Changing Korean Perceptions of Japan on the Eve of Modern Transformation: The Case of Neo-Confucian Yangban Intellectuals

Before the modern period, Koreans tended to view Japan with a mixture of antipathy toward a ruthless invader and condescension toward a more peripheral member of their China-centered world. As that world began to change on the eve of the modern era, some reform-minded Korean intellectuals began to view Japan in a different light, seeing its heterodox Confucianism and its military culture as strengths rather than as marks of backwardness. By the eve of the colonial period, many looked to Japan as a model of how Koreans could adapt to the modern world without losing their national character.