"Original Suprematism", Universality and a View of History: Studies on Walter Benjamin in Japan

Abstract

This article is based on the lecture I gave at the Ideaz-Institute (www.ideaz-institute.com) in Vienna on October 4, 2005. The subject of this meeting in Vienna was "Towards a Poly-Centric World", and I was requested to speak on "Walter Benjamin and Japan" from a cross-cultural point of view. In this lecture, I explained the reception and changes towards Walter Benjamin and his ideas in Japan since the 1970s. I also explained "Original Suprematism" and the principle, as well as the translations of his works, which have been considered to be humanities research in Japan. What must be stressed is the fact that Japanese philosophical reseachers think of philosophy as a universal science, so for them the view of cross-cultural content is not so important when they conduct their research. With this in consideration, one might soon recognize that one reason why W.Benjamin is so popular in Japan is because he himself had a strong tendency towards universality.