Japan and the League of Nations: Empire and World Order, 1914–1938

311 Pages·2007·24.04 MB·English

by  Thomas W. Burkman

Japanese history
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Of related interest r
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(Continued from front flap) m
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THE THOUGHT WAR n
J
ment concepts and plans, and the settlement Japanese Imperial Propaganda apan joined the League of Nations in 1920
of border disputes in Europe. This study is as a charter member and one of four perma-
Barak Kushner J
enlivened by the personalities and initiatives A nent members of the League Council. Until
of Makino Nobuaki, Ishii Kikujiro¯, Nitobe 2006, 254 pages, illus. conflict arose between Japan and the organiza-
Inazo¯, Matsuoka Yo¯suke, and others in their Paper ISBN: 978-0-8248-3208-7 P tion over the 1931 Manchurian Incident, the
Geneva roles. The League project ushered A League was a centerpiece of Japan’s policy to
“Completely individual and very interesting. . . . Kushner’s book is, I think,
those it affected to world citizenship and in- maintain accommodation with the Western
the first to treat propaganda as a profession in wartime Japan. He follows it N
spired them to build bridges across boundaries powers. The picture of Japan as a positive
through its various stages and is particularly interested in its popular accep-
and cultures. The author sheds new light on contributor to international comity, however,
a
tance—wartime comedy, variety shows, how entertainers sought to bolster
the meaning and content of internationalism is not the conventional view of the country in
n
their careers by adopting the prewar message, which then filtered down into
in an era typically seen as a showcase for dip- the early and mid-twentieth century. Rather,
lomatic autonomy and isolation. Well into the society and took hold. Using almost entirely primary materials, which have not d this period is usually depicted in Japan and
1930s, the vestiges of international accommo- before been translated, Barak re-creates the wartime world in which propagan- t abroad as a history of incremental imperial-
h
dationism among diplomats and intellectuals da was the truth. In so doing, he has given us an eminently readable account of ism and intensifying militarism, culminating
JAPAN
are clearly evident. an unknown aspect of the war and has defined our understanding of it.” e in war in China and the Pacific. Even the
—Japan Times L Empire’s interface with the League of Na-
Japan and the League of Nations is based on tions is typically addressed only at nodes of
E
exhaustive documentary inquiry into gov- and the confrontation: the 1919 debates over racial
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title A
ernment documents and the unpublished equality as the Covenant was drafted, and the
manuscripts of Japanese diplomats and other JAPAN’S COLONIZATION of KOREA G LEAGUE NATIONS 1931–1933 League challenge to Japan’s seizure
of
League participants in Washington, London, Discourse and Power of northeast China.
U
and Geneva. Japanese diplomats, League func-
Alexis Dudden
tionaries, and journalists with League experi- E E W o , 1914–1938 This volume fills in the space before, between,
ence were interviewed in the early phase of the 2004, 232 pages, illus. mpirE and orld rdEr and after these nodes and gives the League

