Emma Luster
HIS 282
November 6, 2011

A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government

Nakae Chomin wrote A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government in 1887. It is a work of debate literature that presents us with multi-dimensional characters with very specific and indefinable beliefs about how Japan should be run. Nakae Chomin studied in France for some time and this certainly must have influenced his thoughts and writings. In our textbook, Modern East Asia, we learned about many different movements and developments that were going on at the time that this book was written. In terms of political developments, there were a lot of changes going on in Japan. Japanese officials sent forces into Taiwan, which eventually lead to the …show more content…

According to the Champion, war is inevitable and it should not be feared because it will leave Japanese citizens with a sense of pride and pleasure that they have accomplished something that is of great importance. In short, Champion thinks that weakness and passiveness is the problem and that Japan needs to not rely on other countries as much, and should take caution to create a system where Japan can stand on its own. To me, I think that Champion does seem to be realistic in his arguments because he knows that discussion and reasoning will not be effective once a violent attack has already been launched. However, I think that the degree to which militaristic views were pushed is slightly extreme and that Champion should realize that there is some validity to not being so outwardly aggressive. Next, we have the Gentleman, whose argument is the opposite of Champion’s. The Gentleman believes that as the Western world develops, Japan will quickly be left behind in the dark. To prevent this, he argues, Japan should try to keep up with the times and stay as modernized and Westernized as possible to reduce the risk of being left behind. This means that Japan should try to adopt a political system such as democracy, which in turn, attempts to promote pacifism over violence at all costs. Namely, that conflict with