Taku Tamaki
Biographic Data
| ID | 1667830 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Taku Tamaki |
| GIVEN NAMES | Taku |
| FAMILY NAME | Tamaki |
| SIGNATURE | TAMAKI T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Loughborough University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0293-8321 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Towards an ontology of space for international relations
What would an ontology of space suitable for International Relations (IR) look like? While the primary focus of contemporary IR thinking on space is devoted to the discursive construction of space, there is less attention to its physical dimensions. This paper prioritizes both dimensions by invoking the ideas of a Japanese philosopher, Watsuji Tetsurō. By reframing international political dynamics into Watsuji’s aidagara (‘inter-relations’), we c…
The Indo-Pacific as Japan’s emotional space
Space as a concept remains subdued in the discussions of emotions in International Relations (IR). The geographical space within which Japan is located plays a crucial role in the emergence and elaboration of emotions in Japan’s foreign relations. How, then, can we incorporate space back into the considerations of emotions in Japan’s foreign relations? A Japanese philosopher, Watsuji Tetsurō, provides us with a valuable theoretical tool. Watsuji’…
The agent, the structure, and space in Japan's foreign relations
This article leverages Watsuji Tetsurō's idea of aidagara – “inter-relationships” – to better appreciate the interpenetration of space and relationships in Japanese foreign policy narratives. I set Watsuji's philosophical framework against Japanese foreign policy narratives referring to various spaces as a case study to emphasizing the interplay of space and relationships in Japanese diplomatic efforts. On the one hand, we see the Japanese govern…
Railways as Japanese identity
Does railway technology represent Japanese national identity? This paper focuses on the narratives indicating railway technology as a form of Japanese national identity representation. Using Japanese government pronouncements and interviews given by people involved in the Japanese railway supply industry appearing in Japanese vernaculars, I show that railway technology constitutes an integral component of the contemporary Japanese identity narrat…
Rekishi-ninshiki wa dō katararete kita ka (The Development of Historical Disputes
It takes two to Tango
Why do Japan–South Korea relations remain tense despite repeated efforts to overcome the past? Elite narratives in Japan and South Korea reify the bilateral relationship as a difficult problem. For the Japanese policy elites, the difficulty is due to South Korean unwillingness to embrace a future-oriented relationship; whereas for the South Korean policy elites, the source of the problem is the unwillingness of the Japanese to sincerely address p…
The Olympics and Japanese national identity
How are Japanese identity narratives constructed in the Tokyo 2016 campaign and the Tokyo 2020 bid and organisation? The earlier narratives of Tokyo 1940 and 1964 bids entailed invoking Western Otherness to emphasise Japan’s Asian affinity while simultaneously emphasising Japan’s un-Asian characteristics, effectively employing dual Otherness to tell the story of Japanese Self. Tokyo’s position as a global city today means that Japanese Self is no…
Repackaging national identity
Cool Japan' is an instance of Japanese government's nation branding exercise as part of its soft power projection in which the unique selling point is identified as Japanese national identity. In this paper, I examine the relationship between Cool Japan and Japanese national identity and highlight a tension in the construction. Cool Japan is about emphasizing Japan's attractiveness for public diplomacy, while the top-down nature of the branding u…
International relations and identity
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Global Discourse on 16 Mar 2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2015.1023584
The persistence of reified Asia as reality in Japanese foreign policy narratives
Asia is narrated in Japanese foreign policy pronouncements as an opportunity as well as a threat. Despite the purported transformation from militarism to pacifism since August 1945, the reified images of Asia as an ‘entity out there’ remain resilient. The image of a dangerous Asia prompted Japan to engage in its programme of colonialism before the War and compels policy makers to address territorial disputes with Asian neighbours today. Simultane…
Recasting ‘Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula’ as a Sino-American Language for Co-ordination
A series of Six-Party Talks involving the United States, China, Japan, South and North Korea, and Russia resulted in the emergence of a narrative of a ‘nuclear-free Korean Peninsula’. Given the prevalence of nuclear weapons amidst Sino-American rivalry, the area is hardly ‘nuclear-free’. Instead, the phrase has evolved into a common signifier for the US and China, suggesting that, despite their rivalries, the North Korean nuclear issue can be det…
Surrounding Areas’ and The Recalibration of Japan’s Threat Perception
Conclusion
T he difficulties faced by Japanese policy makers in their relationship with their counterparts in Seoul are a social construct. They are a product of historical interactions between the two nations involving exchange of ideas among the policy elites and business community, not to mention cultural exchanges at subnational levels over the centuries. The memories of colonialism in both Japan and South Korea add to what has turned into an incendiary…
Identity Representation and Intersubjectivity
