Japan and the World

Japan and the World

What exactly is 'Japanese' about Japan?

Christopher Harding's avatar
Christopher Harding
May 02, 2025
∙ Paid

I published this week’s post a few days early over at David Roman’s A History of Mankind substack. It was a response to a piece that David wrote about Chinese and Japanese culture.

You can read his original post here:

A History of Mankind
Quick Take: Why Western People Love Japanese Stuff & Despise Chinese Stuff
To subscribe, just click here; if you want paid access but the price is a little too steep for you right now, just email me (respond to this email) and we’ll sort something out…
Read more
a year ago · 221 likes · 70 comments

And then my response here:

A History of Mankind
Guest Post: What is Japanese About Japan?
(This is a guest post by Dr. Christopher Harding, a Senior Lecturer in Asian History at the University of Edinburgh. I encouraged Christopher to write this post after we had a chat about the issue of Western appreciation for Japanese and Chinese cultures, one that is very dear to me. Don’t hesitate to subscribe to Christopher’s Substack…
Read more
10 months ago · 47 likes · 8 comments · Christopher Harding

Enjoy!

Share

User's avatar

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Christopher Harding.

Or purchase a paid subscription.
© 2026 Christopher Harding · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture