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Paper short abstract:

This presentation examines the interaction between the Korean reform movement and proponents of the Japanese Enlightenment movement such as Fukuzawa Yukichi . It aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of Japanese liberal's relationship with Asia during the 1880s and 1890s.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation examines the interaction of members of the Korean reform movement and the proponents of the Japanese Enlightenment such as Fukuzawa Yukichi during the 1880s and 1890s and its impact on its relationship with Asia. Based on an analysis of contemporary Japanese journals including Jiji Shinpō, Shichi ichi zappō, and others, I argue that Japan, particularly Tōkyō, was a hub for the exchange of modern knowledge and ideas about "civilization and enlightenment," and offered alternative pathways for these exchanges. The encounter, which occurred within the context of a worldwide Enlightenment movement, therefore, bore high significance for both countries. Korean reformers, seeking answers to new challenges in a rapidly changing and globally interconnected world, initially looked to Japan as a role model for successful modernization in Asia. The exchange of students and ideas between Japan and Korea had crucial repercussions on Korea's internal development, with former exchange students assuming influential roles in a failed coup d'état and the implementation of reforms upon their return to Korea. The Japanese capital served as an initial starting point for further encounters and opportunities for Korean reformers, including early encounters with Japanese and Western Protestants and Chinese diplomats, which in some cases, created the opportunity for further study abroad in the United States.

While the relationship between Japan and Korea during the Meiji period was characterized by increasingly asymmetrical power dynamics, the interactions between Japanese and Korean reformers at the same time helped to shape Japanese discourse on the "Korean question," which was a recurring issue in Japan's foreign policy discourse following the Meiji Renovation. While the general perception of Korea among the Japanese public became increasingly negative, exploring the interactions on the individual level with Koreans and Japanese provides a more nuanced understanding. In the early 1880s and again in the mid-1890s, Korean students were seen as potential agents of reform in Korea and a means of decoupling the country from Chinese influence to the benefit of Japan by enlightenment activists and liberals like Fukuzawa despite arguing in favor of "leaving Asia".