Many people today have a unique perception of Japan, blurring the line between Asian and Western culture. Much of this strange culture can be traced to a lesser-known editorial called Datsu-A Ron, which found its way into a newspaper in 1885. The Datsu-A Ron was published anonymously, but it is widely believed that the author is Fukuzawa Yukichi. He argued that Japan should leave behind the Asian culture in which its neighbors, China and Korea, participated. It is questionable whether or not Japan made the right decision to westernize. I believe they made the right choice. The reasons lie not only in Japan's current situation, but also in its comparison with neighboring Asian countries. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay At the time of the publication of Datsu-A Ron, 1885, Japan viewed China and Korea in an interesting way. According to a translation by Kwok Dwight, the Datsu-A Ron says: "Chinese people are shameless people who do not understand humility and humility" and "Koreans are extremely atrocious when punishing their own people." Although it is never made clear what Fukuzawa meant by these statements, one thing is clear from Chinese history. A very common practice in China that was still in effect when Datsu-A Ron was released was foot binding. At a very young age, Chinese women began the binding process by breaking their toe bones. Wang Lifen, a victim of foot binding since the age of seven, said: “Because I bound my feet, I could handle them more gently until the bones were broken. Young bones are soft and break more easily. At that time, the act was considered a standard of beauty and "the only way a woman could marry into money," according to NPR. With such a cruel tradition still existing in China, it is no wonder that Japan wanted to leave them behind, even if they had not participated in the act themselves. Fukuzawa, fearing something like this would happen in China, said: "From the Westerners' point of view, they should judge and view us as they do China because of geographic proximity. » And while this question itself may seem like a big deal, Datsu-A Ron was the only one advocating leaving Asia for a while. Once Datsu-A Ron, there were many ways to interpret it. Assuming Kwok Dwight's translation is accurate enough, the wording seems almost intentionally vague. In Datsu-A Ron, the words "Shina" and "Chosen" are used instead of China and Korea. And although Datsu-A Ron constantly talks about these countries, he is not referring to the physical countries themselves, but rather what they represent. In his thesis, Kwok Dwight says that "'Shina' and 'Chosen' that Fukuzawa focuses on in Datsu-A cannot be referred to or linked to the geographical nature of these two names, but to their abstract representations. What we hear in this abstract representation is the culture of these countries. This can range from their food to their religion and even how they treat their people. As stated previously, the idea of ​​foot binding in China would certainly contribute to this abstract idea. Similar to this concept, a common interpretation of Datsu-A Ron was to join European imperialists to help colonize Asia. Regarding this issue, Japanese Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo said in a speech: "The path to independence and security of the=8966942