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This brief paper will critically examine the contentions of Japanese nationalist intellectuals whose stated goal is to restore the Japanese people's pride in their nation through the rehabilitation of patriotism at home, consolidation of a state‐centric view of Japan, and pursuit of a more assertive foreign policy. In particular, what roles do China and Korea play in the nationalists’ arguments? The paper demonstrates that the nationalists engage in a selective use of ideas, events, and institutions of historical significance and that they reconstruct a past Japan in their ideal image and use that image to frame their discourse on the major political and foreign policy challenges facing Japan today. It concludes that the more critical the Chinese and Korean criticisms of Japan are, the more determined the nationalists will be in their rejection of those criticisms and appeals to the general public.