Concluding thoughts on the Finnish-Japanese comparison

Abstract

The comparative historical analysis in this volume, which at first glance compares two very different societies that may not obviously be comparable to casual observers, shows the potential for such work to illuminate each case within the light of the other. This illumination depends on certain methodological factors being observed if the potential is to be realised. The chapters in this volume, written, as they are, by international collaborations between Finnish and Japanese scholars, ensure that the comparisons are actually made in detail rather than just through hand-waving or juxtaposition. And of course comparisons enable contrasts as well as similarities to be revealed. Questions about why processes and events occurred in each case and what their consequences were can always be better understood through comparison.