hani 1

Ummay Hani Nisar

Ms. Zain ul Maqsood

Science Fiction and Fantasy

2 July 2023

Japanese and Asian Science Fiction

Warming Up with the Science Fictional “Asia”

Science fiction is an offshoot of Western modernization, and it is crucial while taking

into account the originality and legitimacy of Asian science fiction. Something Asian can be

objectified within Asia itself, but it is essential to construct a self-reflexive strategy for narrating

"Asia" as well as science fiction.

In 2002, Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt and Gavin Menzies' 1421: The

Year China Discovered America were published, both were inspired from Louis Levathes's

When China Ruled the Sea (1994) and explored the way China achieves world hegemony and

discovers the New World. These works were influenced by the post-9/11 cultural milieu,

containing an epigraph from Chinese classic science fiction Journey to the West being

particularly striking.

Historically, while Japan has failed in space aeronautics projects and only boasts of

anime arts and technology, China has rapidly modernized itself, leading to the success of the first

Chinese-manned space mission in 2003. In this year, on October 15, Astronaut Yang Liwei

became an instant celebrity and the news of China's space program revealed more details.

In retrospect, the masterpiece SF Saiyuki by Japanese SF writer Eisuke Ishikawa and

Native American writer Gerald Vizenor's Fugitive Poses: Native American Scenes of Absence

and Presence (1998) deeply imbibed the spirit of Journey to the West, constructing its own

"post-Indian" narratology. Robinson pays homage to Journey to the West, developing the Eastern
 hani 2

idea of temporality and focusing on the cyclical and mythic structure of time over the linear and

historical one.

The recent Anglo-American view of the yellow races will paradoxically help reconstruct

the idea as well as the history of Japanese and Asian science fiction. Science fiction emerged as a

literary subgenre as the imperative of modernization accelerated the progress of capitalism.

Fredric Jameson's famous periodization was inspired by Ernest Mandel's Late Capitalism, which

outlined three fundamental breaks or quantum leaps in the evolution of machinery under capital.

Science fiction has evolved from Western modernization and is influenced by the cyclical and

mythic structure of time. Anglo-American writers attempt to create a different picture of the

world from their Orientalist perspective and in contrast to this, Japanese and Asian science

fiction learns much from Western modernization and recreates the tradition of science fiction

from their Orientalist viewpoint.

With Western science fiction frequently equating escapism and fascism, science fiction

has been an important predictor of modernity. But following the Second World War, Japanese

science fiction underwent a fundamental restructuring that changed it from a linear development

for modernity to a sensibility of "creative masochism." Famous Japanese science fiction

characters like Godzilla, Astro Boy, and Nausicaa, who were created after Japanese empire was

defeated and postwar democracy was established, are examples of this sensibility.

In his reflection on the influence of American science fiction on Japan, Sakyo Komatsu,

a pioneer of postwar Japanese science fiction, claims that his generation yearned to write about

civilization and civilization. It is essential to remember that the culture and tradition of Japanese

science fiction have formed over several generations, allowing for the creation of these popular

works.
 hani 3

Japanese science fiction began in the early Meiji Era, with translations of Western works

like Verne's Le Tour Du Monde En Quatre-vingts Jours. Japanese pre-science fictional writers

began predicting the future in political fictions, coinciding with Edward Bellamy's Looking

Backward novel. Yukio Ozaki's concept of "Kagaku Shosetu" was introduced in Secchubai by

Suehiro Teccho. The mid-Meiji era saw the first science fiction controversy, with journalist

Ryukei Yano publishing Ukishiro Monogatari in 1890. The novel, which was controversial from

a postcolonialist viewpoint, gained popularity and sparked controversy.

Shunro Oshikawa, the “grandfather of Japanese science fiction," published Kaitei

Gunkan in 1900, a future-war novel about a conflict between Japan and Russia. Oshikawa

continued his critique of imperialism in his subsequent works.

