Freud, Lacan and Japan

Freud was born when Japan was still in its pre-Meiji isolation from the outside world, and during his younger days, information on Japan remained scarce. It is therefore hard to imagine that he encountered discourses that would have aroused his interest in the island nation. Nonetheless, Freud touches briefly on Japan in Totem and Taboo . In this work, Freud cites Frazer's quotation of Kaempfer's 1727 description of the Mikado as an example of how outrageous taboos have been imposed on kings.…