according to which grammar determines world-view. Japanese psychology, influenced by the language, is defined by a particular cast of that conduce to a unique form of , in which clearly defined boundaries between self and other are ambiguous or fluid, leading to a psychomental and social ideal of the . Japanese social structures consistently remould human associations in terms of an archaic characterized by , , and . As a result, the cannot properly exist, since will always prevail. As cultural nationalism Scholars such as Peter N. Dale (1986), Harumi Befu (1987), and Kosaku Yoshino (1992) view nihonjinron more critically, identifying it as a tool for enforcing social and political conformity. Dale, for example, characterizes nihonjinron as follows: The emphasis on ingroup unity in nihonjinron writings, and its popularization during Japan's period of military expansion at the turn of the 20th century, has led many Western critics to brand it a form of ethnocentric nationalism. Karel van Wolferen echoes this assessment, noting that: Overview of Arguments Mainly from a research historical perspective Western society first learned about Japanese culture during the first encounter between the West and Japan, in 1543 during the Sengoku era, when Portuguese drifted to Tanegashima and introduced guns to the island. Eventually, Francis Xavier arrived in Japan, and his fellow Missionaries of the Jesuits wrote Treatise of Luís Fróis, S.J. (1585) on the contrast of the morals between Europe and Japan, History of Japan, and Alessandro Valignano's Tour of Japan Valignano. However, the reports were long buried due to the interruption of the Tokugawa shogunate's sakoku policy, and it was only during the long Edo period that the Modernization of Western society took a renewed interest in Japan's civilized society, Edo period and the opening of Japan to the outside world at the end of the 19th century. The rapid modernization of Japanese society after the Meiji Restoration led to increased attention for Japan as the first Asian and Colored country to achieve modernization. Early Western studies of Japan were tinged with the same kind of exoticism and Orientalism as interest in other Oriental societies. However, the many accounts written by Western travellers and observers after the opening of Japan to the outside world reported similarities between the social structure of Japan and that of the West, and as Japan emerged as a military power, there was an increasing tendency to see Japan as similar to