Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
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Major
History/Japanese
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Prof. Yoko Hatakeyama
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
With the recent rise in discrimination against Asian-Americans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, historic incidents of anti-Asian racism and violence have entered the forefront of Asian Studies. Though many recent articles have pointed out the striking similarities between the Trump administration’s trade war with China and the Reagan-era trade war with Japan, considerably less effort has been dedicated to exploring its social implications; namely connections between spikes in anti-Asian sentiment among the working class, unfavorable media depictions of America’s economic rivals in Asia, and American politicians' use of derogatory and racist rhetoric against those rivals. My project analyzes the US-Japan trade friction of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the climate of “Japan Bashing” that it created, in hopes that the same mistakes can be avoided in the future. Through contemporary Japanese and American news sources, economic analyses, and historians’ interpretations I argue that American politicians, blue-collar workers, and media outlets created an extremely hostile anti-Japanese climate in the 1970s and 1980s as a way to lash out at Japan for its rapidly-growing economy. These Anti-Japanese sentiments were fueled by what some reactionary American academics called unfair economic policies on the part of Japan. The Japanese economists and newspapers of the era were occupied with refuting these claims and pointing out the dangerous consequences of Japan Bashing. This project sheds light on an aspect of the anti-Asian racism that has plagued the US for generations by closely examining a period of social and economic hostility that has been largely ignored since the Japanese economic recession of the 1990s.
Spring Scholars Week 2021 Event
GTL 400 Senior Colloquium
Economic Pressures and Anti-Japanese Sentiment in the US (1970-1993)
With the recent rise in discrimination against Asian-Americans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, historic incidents of anti-Asian racism and violence have entered the forefront of Asian Studies. Though many recent articles have pointed out the striking similarities between the Trump administration’s trade war with China and the Reagan-era trade war with Japan, considerably less effort has been dedicated to exploring its social implications; namely connections between spikes in anti-Asian sentiment among the working class, unfavorable media depictions of America’s economic rivals in Asia, and American politicians' use of derogatory and racist rhetoric against those rivals. My project analyzes the US-Japan trade friction of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the climate of “Japan Bashing” that it created, in hopes that the same mistakes can be avoided in the future. Through contemporary Japanese and American news sources, economic analyses, and historians’ interpretations I argue that American politicians, blue-collar workers, and media outlets created an extremely hostile anti-Japanese climate in the 1970s and 1980s as a way to lash out at Japan for its rapidly-growing economy. These Anti-Japanese sentiments were fueled by what some reactionary American academics called unfair economic policies on the part of Japan. The Japanese economists and newspapers of the era were occupied with refuting these claims and pointing out the dangerous consequences of Japan Bashing. This project sheds light on an aspect of the anti-Asian racism that has plagued the US for generations by closely examining a period of social and economic hostility that has been largely ignored since the Japanese economic recession of the 1990s.