PRINCETON, New Jersey — A provocative book written by a Japanese mathematician has reignited the debate about whether there are specifically "Asian" values.

As yet untranslated into other languages, "The Dignity of a State" by Masahiko Fujiwara is an emotional plea for a Japanese "special path." In particular, it argues that liberal democracy is a Western invention that does not fit well with the Japanese or Asian character.

The reasoning is peculiar, and seems to revive a 19th-century critique, usually associated with Nietzsche, that Christianity (and Islam) produces an acquiescent or even subservient mentality, in contrast to the heroic virtues of classical antiquity or of warrior societies, such as the world of the Japanese samurai.