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The transfer & modification of two Western concepts -- freedom & (people's) rights -- in Chinese & Japanese political culture are investigated, with attention to general issues of political development & the modernization crisis. A relationist approach is proposed that identifies corresponding elements in Western & non-Western culture. Several ideological contradictions are also examined. Modified HA

DESPITE THE UBIQUITOUS PRESENCE OF JAPANESE CARS AND motorcycles in Europe and America, the products of Japan's social science have rarely been exported. In view of this, before dealing with the present state of political science in Japan, it would be better to begin with some explanation of its historical background.

Aus japanischer Sicht

An analysis of the Japanese penchant for adopting cultural patterns of other peoples, particularly Western peoples, & of the problems that occur in the absorption process. Japan obviously recognized the military & other advantages to be gained from imitating Western technology; but some Japanese believed there was something to be gained from Western value systems, including Christianity. However, Japanese converts to Christianity have remained few in number, possibly because of the faith's monotheistic character. Western liberalism became popular among Japanese intellectuals in the late nineteenth century, despite the conceptual problems it presented. Ideas popular after WWI, such as idealism & humanism, lost favor during the 1930s when Western culture generally was vilified. Following WWII Japan again began to borrow Western cultural & technological models. The Japanese tendency to compartmentalize ideas, however, hinders the incorporation of "isms" from other parts of the world into Japanese culture, resulting in pluralistic stagnation rather than international, or even interdisciplinary, communication & cooperation. D. Dunseath.