Subjectivity and Technology in Modern Japanese Literary Texts: A Personalist Inquiry

Abstract Contemporary East Asia presents a profound paradox: rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence, and widespread digital connectivity have revolutionized society while fundamentally destabilizing selfhood, moral agency, and cultural representation. In the context of this profound paradox, it is necessary to address the essential dimensions of personhood, including subjectivity, personal dignity, moral agency, and authentic human connection. This applies a personalist framework, combining Thomistic metaphysics and Wojtyłan personalism, to examine select Japanese literary works that are representative of East Asian literature. It investigates how these narratives depict the human subject under intense pressure from digitization and hyper-modernity. It argues that beneath sci-fi tropes such as cyberpunk and virtual realities, East Asian media manifest the intersection of technology and the concrete human subject. By utilizing personalist critiques against technological degradation, these cultural texts highlight the constant tension between technological mediation and individual agency. Ultimately, they do much more than simply reflect modern anxieties; they serve as critical platforms for asserting human subjectivity and human dignity. Despite external pressures, technological alienation, and historical trauma, the human spirit endures through its inviolable inner life, capacity for moral choice, and the need for personal communion in an increasingly digital global landscape.