TTLV: Japan's Perception of the Oceanic Powers in the 19th Century

MASTER'S THESIS INFORMATION

1. Student's full name:Nguyen Anh Vu

2. Gender: Male

3. Date of birth: October 25, 1980

4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Decision on recognition of students No. 2119/2011/QD-XHNV-SDH dated November 1, 2011 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in the training process:

(record the forms of change and the corresponding time)

7. Thesis topic name:Japan's Perception of the Oceanic Powers in the 19th Century

8. Major: Asian Studies Code: 60 31 06 01

9. Scientific instructor:Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Van Kim– University of Social Sciences and Humanities

10. Summary of thesis results:

The thesis focuses on clarifying the following points:

The first, although always closely connected with Asian society and receiving many sources and quintessential cultural values ​​from the flows of Eastern civilization, Japanese society has many differences compared to other Asian societies. Perhaps nowhere in Asian societies exists a feudal system and land ownership in the typical "Sovereign Lord - Regent" style like in Japan. As an Eastern country, the feudal political institution with decentralized nature throughout the 7 centuries of Japanese history can also be considered an unusual phenomenon. So what makes an Eastern country like Japan have so many similarities with the inherent characteristics of the West?

Monday, Japan in the modern period was also oppressed by Western powers like other Asian countries, but they were the first country to recognize that it was necessary to learn from the West and carried out this task very successfully. New cultural and ideological currents gave rise to new advanced economic foundations, creating momentum for Japan to make a leap forward, transforming itself from an agricultural economy to an industrial one in a miraculous way. So how did the Japanese perceive Western power, specifically the oceanic powers from the West, that led them to decide to learn the ways of capitalism?

Tuesday, although a very successful capitalist society, Japan is still an Asian country with a typical East Asian culture. Japan has had its own culture since ancient times and the Japanese character has been formed along the historical process in this cultural environment. Temporarily calling this the Japanese character, why did the Japanese character combined with Western knowledge bring such great success? We choose to solve the above problems to understand how the Japanese perceived the Western Oceanic powers in the 19th century.

11. Practical application: (if any)

12. Further research directions: (if any)

13. Published works related to the thesis:

INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS

1. Full name: Nguyen Anh Vu 2. Sex: Male

3. Date of birth: October 25, 1980 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Admission decision number: 2119/2011/QD-XHNV-SĐH Dated November 1, 2011

6. Changes in academic process:

(List the forms of change and corresponding times)

7. Official thesis title: The Conception of Japan about great marine-power nations in the 19th century

8. Major: Oriental Study 9. Code: 60 31 06 01

10. Supervisors: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Van Kim

11. Summary of the findings of the thesis:

The thesis concentrated on three points below:

First, although there is a very close relationship with many Asian societies and meet different original sources of oriented cultures but Japanese society also contains a lots of strange cultural phenomenon compared to other Asian ones, for example |Western-style land possession in Japan. What makes Japan social so different like that?

Second, in the modern times, both Japan and other Asian countries were under coercion by the Western but only Japan realized the fact that they have to learn from the Western and have done this with a great success. And it is one of the most important reasons that helped Japan make a great step forward, transforming to an industrialized country from an outdated agricultural one. What Japanese people think about the Western, especially the great marine power countries, to decide learning from them?

Thirdly, being a successful capitalized country but Japan is also an Asian society with its symbolic characteristics. Japan had its own culture from the beginning and the characters of the Japanese also formed independently along with historic time. If we call it Japanese character, so why this Japanese character and Western knowledge combined also broungt such a great success?

12. Practical applicability, if any:

13. Further research directions, if any:

14. Thesis-related publications: