Beyond cultural nationalism: Murakami Haruki and an emergent Japanese cosmopolitan identity

This thesis explores the question of contemporary Japanese cultural identity.Pertaining to the position taken by Cultural Studies that identity is not an essentiallyfixed entity, it argues for the prospect of cosmopolitan identities as an alternativelyself-determined form of autonomous identity. The argument is supported by analysesof emerging cultural public spheres and the everyday cosmopolitanism the thesis findsin the work of contemporary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.It is my concern that the prevailing norm of Japanese cultural identity is diminished byits dependence on cultural nationalism. Japanese society in general is under theinfluence of such a popular discourse concerning ‘Japaneseness’ known as Nihonjinronwhich is imbued with the myth of “one nation, one people” as its central tenet. Thisthesis interrogates and critiques this discourse for its intrinsic ethnocentrism and itscapacity for facilitating the social exclusion of those who do not conform to it.The development of a cultural public sphere in Japan not only resists such culturalnationalism, but also indicates emergent everyday cosmopolitanism. The “HarukiMurakami phenomenon” is analysed at length by examining its contrasting domesticand international reception in order to demonstrate how its everyday cosmopolitanismcould help redefine the concept of Japaneseness. Instead of isolating Japan and itscultural identity, Murakami embodies the possibility of an alternative approach whichwould position Japan within the inter-connectedness celebrated in the cosmopolitanimaginary.The prospect for cosmopolitan identities is further explored through the examination ofrecent Korean diaspora writers in Japan and elsewhere. The diasporic status of Koreanwriters offer coherent example of struggles with belonging and identity for thosewithout nation. The cases of Murakami and the Korean diasporic writers represent acritical enquiry into multiple belongings and multiple identities that fulfil thecosmopolitan promise of the current globalisation process.The thesis concludes that there is an alternative approach to the redefining of Japanesecultural identity by establishing a broader perspective for belonging beyondconventional boundaries