The Road to Empire: Journeys to Europe and Far Eastern Asia by Natsume Soseki

'제국'으로 가는 길 - 나쓰메 소세키의 유럽과 아시아 여행

Is this a right way in politics that attitude of Japanese scholars to separate Natsume Soseki from the expansionism of pre-war Japan to protect 'sanctity'? Nowadays, most Japanese scholars are regarded to share the desire that minimize the memory of the behavior of Japanese Imperialism in East Asia, such as Korea, China, etc. Furthermore, 'the desire to minimize' inescapably concluded in avoidance, concealment, at last the temptation of deliberate misleading. Until now, the controversy about the Natsume Soseki's travel to Korea and Manchuria has repeated in defence and criticism surrounding the self-awareness and recognition of others of Natsume Soseki, making the expression in a record of Natsume's travel as the subject of study, for example, the degrading expression about Chosun people and scorn for Chinese and Russian. This paper will investigate that Natsume's travel is the political practice which is combined with the desire for the empire, focusing on the political context in the action of journey of Natsume and its contents other than the expression itself.