Europe at the Periphery of the Japanese World Order.

For conventional studies of the English School, Japan’s interactions with International Society takes place only after Perry knocked down Japan’s doors in 1853. Until this point, Japan’s relations with Europe are presumed to have taken place under conditions of an ‘international system’, with minimal rules and common norms to govern their relations. This paper undertakes a fresh examination of Tokugawa Japan’s interactions Europe to challenge this account. The Tokugawa shogunate’s attempts to legitimate its position as the rightful ruler of Japan led to attempts to monopolise the conduct of diplomatic relations, and resulted in the emergence of a Japan-centric international order modelled on the hierarchical Chinese international order. Under this order, the Europeans had to consent to the rules set to them by the Japanese rulers if they were to maintain their trading and political relations. Furthermore, they were relegated to the lowest rung of the social hierarchy, and reduced to performing an ‘exotic other’ which served to confirm Japanese identity as the centre of the cosmos. This paper presents an empirical challenge to existing accounts of European relations with the non-European world by examining a case where the Asian polity dominated and dictated the rules of interaction, thus demonstrating that different civilisations can indeed establish societal relations in the absence of a common culture or ‘standard of civilisation’. It will generate implications for emerging scholarship in the English School tradition which calls for greater homogeneity among different polities in order to advance the ‘good’ international life. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]