H.G. Wells' heyday coincided with the rise of Meiji literature, marking the first wave of

Japanese modern writings. Mainstream fiction writers, such as Fuboku Kosakai, incorporated

science fiction ideas into their works, such as Soseki Natsume's masterpiece Wagahai wa Neko

de Aru. The Taisho era (1912–26) saw writers like Fuboku Kosakai, Fuboku Kosakai, and

Fuboku Kosakai engaging with the ambiguities of scientific progress. The Showa era (1926–88)

saw the generic formation of Japanese science fiction, with Juza Unno publishing masterpieces

like Chikyu Tonan and Yojigen Hyoryu. Rampo Edogawa, a formative figure in Japanese

detective fiction, called Unno's works "Kuso-Kagaku Shousetsu." The postwar period saw the

development of the market for Japanese science fiction, with publishers like Muromachi Shobo,

Sekisen-sha, and Gengen-sha publishing series.

The Making of Japanese Science Fiction

 hani 4

The first science fiction magazine, Seiun, was published in 1954, and its annual "Seiun"

award is still remembered. The organized movement of science fiction in Japan can be traced

back to the publication of fanzine Uchujin and commercial magazine Hayakawa's SF Magazine.

Japanese science fiction in the twentieth century was established through four generations

of writers: the First Generation Writers, who were deeply influenced by Anglo-American science

fiction from the 1950s, who wrote outerspace-oriented science fiction, the Second Generation

Writers, who assimilated the New Wave, the Third Generation Writers, who were

contemporaries of Anglo-American post-New Wave/pre-Cyberpunk writers, and the Fourth

Generation Writers, who took advantage of postmodern modes of Cyberpunk, cyborg feminism,

and Yaoi Poetics. The fifth generation, sometimes called "JSF" writers, made their debut around

the turn of the century, with Toh Ubukata and Issui Ogawa reviving interest in space exploration.

In the mid-1970s, Japanese science fiction experienced a critical moment, with Sakyo

Komatsu's novel Nippon Chimbotsu selling four million copies. The boom of science fiction

films and the introduction of Star Wars in 1977 led to an explosion of science fiction magazines,

including Kiso-Tengai, Tokuma Shoten's SF Adventure, Kobunsha's SF Hoseki, and Asahi

Sonorama's Shishioh. The era of "Pax Japonica" brought a deep interest in Japanese science

fiction and culture abroad, leading to the first translations of Japanese science fiction into

English. This interest was evident in anthologies like John Apostolou and G. Martin Greenberg's

collection The Best Japanese Science Fiction and Alfred Birnbaum's Monkey Brain Sushi. The

popularity of Hideaki Anno's directed anime Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1996 triggered the

1997 controversy over "Who Killed Science Fiction?" However, critics and writers argued that

this anime boom was symptomatic of a decline in science fiction narratives. The 1990s saw the

rise of Japanese slipstream, which deconstructed the boundaries between mainstream and science
 hani 5

fiction. Contemporary mainstream writers like Haruki Murakami, Ryu Murakami, Masahiko

Shimada, Jugi Hisama, Yoriko Shono, and Rieko Matsuura began incorporating science fictional

and magic realistic elements into their slipstream narratives. This led to the enriched Japanese

fiction, which spread throughout the media and became almost invisible.

Aspects of Chinese Science Fiction

Japanese fanzines and special issues of Science-Fiction Studies have translated short

stories of Chinese science fiction in the 1980s. Mikael Huss explains that science fiction was first

introduced to mainland China by Lu Xun, who translated Jules Verne's From the Earth to the

Moon and Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 1902 or 1903. Yukio Ozaki first used the term

"kagaku shosetu" (science fiction) in 1886, and Asian writers had already invented a term

equivalent to "science fiction" around the turn of the century. The first Chinese science fiction

story is Wu Dingbo's Yueqiu zhimindi xiaoshuo in 1904. Three works published after this date

are Shi Nian Houde Zhongguo, Lao She's City of Cats, and Gu Junzheng's Heping de Meng,

considered the first real work of Chinese science fiction. Both Wu Dingbo and Mikael Huss

agree that Lao She and Gu Junzheng were influential figures in the development of science

fiction in China.

In the first half of the twentieth century, little science fiction was written in China due to

industrialism's insufficient advancement. However, since the People's Republic of China's

foundation in 1949, Soviet science fiction and Jule Verne's works have been translated into

Chinese. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), little science fiction was found in China.

