日兩國地緣接近，自古以來文化交流與政治互動頻繁，關係至為密切。學者、商人、政客等各種行業的中日兩國人士的「政治自我」與「文化自我」，與作為「他者」的對方的政治實態與文化價值在旅遊經驗之中產生激烈的碰撞，從而強化雙方人士對「自我」的身份認同感，也更鮮明地辨識「他者」與「自我」的同調與異趣。本文以十七至二十世紀中日文化交流史為脈絡，分析「自我」與「他者」互動過程中，所出現的四種類型的緊張關係，並探討這四種類型的緊張性之涵義：一、「政治自我」與「文化自我」的張力；二、「文化自我」與「文化他者」的張力；三、「政治自我」與「政治他者」的張力；四、「文化他者」與「政治他者」的張力。本文結論指出：在「自我」、「他者」、「文化」與「政治」等四個象限交叉互動之中，當以「文化自我」最具有重要性。在「自我」的形塑過程中，文化是最重要、影響最深刻的因素，遠超過短期的政治之力量。

This paper is an attempt at identifying the types of tension in the interactions between the ”self” and the ”others” in East Asia as a ”contact zone” in the period between seventeenth and twentieth century. Special attention is devoted to the political and cultural aspects in the clashes between the ”self” and the ”others” in modern China and Japan. Four types of tensions between the ”self” and the ”others” in East Asia can be observed, namely, (a). the tension between ”political self” and ”cultural self” as manifested in Yamazaki Ansai (1618-1682); (b). the tension between ”cultural self” and ”cultural others” as seen in Itō Jinsai (1627-1705) and Oyū Sorai (1666-1728); (c). the tension between ”political self” and ”political others” as seen in Li Chunseng (1834-1924) in the early years of Japanese colonization in Taiwan (1895- 1945) and (d). the tension between ”cultural others” and ”political others” as revealed in the Japanese sinilogists Naitō Konan (1866-1934) and Uno Tetsuto (1875-1974). It can readily be observed that China stands out as the ”inevitable other” in the cultural and political interactions among East Asian countries in modern times. However, many East Asian intellectuals fail in distinguishing clearly the ”China” as an imagined community from the ”China” as reality. It is also observed that in the complex interactive processes in cross-cultural context, the ”cultural self” was of primal important and played the most fundamental role.