This work argues that, far from being a negligible aspect of contemporary identity, racialized senses of belonging have often been the foundation of national identity in 20th-century East Asia. The construction of symbolic boundaries between racial categories has undergone many transformations in China and Japan, but this text shows how the attempt to rationalize and rank differences between population groups remains widespread. The historical background and contemporary implications ofthese potentially explosive issues are addressed by the contributors to this volume.