However, after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese science fiction experienced a golden age (1978-

1983), similar to that of Japanese science fiction. Leading works like Jin Tao's Yueguangdao,

Zheng Wenguang's Reixiang Renmazuo, Ye Yonglie's Heiying, Meng Weizai's Fangwen

 hani 6

shizongzhe, and Ton Enzheng's Shanhudao shang de siguang received high acclaim and were

made into popular films. China also saw a surge in science fiction magazines like Kehuan

Haiyang, Zhihui Shu, Kexue Shidai, and Kexue Wenyi, with hundreds of thousands of readers.

Science Fiction World, which started as a monthly in 1979, is the most widely read

science fiction magazine globally. It carries stories by up-and-coming writers and provides a

forum for all SF readers in China. The magazine established the "Milky Way Writing Award,"

the highest quality SF prize in China, and hosted the 1991 World Science Fiction Organization

meeting and the 1997 Beijing International SF Conference.

The 1989 Tian'anmen Square demonstrations and the Eastern bloc crisis impacted

Chinese science fiction (SF). SFW published stories about virtual reality, nanotechnology,

cloning, gene therapy, and telepathic communication with aliens. This led to a more

experimental stage in Chinese SF, where stories overloaded with technological terms enjoyed

absorption, without focusing on narratology and characterization. This has led to the

development of its own subculture, similar to Anglo-American counterparts. In Hong Kong and

Taiwan, stories about time travel to the Chin Dynasty embody Chinese culture, showcasing the

best and worst aspects of Chinese culture. This techno-hybrid image is further developed by

American-Chinese SF writer Ted Chiang and Indian American writer Amitav Ghosh, who create

a dialogic imagination through Asian science fiction and post-Cyberpunk narratives.

From Slipstream to Asian Science Fiction: Keizo Hino’s Hikari

Keizo Hino, a Japanese slipstream writer, was born in Tokyo in 1929 but grew up in

Korea. He graduated from the sociology department of the University of Tokyo in 1952 and

began writing fiction in 1965. Hino's unique experience in Vietnam inspired him to write fiction

in 1965, winning the 72nd Akutagawa Prize in 1974. Although Hino died of cancer in 2002, his
 hani 7

work has received a posthumous reappraisal. His final novel, Hikari (1995), is a fabulous opera

with Yasunari Takahashi as librettist and Toshi Ichiyanagi as composer. The story begins in a

psychiatric infirmary, where protagonist Mitsuda, a former astronaut, suffers from retrogressive

amnesia and institutionalization. Mitsuda escapes from the hospital to wander around an area

inhabited by homeless people, searching for his identity.

The protagonist's illness is attributed to the intensity of light he witnessed on the Moon,

which is not the benign force described in Nature. In space, Mitsuda becomes unable to tell light

from darkness, marking a critical moment of epiphany. The author's analogy between the Moon

and the nurse Hwang's home country is striking. The nurse dreams of the Yellow River, located

between nature and the city, and her own outer and inner space. The Yellow River's description

reveals the nurse's deep feelings towards the ex-astronaut, who is connected to the river. This

vivid representation of the Yellow River brings to mind J.G. Ballard, who spent his childhood in

China and has explored the subject of failed astronauts in Memories of the Space Age. Ballard's

obsession with summer resorts and beaches serves as the best locations between dream and

reality.

In the 1970s, Ballard rebuilt inner space within the technological landscape, the

"technoscape," which reinterprets the emergent form of nature. Hino began his speculative

fiction writing career by reinvestigating the Ballardian inner space of the "technoscape." Hino's

works differ from Ballard's, as he redefines it as an ideal locale for nature writing. The concept

of technoscape is compatible with Leo Marx's concept of the "machine in the garden." Reading

Hino as a nature writer can also redefine Thoreau as a speculative fictionist. The Thoreauvean

idea of "Whole Earth" has influenced the Ballardian concept of alien planets and Hino's

philosophy about technoscape as another form of wilderness. The originality of possibility in

 hani 8

"Asian" science fiction is evident when Hino's image of the Yellow River merges with

Ballardian inner space and the whole Earth.

 hani 9

Works Cited

Amazon.com: A Companion to Science Fiction: 9781405184373: Seed, David: Books.

www.amazon.com/Companion-Science-Fiction-David-Seed/dp/140518437X.