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‪In 1918, the writer Mushanokōji Saneatsu (1885–1976) built Atarashiki-mura (the New Village), a‪‪ ‪‪utopian community dedicated to the perfection of the self and the practice of art. Influenced by‪‪ ‪‪Tolstoy, Mushanokōji’s initiative criticised the devaluation of life induced by capitalism. In 1942,‪‪ ‪‪the same Mushanokōji published ‪‪Dai Tōa sensō shikan‪‪ [A Personal View of the Greater East‪‪ ‪‪Asia War], one of the most radical essays on Japanese imperialism and militarism. Through the‪‪ ‪‪drawing of a parallel between Mushanokōji’s initiative and Japanese expansion in Manchuria,‪‪ ‪‪especially through the comparison between Atarashiki-mura and the Manchurian village of‪‪ ‪‪Iyasaka-mura, as well as with some recurrent motives in his writings, the article examines the‪‪ ‪‪convergence of utopianism and imperialism in the author’s thought and the possible continuity‪‪ ‪‪binding these two dimensions. Through the identification of autonomy as an underlying drive,‪‪ ‪‪the analysis will try to show the link between the rural utopia of Atarashiki-mura and the‪‪ ‪‪imperial dynamics, apparently opposite terms that Mushanokōji’s war enthusiasm during the‪‪ ‪‪1940s concretely helped reunite.‪