research. It is an entirely fresh look at Japan’s Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8248-2829-5; paper ISBN: 978-0-8248-3139-4 o relationship the legitimate place it deserves in
international behavior in the shifting context f Japanese international history of the 1920s
Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
of the interwar years, a drama that N and 1930s. It also argues that the Japanese
“Students of Japan’s history, domestic politics, and international relations will
has long-term consequences. cooperative international stance in the de-
find this text extremely valuable, as will readers of theorists such as Roland A
cades since the Pacific War bears noteworthy
Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Gayatri Spivak. . . . Essential. All levels/ continuity with the mainstream international
T
libraries.” accommodationism of the League years. In
I
—Choice O Geneva affairs, Japan was no “silent partner.”
The Empire regularly sent to meetings of the
Jacket photographs: Nitobe Inazo¯ (right) with delegates to the Fourth Conference of the N League Assembly and Council its ranking
Thomas W. Burkman is research professor Institute of Pacific Relations, Shanghai, 1931 (from Mainichi Photobank), and signatures diplomats in Europe. It had consequential
S
in Asian studies at the University of Buffalo, on the Treaty of Versailles, 1919. input in the drafting of the Covenant and the
SUNY. Geneva Protocol, the formulation of disarma-
Jacket design by Santos Barbasa Jr.
Thomas W. Burkman
University of Hawai‘i Press (Continued on back flap)
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822-1888
www.uhpress.hawaii.edu
jack mech.indd 1 10/23/07 10:49:31 AM
Japan and the League of Nations
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Japan and the League of Nations
Empire and World Order,
1914–1938
Thomas W. Burkman
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
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© 2008 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burkman, Thomas W.
Japan and the League of Nations: Empire and world
order, 1914 – 1938 / Thomas W. Burkman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8248-2982-7 (hardcover : alk.paper)
1. League of Nations — Japan. 2. Japan — Foreign
relations — 1912 – 1945. I. Title.
JZ4871.5.J3B87 2007
341.22'52 — dc22 2007019796
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on
acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Council on Library Resources
Designed by Paul Herr
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
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To Norman Pollock and Roger Des Forges
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Note on Japanese and Chinese Names xv
1. The World War I Experience 1
2. The Idea of a League 29
3. The Great Debate 43
4. Making the Covenant Palatable at Paris 60
5. The Geneva Years 104
6. The Japanese Face at Geneva: Nitobe Inazō and Ishii Kikujirō 142
7. Crisis over Manchuria 165
8. Japan as an Outsider 194
Epilogue: Internationalism and International Organization
in Interwar Japan 210
Notes 223
Sources 261
Index 281
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Acknowledgments
The guidance and assistance of others in this project on Japan and the League
of Nations extends over a career in Japanese history.
For help in the early stages during graduate school, I owe deep gratitude to
Roger Hackett, Roger Dingman, Ernest Young, Bradford Perkins, Naomi Fukuda,
William Hoover, Warren Cohen, and Jerry Voris Burkman. In the fi rst stints of
research and consultation in Japan, Hosoya Chihiro opened to me his Hitotsubashi
University graduate seminar, his personal library, and his invaluable connections. I
am also indebted to Nakami Mari, Kurokawa Shūji, James Morley, David C. S. Sis-
sons, Makino Sumiko, Asō Kazuko, Yoshida Ken’ichi, Takemi Tarō, Itō Harumasa,
Ōkubo Toshikane, Satō Seizaburō, Eto Shinkichi, Mitani Taichirō, Oka Yoshitake,
Miwa Kimitada, Ikei Masaru, Asada Sadao, Ogata Sadako, Takeuchi Tatsuji, Mi-
yake Masaki, Chō Yukio, Fujiwara Akira, Kibata Yōichi, William Carter, and Ian
Nish. I acknowledge the invaluable help of archivists: the National Diet Library’s
Hirose Yoshihiro, Unno Yoshirō of the Foreign Ministry Archives, the Shibusawa
Eiichi Memorial Foundation’s Igarashi Takashi, and Sven Welander of the United
Nations Library in Geneva.
As the project progressed, I received critical and helpful input from many
scholars, including Georges Oshiro, John Howes, Frederick Dickinson, Gary Al-
linson, Kitaoka Shin’ichi, Dick Stegewerns, Itō Michiko, Shibata Shin’ichi, Martin
David Dubin, Katagiri Nobuo, Hoshino Toshiya, Rustin Gates, Jessamyn Abel,
Klaus Schlichtmann, and Hirano Kenichirō. Mitsuaki Shimojo, Hiyoshi Nohoko,
and Miyazawa Naomi helped in the reading and translation of diffi cult documen-
tary materials.
In the fi nal stages of revision and editing, I was aided by the advice of Akira
Iriye, Kevin Doak, Roger Des Forges, Robert Kane, Claude Welch, and Richard
Sme thurst. Through a manuscript workshop, the University at Buff alo’s Baldy Cen-
ter for Law and Social Policy enabled a critical review prior to publication. Li Zhen
and Mary Anne Lang of the University at Buff alo Asian Studies Program provided
invaluable research and secretarial assistance. Taga Toshiyuki and Takeko Nitobe
ix
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