Japanolatry

J8A1P3A1N1O1L1A1T1R1Y4

noun

An admiration for Japan or items that reflect Japanese culture.

Scrabble 23

Meanings

nounJapanolatry (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAn admiration for Japan or items that reflect Japanese culture.

    Japanolatry in the West coincided with victory in the Sino-Japanese War, and, ten years later, the defeat of Russia.

    1967, Geoffrey Bownas, From Japanology to Japanese Studies
    4 more examples

    THESE three books, each in its own manner and degree, are excellent examples of the Japanolatry characteristic of this rococo age.

    1895, The Athenaeum, page 249

    Mr . Norman is not free from the prevalent Japanolatry. At p. 360 (e.g) Japan did not provoke the late war; at p. 376 she is dubbed a "first class military power"; and at p. 377, one of her buglers blows, apparently for a long time (with a bullet in his chest), till breath fails — which anyone can tell would be an immediate result.

    1895, Asian Review, page 218

    The beauty of a Japanese garden is a step to take, and it is a real step, quite as far apart from the vulgar and uneducated Japanolatry of some years since as from the cold contempt into which more recent taste seems to be reacting.

    1912, GC & HTJ. - Volumes 51-52, page 330

    For twenty years his taste confined itself to the fashionable families that married well with Louis XV furniture and to the Japanese wares then in vogue as a result of the decorative rage in France known as Japanolatry.

    1981, Pearl Violette Metzelthin, Ruth Reichl, Gourmet - Volume 41, Issues 1-6
  2. uncountablemore specificallyA belief in the superiority of Japanese business practices and management style.

    Let me take an example from a recent American bestseller, which is intended, it seems clear, as a counterblast to all the Japanolatry now running riot through American business schools.

    2013, Ronald Dore, Taking Japan Seriously: A Confucian Perspective on Leading Economic Issues
    2 more examples

    Finally, the complex and multi-dimensional character of any performance gap can be explored further by introducing cash flow per vehicle produced as a third performance measure; this series shows the limits of Japanolatry because, on this measure, average car companies in Japan as well as America have real problems.

    1994, Karel Williams, Cars: Analysis, History, Cases, page 216

    We have attempted to confront each of these broader issues elsewhere, in work which questions the exaggerated and uncritical Japanolatry of much Western social science (Williams et al., 1991, 1992).

    2016, Anthony J. Berry, Jane Broadbent, David T. Otley, Management Control: Theories, Issues and Practices, page 222

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

Japanolatry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Japanolatry

MLA

“Japanolatry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Japanolatry. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Japanolatry,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Japanolatry.

Source: Japanolatry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.