Japan, like much of Asia, suffered invasions by Western powers during the 19th century. It completely abolished unequal treaties signed with Western powers through the Meiji Restoration of 1868, however, successfully avoiding becoming a Western colony or semi-colony.

Diverse political and social thoughts gradually formed in Japan from the second half of the 19th century. Many of these thoughts centered on how Japan should deal with complex international relations of the time. Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), modern Japan’s most renowned enlightenment ideologist and educator, was the main proponent of the idea to “depart Asia and embrace Europe” that emerged in the second half of 19th century and greatly influenced Japan.

‘West vs. Asia’ thought pattern

After the Meiji Restoration, various Western thoughts and theories flooded Japan amid its great social transformation. Fukuzawa promoted his own theory of civilization based on thoughts of French historian F.P.G. Guizot (1787-1874) and English historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-62). Theories of “History of Civilization” and “Eurocentrism” shaped Fukuzawa’s lifelong thinking.

The formation of Fukuzawa’s theory of civilization was closely related to his three visits to Western countries before the Meiji Restoration. These visits gave him the opportunity to know about the real conditions of Western countries. He was deeply impressed by Western development and prosperity.

Meanwhile, the decline of Asian traditional civilization, especially the harsh reality that China was being partially colonized by Western powers, greatly aroused Fukuzawa’s sense of crisis. He gradually formed his own concepts about the civilization, development and progress of society.

In his work Pocket Almanac of the World (1869), Fukuzawa first proposed the theory of four stages of civilization development, namely chaos, barbarism, semi-civilization and civilization. Fukuzawa believed that Western countries, such as the US, UK, France and Germany, had reached peak civilization while Asian countries, such as China, Turkey and Iran, were still uncivilized.

He later narrowed the “theory of four stages” to the “theory of three stages” in his book An Outline of a Theory of Civilization (1875). The three stages were barbarism, semi-civilization and civilization. Fukuzawa viewed Asian countries, such as China and Japan, as half-civilized societies, believing that the West represented the peak of civilization in the modern world.

Fukuzawa accepted theories about civilization proposed by Guizot and Buckle, using the West as the sole criterion in his concept of civilization and related theories. He analyzed the modernization of Japan and Asian countries through the mindset of “civilization and non-civilization,” whereby the West represented civilization and Asia represented barbarism.

Fukuzawa pitted the West against Asia. This not only revealed his limitations in history, but also laid a foundation for his 1885 essay “Escape from Asia.”

Western adoration coupled with the Qing government’s failure in the Opium Wars (1839-42; 1856-1860) led the image of China as a “celestial power” to fade among the Japanese. Advanced intellectuals gradually formed new views on international relations, including Fukuzawa’s “Escape from Asia.”

As Asian countries increasingly became colonized by the West, Fukuzawa set state independence as a basic principle in Japan’s road to civilization. Despite stressing independence, he didn’t show any sympathy to the Chinese people who deeply suffered from opium.

On the contrary, he sided with aggressors in the Opium Wars and even attacked Qing court official Lin Zexu’s (1785-1850) moral stand in banning opium smoking. Fukuzawa’s contempt for Asia and China revealed from his thoughts and works actually condoned Western powers’ colonial aggression.

Fleeing Confucianism and Asia

In his theory of civilization,” Fukuzawa strived to expose and criticize the spirit of China’s traditional civilization and Confucian culture from the perspective of the evolution and development of society and through the comparison of China and Japan’s traditional civilizations.

Fukuzawa included Chinese history and civilization in his criticism of Confucian culture, even indicating his contempt and denial for Asian and Oriental civilization. This stance and attitude became the logic of his work "Escape from Asia" and his idea for Japan to “depart Asia and embrace Europe.”

Fukuzawa advised the Japanese to break away from Confucian culture and its ideology in a bid to form an “independent spirit.” Fukuzawa held that escaping Confucian culture, which was symbolic of barbarism, meant escaping Asian civilization. He believed that lingering disadvantages of Japanese society were directly linked to traditional Chinese civilization and Confucian culture, further contending that Chinese feudal society was the prototype of Japanese feudal society. China became the hostile nation in his "Theory of Toyo Political Strategy" while he refuted Confucian culture.

‘Escape from Asia’

Modern Japan’s push to “depart Asia and embrace Europe” didn’t start with Fukuzawa. In 1871, the Meiji government dispatched a mission led by Minister of the Right Iwakura Tomomi (1825-83) to inspect Western countries. Upon their return to Japan, they submitted a report to the government regarded as the prototype of the idea to “depart Asia and embrace Europe.”

In 1879, Inoue Kaoru (1836-1915) voiced a series of opinions advocating the idea to “depart Asia and embrace Europe” upon becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the 1880s, Fukuzawa gradually formed "Theory of Toyo Political Strategy" and published "Escape from Asia," which marked the formal release of the idea to “depart Asia and embrace Europe.”

Fukuzawa published his essay "Escape from Asia" in March 1885. It repeated values in the theories of “History of Civilization” and “Eurocentrism,” and further expressed contempt for Asia and China, the mentality which Fukuzawa had owned early at the beginning of the Meiji period.

Two points in the essay are particularly worthy of attention. First, Fukuzawa refers to China and Korea as “bad friends in the East” for the first time and explicitly suggests Japan break away from the two countries as part of its “de-Asianization.” Second, Fukuzawa spares no effort advocating Japan join Western powers and participate in colonial wars to carve up Asia and China, further guiding Japan to the path of aggression.

The outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) eventually brought to fruition the idea of invasion outlined in "Escape from Asia."

In general, the "Escape from Asia" doctrine and idea to “depart Asia and embrace Europe” laid ideological roots for Japan taking its path of imperialism and militarism that led to aggressive wars against Asian countries.

The author is a professor at the School of Education of Zhejiang University.

Translated by Yu Hui

Revised by Tom Fearon