Aperusal of identity debate within international relations (IR) suggests that both the constructivists and poststructuralists share similarities despite their antagonisms, reluctant in addressing the possibility of an enduring identity informing a government’s worldview at any given time and space. This lack is particularly acute when exploring the politics of memory in Northeast Asia, for instance. This chapter expounds on the possibility of ana…
Identity Theorizing in International Relations Theories
C ollective identity provides policy elites with a shared worldview through which the international environment is collectively interpreted; and this, in turn, presents them with a set of images that define viable actions. Japanese government’s reproduction of Korean otherness is no exception. The tenor of bilateral relations is partly a product of Japanese policy establishment sharing a particular, reified, image of Korea nurtured throughout the…
The Politics of Future in Bilateral Summitry
T he previous chapter explored the reproduction of Japanese self and Korean otherness through the politics of memory. The textbook controversies; the waffling over comfort women; and the 1995 Diet Resolution, were all utilized to narrate the Past as one ineluctable facet of bilateral relations that cannot be wished away, but instead, returns to haunt generations of policy elites in Tokyo. The Past is an integral part of Japan-South Korea bilatera…
The Politics of Memory
J apanese identity narratives and the associated Asia imaginary legitimized colonial policies in which the implied hierarchy of kokutai whittled away Korean sovereignty from 1875 onward. Even when the “colonial” relationship ceased in August 1945, the anti-Korean sentiments during the Allied occupation (1945–1952), as well as the exchange of invectives during normalization negotiations reproduced the familiar hierarchy: the Japanese self “forced”…
Japan-(South) Korea Relations in Historical Context
T he history of Japan-(South) Korea relations from the early 1870s into the late 1980s is also a history in which the common “lens” shared within the Japanese policy circle was reified into a social context. 1 Japan’s condescending image of Korean otherness is a temporal construct, but the consistency in the way it is reproduced today suggests that Japanese elites continue to represent Korea (and the Koreans) as less than an equal, if not subordi…
Contemporary Japanese Identity Narratives
H aving made the case for taking enduring identities seriously, I now apply this model to Japan’s Asian experience since its socialization into the international system in the late-nineteenth century. This chapter explores changes and continuity in contemporary Japanese identity since the Meiji Restoration to cast Japan’s present day Korean imaginary within a historical context: Japan’s current attitudes toward South Korea are precisely the elabo…
The Political Economy of Identity
H aving explored the Past and Future as two narrative modes in Tokyo’s diplomatic relations with South Korea, I now turn to the narrative reconstruction of Korean otherness within economic relations. The aim of this chapter is not to regurgitate trade figures; but rather, to trace how the image of Korean Backwardness is reified through various economic narratives, including those from within the business community. Trade is not only a vital sourc…
Deconstructing Japan's Image of South Korea
An Unholy Pilgrimage? Yasukuni and the Construction of Japan's Asia Imaginary
Why are Japanese policymakers intent on visiting Yasukuni Shrine, and why do they continue to hold China and South Korea solely responsible for the “politics of memory” in diplomatic relations? It is easy—and perhaps misleading—to suggest that Japan does not care about China or South Korea, and also to argue that Japan's memory of World War II is one of “glory” rather than “aggression.” Instead, I posit the idea that Japan's memory of the war is,…
Confusing Confucius in Asian Values? A Constructivist Critique
It is tempting to interpret Confucius as a Realist who believes in coercion as a means of achieving good governance. Parallels can readily be drawn between him and Machiavelli, with ren fusing with virtú to represent Confucius as obsessed with power and authority. Southeast Asian leaders compound the problem by misappropriating the Sage to justify their intolerance for dissent within the `Asian values' discourse. This article seeks to reveal a gl…
Deconstructing Japan's Image of South Korea
The persistence of reified Asia as reality in Japanese foreign policy narratives
Asia is narrated in Japanese foreign policy pronouncements as an opportunity as well as a threat. Despite the purported transformation from militarism to pacifism since August 1945, the reified images of Asia as an ‘entity out there’ remain resilient. The image of a dangerous Asia prompted Japan to engage in its programme of colonialism before the War and compels policy makers to address territorial disputes with Asian neighbours today. Simultane…
It takes two to Tango
Why do Japan–South Korea relations remain tense despite repeated efforts to overcome the past? Elite narratives in Japan and South Korea reify the bilateral relationship as a difficult problem. For the Japanese policy elites, the difficulty is due to South Korean unwillingness to embrace a future-oriented relationship; whereas for the South Korean policy elites, the source of the problem is the unwillingness of the Japanese to sincerely address p…
The Olympics and Japanese national identity
