Abstract:
While extracted from Motoori Norinaga's Preface to Kojiki-den, the concept of "Unforgettable Other" (wasureenu tasha) is useful for explaining the nature and dynamics of nationalism on the level of historical memory. This talk introduces this concept as a case of creating a model to explain universal phenomenon from Japanese experience. I will also mention how my paper on nationalism was rejected by a journal to illustrate the difficulty when Japanese authors dare to publish their papers in academic journal of English speaking world.