Science in Japan

Chapter 2 describes the development of science in Japan which had an Oriental view of nature steeped in notions of sacredness and harmony arising from the indigenous Shinto religion. Nature was not viewed as something separate from humans. Subsequently, Japanese philosophical thought was strongly influenced by Chinese ideas of the Yin-Yang and the Five Phases theory. However, with the introduction of European technology, specifically firearms, in the mid-16th century during the Edo period, changes began that culminated with the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century. Substantial effort was devoted to translating the languages of science into Japanese. This was accomplished by starting with medicine, where translation efforts began from Dutch terminology. Translation was not just about replacing individual words but about finding ways to express unknown scientific abstract concepts using Japanese technical terms, which sometimes had to be created de novo. It involved reconstructing academic knowledge in Japanese.