| Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Perception of the West and Japan in China Based on His Experience with Concessions All Over China |
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| Yuanchao SHAN |
| 崇城大学総合教育センター教授 |
芥川龍之介と中国における西洋 ․ 日本 |
Correspondence
Yuanchao SHAN ,Email: shan@ed.sojo-u.ac.jp
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Published online: 30 June 2019. |
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Copyright ©2019 The Global Institute for Japanese Studies, Korea University |
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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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| ABSTRACT |
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During his travels in China, Ryunosuke Akutagawa dedicated a great deal of attention to concessions across the country. Concessions in such places as Shanghai, Wuhan, Tianjin, Shenyang, and others left a deep impression on him. This paper explores Akutagawa’s perception of the concession as images of the West and of Japan in China and investigates the significance of his travels in China. It is concluded that Akutagawa’s view of the Western image in China was essentially negative, with his representation of this image primarily expressed through sarcasm. In his own words, it is “inappropriate”, that is, it is misplaced. Moreover, Akutagawa’s perceptions of Japanese concessions in China were equally negative. This attitude differed from that of most Japanese writers of the time. Akutagawa’s travels in China not only deepened his understanding of that nation, but also of the West and of Japan. In that sense, it can be said that his travels in China accelerated his understanding of the western world and his rediscovery of the Toyo. |
Keywords:
China Travel, Concession, Western, Inappropriate, Japan
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| キ―ワ―ド:
中国旅行, 租界, 西洋, 西洋, 場違い, 日本 |
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