Nationalism in East Asia is often portrayed as a phenomenon unto
its own; something that waxes and wanes in isolation of top-down
political manipulation. While there is some truth to this, for
history is littered with examples of nationalist forces that
spontaneously spin out of control, this oversimplification
misses an important point in the East Asian context: outward
displays of nationalist rage are often the direct result of
domestic politics in China, South Korea, and Japan. Nationalist
angst in East Asia didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the
historical legacy of a long and bloody period that began with
the Qing dynasty’s fall as regional hegemon and ended with the
horrible atrocities perpetrated by Japanese troops during World
War II. And as recent events from anti-Japan protests in China
to the sudden rift between Seoul and Tokyo have shown: it’s not
just that these countries haven’t buried the hatchet; they’re
parading it through the streets in an open-top Cadillac. This of
course begs the question of