How are Japanese identity narratives constructed in the Tokyo 2016 campaign and the Tokyo 2020 bid and organisation? The earlier narratives of Tokyo 1940 and 1964 bids entailed invoking Western Otherness to emphasise Japan’s Asian affinity while simultaneously emphasising Japan’s un-Asian characteristics, effectively employing dual Otherness to tell the story of Japanese Self. Tokyo’s position as a global city today means that Japanese Self is no…
Repackaging national identity
Cool Japan' is an instance of Japanese government's nation branding exercise as part of its soft power projection in which the unique selling point is identified as Japanese national identity. In this paper, I examine the relationship between Cool Japan and Japanese national identity and highlight a tension in the construction. Cool Japan is about emphasizing Japan's attractiveness for public diplomacy, while the top-down nature of the branding u…
An Unholy Pilgrimage? Yasukuni and the Construction of Japan's Asia Imaginary
Why are Japanese policymakers intent on visiting Yasukuni Shrine, and why do they continue to hold China and South Korea solely responsible for the “politics of memory” in diplomatic relations? It is easy—and perhaps misleading—to suggest that Japan does not care about China or South Korea, and also to argue that Japan's memory of World War II is one of “glory” rather than “aggression.” Instead, I posit the idea that Japan's memory of the war is,…
Confusing Confucius in Asian Values? A Constructivist Critique
It is tempting to interpret Confucius as a Realist who believes in coercion as a means of achieving good governance. Parallels can readily be drawn between him and Machiavelli, with ren fusing with virtú to represent Confucius as obsessed with power and authority. Southeast Asian leaders compound the problem by misappropriating the Sage to justify their intolerance for dissent within the `Asian values' discourse. This article seeks to reveal a gl…
An Unholy Pilgrimage? Yasukuni and the Construction of Japan's Asia Imaginary
Why are Japanese policymakers intent on visiting Yasukuni Shrine, and why do they continue to hold China and South Korea solely responsible for the “politics of memory” in diplomatic relations? It is easy—and perhaps misleading—to suggest that Japan does not care about China or South Korea, and also to argue that Japan's memory of World War II is one of “glory” rather than “aggression.” Instead, I posit the idea that Japan's memory of the war is,…
Conclusion
T he difficulties faced by Japanese policy makers in their relationship with their counterparts in Seoul are a social construct. They are a product of historical interactions between the two nations involving exchange of ideas among the policy elites and business community, not to mention cultural exchanges at subnational levels over the centuries. The memories of colonialism in both Japan and South Korea add to what has turned into an incendiary…
Identity Representation and Intersubjectivity
Aperusal of identity debate within international relations (IR) suggests that both the constructivists and poststructuralists share similarities despite their antagonisms, reluctant in addressing the possibility of an enduring identity informing a government’s worldview at any given time and space. This lack is particularly acute when exploring the politics of memory in Northeast Asia, for instance. This chapter expounds on the possibility of ana…
Identity Theorizing in International Relations Theories
C ollective identity provides policy elites with a shared worldview through which the international environment is collectively interpreted; and this, in turn, presents them with a set of images that define viable actions. Japanese government’s reproduction of Korean otherness is no exception. The tenor of bilateral relations is partly a product of Japanese policy establishment sharing a particular, reified, image of Korea nurtured throughout the…
The Politics of Future in Bilateral Summitry
T he previous chapter explored the reproduction of Japanese self and Korean otherness through the politics of memory. The textbook controversies; the waffling over comfort women; and the 1995 Diet Resolution, were all utilized to narrate the Past as one ineluctable facet of bilateral relations that cannot be wished away, but instead, returns to haunt generations of policy elites in Tokyo. The Past is an integral part of Japan-South Korea bilatera…
The Politics of Memory
J apanese identity narratives and the associated Asia imaginary legitimized colonial policies in which the implied hierarchy of kokutai whittled away Korean sovereignty from 1875 onward. Even when the “colonial” relationship ceased in August 1945, the anti-Korean sentiments during the Allied occupation (1945–1952), as well as the exchange of invectives during normalization negotiations reproduced the familiar hierarchy: the Japanese self “forced”…
Japan-(South) Korea Relations in Historical Context
T he history of Japan-(South) Korea relations from the early 1870s into the late 1980s is also a history in which the common “lens” shared within the Japanese policy circle was reified into a social context. 1 Japan’s condescending image of Korean otherness is a temporal construct, but the consistency in the way it is reproduced today suggests that Japanese elites continue to represent Korea (and the Koreans) as less than an equal, if not subordi…
Contemporary Japanese Identity Narratives
H aving made the case for taking enduring identities seriously, I now apply this model to Japan’s Asian experience since its socialization into the international system in the late-nineteenth century. This chapter explores changes and continuity in contemporary Japanese identity since the Meiji Restoration to cast Japan’s present day Korean imaginary within a historical context: Japan’s current attitudes toward South Korea are precisely the elabo…
