Abstract: Japanese children’s biographies are prominently tinged with the milieu of the era from the Meiji Restoration to the end of World War Two. The biographical subjects, who are usually heroes of both the West and the East, differ from those in Asia and resemble those in Europe. They do not just sedulously learn the modern Western civilization, but also adhere to the militarism of Japanese. Children’s biographies are mostly written by prominent experts and scholars, yearning for the scientific rationality of the West. In a nutshell, they embody the typical Japanese spirit of “the chrysanthemum and sword,” mingling two extremes with each other.

Key words: Departure from Asia for Europe; Heroes; militarism; scientific rationality

Ling-ling Chen, Doctor of Literature awarded by Nagoya University, Japan, is Lecturer of Comparative Literature in School of Humanities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. A member of Chinese Academy of Lu Xun, she also supervises the 6th sub-project of "Compilation and Research of Overseas Life writing on Modern Chinese People." the major project for National Social Sciences Fund (IN: 11&ZD138) after she accomplished the research project "Interaction & Influence On Culture Between Shanghai and Japan" in 2012. Dr. Chen's major publications include "Revelation of Japanese Biographical Study On Ssu-ma Chien" (2012)," Lu Xun and Hu Shi on the History of Acceptance of Ibsen in the 20th Century China"(2012), and "Enlightenment of Love: Lu Xun and Henrik Ibsen"(2014).