About 1600 years ago, migrations from Japan to different parts of the Asian continent and vice versa became a really popular thing. Throughout history, countries did always encourage trading and communication between each other so that the economy would flourish. However, one thing the rulers of every country wanted to protect was the people’s culture and loyalty. If communication and interaction were to take place between 2 countries for the purpose of acquiring certain goods and services, the society is open to a mind attack as different societies would want to enforce certain ideas. These ideas might not keep the rulers satisfied as they would want to stay in control, or they want to keep their ideals alive. Because of that, trading between Japan and Asian countries near it went in a more stable way, in which people were allowed to exchange services, but their governments were keeping the ideals in place. So, how did communication between Japan, China, and Korea begin? And, what was it based on?
One main reason for people considering abandoning their homes and migrating to other areas is related to climatic factors. Poor living conditions force people out of their houses and into the wild to search for safety and peace. The quote: “Push factors are circumstances that encourage people to leave their homelands–for example, overcrowding, warfare, famine, or environmental degradation,” (Friday 91), illustrates how living conditions impact the frequency of migrations. People in the past did not choose to leave their homelands for adventure, as it was difficult to do so, but they were forced to because the simplest living conditions were not met. An example to support my claim is how Syrian people have been escaping from all those horrific conditions to come and seek great futures. As a Syrian myself, the migrational category seems understandable to me.
Of course, Japan also did travel to other countries, but they did seek to conquer and establish a strong background wherever they went. In the second phase of interaction between Japan and China, from the first to the fifth century, the Japanese established “tributary” relations in which the Japanese leaders played the role of political ambassadors and subordinates to the Chinese emperor. Those political figures got awarded with ancient golden gadgets that remain to this day, a symbol of culture.
In the end, interaction between nations is extremely important to try and establish peace and stability, but, great caution must always be taken to prevent certain dangerous ideals or political systems from spreading into great societies and tearing them apart from the inside.
References:
Batten, Bruce. “Early Japan and the Continent”.
In Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850, edited by Karl Friday.
New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.
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