The Political Economy of Identity
H aving explored the Past and Future as two narrative modes in Tokyo’s diplomatic relations with South Korea, I now turn to the narrative reconstruction of Korean otherness within economic relations. The aim of this chapter is not to regurgitate trade figures; but rather, to trace how the image of Korean Backwardness is reified through various economic narratives, including those from within the business community. Trade is not only a vital sourc…
Deconstructing Japan's Image of South Korea
Surrounding Areas’ and The Recalibration of Japan’s Threat Perception
Recasting ‘Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula’ as a Sino-American Language for Co-ordination
A series of Six-Party Talks involving the United States, China, Japan, South and North Korea, and Russia resulted in the emergence of a narrative of a ‘nuclear-free Korean Peninsula’. Given the prevalence of nuclear weapons amidst Sino-American rivalry, the area is hardly ‘nuclear-free’. Instead, the phrase has evolved into a common signifier for the US and China, suggesting that, despite their rivalries, the North Korean nuclear issue can be det…
The persistence of reified Asia as reality in Japanese foreign policy narratives
Asia is narrated in Japanese foreign policy pronouncements as an opportunity as well as a threat. Despite the purported transformation from militarism to pacifism since August 1945, the reified images of Asia as an ‘entity out there’ remain resilient. The image of a dangerous Asia prompted Japan to engage in its programme of colonialism before the War and compels policy makers to address territorial disputes with Asian neighbours today. Simultane…
International relations and identity
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Global Discourse on 16 Mar 2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2015.1023584
The Olympics and Japanese national identity
How are Japanese identity narratives constructed in the Tokyo 2016 campaign and the Tokyo 2020 bid and organisation? The earlier narratives of Tokyo 1940 and 1964 bids entailed invoking Western Otherness to emphasise Japan’s Asian affinity while simultaneously emphasising Japan’s un-Asian characteristics, effectively employing dual Otherness to tell the story of Japanese Self. Tokyo’s position as a global city today means that Japanese Self is no…
Repackaging national identity
Cool Japan' is an instance of Japanese government's nation branding exercise as part of its soft power projection in which the unique selling point is identified as Japanese national identity. In this paper, I examine the relationship between Cool Japan and Japanese national identity and highlight a tension in the construction. Cool Japan is about emphasizing Japan's attractiveness for public diplomacy, while the top-down nature of the branding u…
It takes two to Tango
Why do Japan–South Korea relations remain tense despite repeated efforts to overcome the past? Elite narratives in Japan and South Korea reify the bilateral relationship as a difficult problem. For the Japanese policy elites, the difficulty is due to South Korean unwillingness to embrace a future-oriented relationship; whereas for the South Korean policy elites, the source of the problem is the unwillingness of the Japanese to sincerely address p…
Rekishi-ninshiki wa dō katararete kita ka (The Development of Historical Disputes
Railways as Japanese identity
Does railway technology represent Japanese national identity? This paper focuses on the narratives indicating railway technology as a form of Japanese national identity representation. Using Japanese government pronouncements and interviews given by people involved in the Japanese railway supply industry appearing in Japanese vernaculars, I show that railway technology constitutes an integral component of the contemporary Japanese identity narrat…
The agent, the structure, and space in Japan's foreign relations
This article leverages Watsuji Tetsurō's idea of aidagara – “inter-relationships” – to better appreciate the interpenetration of space and relationships in Japanese foreign policy narratives. I set Watsuji's philosophical framework against Japanese foreign policy narratives referring to various spaces as a case study to emphasizing the interplay of space and relationships in Japanese diplomatic efforts. On the one hand, we see the Japanese govern…
Towards an ontology of space for international relations
What would an ontology of space suitable for International Relations (IR) look like? While the primary focus of contemporary IR thinking on space is devoted to the discursive construction of space, there is less attention to its physical dimensions. This paper prioritizes both dimensions by invoking the ideas of a Japanese philosopher, Watsuji Tetsurō. By reframing international political dynamics into Watsuji’s aidagara (‘inter-relations’), we c…
The Indo-Pacific as Japan’s emotional space
Space as a concept remains subdued in the discussions of emotions in International Relations (IR). The geographical space within which Japan is located plays a crucial role in the emergence and elaboration of emotions in Japan’s foreign relations. How, then, can we incorporate space back into the considerations of emotions in Japan’s foreign relations? A Japanese philosopher, Watsuji Tetsurō, provides us with a valuable theoretical tool. Watsuji’…
Political science (21 works) · Law (17 works) · Japanese History and Culture (15 works) · Politics (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Narrative (13 works) · Socioeconomic Development in Asia (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Gender Studies (7 works)