THE CHINA PROBLEM AS A «JAPAN PROBLEM»: TAKEUCHI YOSHIMI AND JAPAN’S POST-WAR DEBATE ON CHINA

This article explores the role of the sinologist and cultural critic Takeuchi Yoshimi (1910-1977) in the debate on China during the early aftermath of WWII. While other scholars have analysed Takeuchi’s «dissertation on China» (gendai Chūgokuron) in the post-war period by focusing on his problematisation of modernity, this essay argues that Takeuchi challenged the methodological postulates of post-war Japanese political thought not only because he proposed China as an alternative model to the West, but also because he called into question the prevalent representations of Japanese identity in the contemporary narratives of Sino-Japanese relations.