Does the Orient think of itself as "East" and America/Europe as "West"?

Question

This sounds like a labeling that was created in Europe. Does anyone know?

Answer 1

Yes, this is a labeling system created by Europe.  Look at the other labels: Far East, Middle East, the Near East (Eastern Europe), the West Indies. "Sudan" (think French).  Europe is in the middle of all of those.

Answer 2

There's geographical East/West and also political East/West. Politically, East meant the Soviet bloc, and West meant the US-dominated sphere of influence, so the Cold War, a plane flying from Tokyo to Prague was flying from West to East.

I don't know what "the Orient" thinks of itself as. Who do you mean by "the Orient"? Read Edward Said's famous book, "Orientalism". "The Orient" is very much a creature of the European imagination.