Seeds of Conflict: Japan & China

Join us on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 1:30 pm in Durham 240 for a talk by Dr. Erin Brightwell, Associate Professor of Pre-modern Japanese Literature, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. 

Abstract

Why are Japan’s relations with its neighbors so complicated today? How did these conflicts get started? Japan’s role in East Asia today - from its claims to disputed territories to its acknowledgment of wartime atrocities - is a sensitive subject for many. However, this is in part due to a complicated history that dates back to even before there was a Japan as such. This talk highlights competing representations of China in medieval Japan and their modern legacies. In medieval Japan, China was imagined as a source of tradition, a hotbed of political intrigue, and scandal, and a site where Japan knew best. It will also consider how these medieval perspectives cast long shadows, extending into the ways Japan depicted China in the propaganda of the Second World War.

Sponsors

This event is sponsored by the Asia Center at ASU, and Northeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies through the support of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC).