| The Quest for Civilization: Encounters with Dutch Jurisprudence, Political Economy, and Statistics at the Dawn of Modern Japan Contributor(s): Ōkubo (Author) |
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ISBN: 9004245367 ISBN-13: 9789004245365 Publisher: Brill OUR PRICE: $180.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: August 2014 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Asia - General - History | Middle East - General - Political Science | History & Theory - General |
| Dewey: 320.09 |
| LCCN: 2014020024 |
| Physical Information: 312 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian - Cultural Region - Middle East |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Quest for Civilization illuminates the origins of modern Japan through the lens of its cultural contact with the Netherlands providing a rare contribution to the field in English-language literature. Following the "opening" of the country in the 1850s, Japan encountered Western modernity through a quest for knowledge personified by Nishi Amane and Tsuda Mamichi, two young scholars who journeyed to Leiden in 1863 as the first Japanese sent to study in Europe. For two years they were tutored by Simon Vissering - one of the leading Dutch economists of the nineteenth century. Following their return home, their work as government officials and intellectuals played a key role in the introduction of the European social sciences, jurisprudence, and international law to Japan, thereby exerting a decisive influence on the establishment of the modern Japanese state and the redefinition of the international and cultural order in East Asia. |