Nationalism in Japan: A Fertile Ideological Field

In the 1980s and into the 1990s some Japanese came to believe that foreigners, either out of sheer ignorance or an irrational dislike of Japan, had it in for Japan. The “conspirators” were vaguely thought to be anyone not Japanese, though often Americans were singled out. This conspiracy was represented by one term which was invented by a Japan lobbyist: “Japan-bashing,” which became a media buzz word on both sides of the Pacific when criticism was leveled against what were regarded as predatory trade policies and practices which propelled Japan’s economy.