Portrait of the Intellectual as an American

When the Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira declared in his speech of January 25, 1979, before the Diet somewhat comparable to the State of Union speech of the American President that "the age of economy" was almost over and we were on the threshold of "the age of culture," his historical judgment sounded a little premature because he was already faced with a very tough situation in Japanese-American economic relations. Nevertheless, he managed to appeal to a sizable body of Japanese intellectuals who consider themselves future-oriented, transcending the immediate worries of their nation. And the emphasis on culture, although in a different sense of the term, happens to be in fashion among historians of American diplomacy as was reflected in the presidential address by Akira Iriye at the luncheon meeting of the Society of the Historians of American Foreign Relations. Japan may or may not be entering the age of culture, but it is certain that the awareness of the importance of cultural relations between Japan and the United States will become stronger, and a vast area of research will be opened to cultural historians of both countries. The influence of America and American intellectuals upon Japanese intellectuals will be a