Castaway of Thought: Takaaki Yoshimoto and the Turning Point of Japanese Knowledge (1970s)

Castaway of Thought: Takaaki Yoshimoto and the Turning Point of Japanese Knowledge (1970s)

Takaaki Yoshimoto (1924-2012) was one of Japan's leading postwar thinkers, offering unique perspectives on literature, politics, and society. 1970s saw the end of Japan's rapid economic growth and the decline of the student movement, and a new ideology was needed to adapt to social change. Yoshimoto's "Theory of Communal Illusion" emphasized the importance of individual "independence," regarding the state and society as "collective illusions of individuals. This position, while at odds with established leftists and liberal intellectuals, influenced many young people.

In the late 1970s, his interest shifted from political theory to cultural criticism, analyzing popular culture and the spiritual transformation of consumer society. Through the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Haruki Murakami, he deciphered the changing sensibilities of postwar Japan. Yoshimoto's ideas confronted the "consciousness of the masses" at a turning point in time, and with the end of the 1970s, they became the key to a deeper examination of Japanese thought and culture.