The book is the first study on the history of one of the most powerful semi-governmental international organizations in interwar Japan: the League of Nations Association of Japan. Established in 1920 for the purpose of achieving the spirit of the League of Nations, the association was at the center of Japanese international cooperation and, even after Japan's withdrawal from the League itself, acted vigorously as a member of the non-governmental International Federation of League of Nations Societies.
Based on extensive multi-archival research, this book explores how members of the association including both governmental and non-governmental actors tried to address international problems such as racial equality, migration, labour, and population. By doing so, the book reconstructs a little-known history of Japan's international cooperation and puts it into the context of global history.
The series Japan in Ostasien | Japan in East Asia presents new findings on Japan and its place, connections, and interactions within East Asia and is edited by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Seifert. Accordingly, the series consider Japan’s fundamental role in modern and contemporary history, questioning simplistic and insufficient localizations of Japan — be it as part of “the West” or as part of the “East.” Contributions to this series are of interest for scholars and students of history, political science, intellectual history, sociology and East Asian area studies.
Kuniyuki Terada studied Human Sciences at Osaka University (Japan). From April 2006 to October 2008, he was a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. After that, he pursued his studies within the Graduate Programme at the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (GPTS), working on the dissertation that formed the basis of this book.