war guilt in some of the leading opinion journals since 1963. The early stages of this debate have been ably summarized in the pages of the Journal of Social and Political Ideas in Japan, particularly II.2 (august, 1964)Google Scholar edited by Seki Yoshihiko.

⁹ Halpern, Manfred “The Revolution of Modernization,” in Friedrick, Carl J., ed., Revolution (New York, 1966), p. 202.Google Scholar

¹⁰ I have profited from reading Robert R. Palmer's provocative article “The American Revolution's Influence Then and Now,” in Woodward, C. VannThe Comparative Approach to American History, New York, 1967.Google Scholar

¹¹ Reference here is to Maruyama Masao's stand in 1960 calling for a retention of the idealized vision of “peace and democracy” which Japan accepted in 1945. See, “Fukushō no setsu” (A time for reflection) in Sekai, (august, 1960) 367–371Google Scholar. Essentially the thesis that modern Japan had its origin in 1945 negates the relevance of Japan's history prior to the end of the Pacific War. Against this the government committee would call for pride in Japan's past by accepting the affluent present and by playing down the sense of guilt over the nineteen forties. Between these positions Oi Kai has suggested that the people of present day Japan recognize their involvement with the past generations of Japanese and look back upon this past with “pride, fear, and shame.” “Nihonkoku nashonarizumu no keisei” (The nature of Japanese nationalism), Chūōkōron, (july, 1963), 34–47.Google Scholar

¹² For an early attack on the concept of modernization as used by American scholars see, Inoue Kiyoshi, “Kindaika no hitotsu no apurōchi” (An approach to modernization) in Shisō, 473 (november, 1963), 1455–1463.Google Scholar

¹³ Core, R. P., “On the Possibility and Desirability of a Theory of Modernization,”Google Scholar mimeo, 1965, 4. For an inquiry into the hidden biases of American scholars see, Moscos, Charles C. Jr., and Bell, Wendall, “Emerging Nations and Ideologies of American Social Scientists,” The American Sociologist, 2.2 (may, 1967), 67–72.Google Scholar

¹⁴ I refer to Roszak, Theodore, ed. The Dissenting Academy, New York, 1968.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Popper, Karl R., The Open Society and its Enemies (Harper Torchbook, 1964, 2 vols.), II.214.Google Scholar

¹⁶ The literature on modernization is too voluminous to cite here other than to refer to Black, C. E., The Dynamics of Modernization, New York, 1966Google Scholar. An early effort to apply a “value free” concept to Japan was made at the Hakone meeting of the Conference on Modern Japan. See Hall, J. W. “Changing Conceptions of the Modernization of Japan” in Jansen, Marius B., ed., Changing Japanese Attitudes Toward Modernization (Princeton, 1965), 7–41.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Dahrendorf, Ralf, Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society (Stanford, 1959)Google Scholar, especially Chapter V, subtitled “Integration and Values Versus Coercion and Interests—The Two Faces of Society,” pp. 157–205.

¹⁸ Dahrendorf, Ralf, “Out of Utopia: Toward a Reorientation of Sociological Analysis” The American Journal of Sociology, LXIV (september, 1958), 121–122.Google Scholar

¹⁹ On the shortcomings of the “attribute-checklist” technique of defining modernization see Bendix, Reinhardt “Tradition and Modernization Reconsidered,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, IX.3 (april, 1967), 311Google Scholar ff. Also Dore, R. P., op. cit., 4–5.Google Scholar

²⁰ Gouldner, Alvin W., “Anti-Minotaur: The Myth of a Value-Free Sociology” in Social Problems 9.3 (Winter, 1962), 199–213.Google Scholar

²¹ See Unger, Irwin “The ‘New Left’ and American History: Some Recent Trends in United States Historiography,” American Historical Review, LXXII.4 (july, 1967), 1237–1263Google Scholar. This is also the main burden of The Dissenting Academy, previously cited.