China and Japan - a contemporary cross-cultural analysis

Abstract

Throughout the centuries, China and Japan have been creating histories, representations, discourses, and identities that sometimes intersected and sometimes drifted apart. This work is a reflection on culture and interculturality because it is related to the production and circulation of meanings (Hall, 1997:2), in an analysis of the identity and representation of China and Japan and also of the representations that these two countries have of each other. This analysis integrates facts ranging from World War I to the present day, making this study contemporary. Throughout my work, when I talk about representation, I refer to the way the world is socially constructed and represented by us and for us (Chris Barker 2000:8).