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Shingetsu Electronic Journal of Japanese-Islamic Relations,
Volume 3, 2008 |
Research Papers
An Asahi
Shinbun Analogy: The British Mandate in Iraq and the State of Manchukuo
By Michael Penn
Abstract: This paper examines a fascinating Asahi Shinbun editorial
published in September 1932 in which an “Iraq analogy” appeared for the
first time in Japanese political thought. The editors were reacting to
the news that the British mandate over Iraq had been terminated and that
the League of Nations had agreed to admit the country into its
organization as a full member in spite of the restrictive terms of the
Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930. Since Japan was then in a series of disputes
with the Western-dominated League of Nations over a number of similar
matters, the Asahi used this opportunity to point out what they felt
were inconsistencies in the judgments of the League and the West more
generally. In the course of doing so, the editors also inadvertently
revealed a great deal about their own attitudes toward the British
domination of Iraqi political life, and a host of related matters.
Michael Penn is the Executive Director of the Shingetsu Institute for
the Study of Japanese-Islamic Relations.
The
Rishtan-Japan Center and the Noriko School in Uzbekistan
By Chiyuki Terao
Abstract: This paper introduces the volunteer activities of a band of
Japanese and Uzbek private citizens to establish a Japanese language and
culture school in the city of Rishtan, Uzbekistan. The author, who is
herself the secretary-general of the Rishtan-Japan Center, describes how
the idea for the creation of the school came about, and the pioneering
roles of Shigekatsu and Noriko Osaki from Japan and the Nazirov brothers
in Uzbekistan in guiding the project to its current success. A
historical overview of the entire project is provided. Beyond that, the
author also provides a unique and charming perspective on some of the
broader issues facing Japanese-Uzbek cultural relations.
Chiyuki Terao is the Secretary-General of the Rishtan-Japan Center.
Translation
Japan’s
Position in Near Eastern Countries: Our Plan for Economic Development in
the Near East (1926)
By Fumihito Hasegawa
Abstract: This is a translation of a Japanese-language article published
in a journal called Kokusai Chishiki (International Knowledge) in August
1926. The author participated in the Near East Trade Conference in
Istanbul in April of that year, and this essay reflected his own
reaction to that event, and the thoughts that it inspired. The
significance of the article derives from the fact that it is one of only
a handful of accounts we have from the 1920s that discusses the role and
the potential expansion of Japanese participation of Japan in what was
then referred to as the “Near East.” The author lays out the political
landscape of the European rivalries in the region, and discusses the
impediments lying before Japan as it contemplates a substantial economic
advance in the region. Much of what he encouraged actually reached
fruition in the following decade and a half. According to Hasegawa, the
main factor arguing for Japanese trade expansion into the Near East at
that time was the perceived problem of overpopulation on the Japanese
home islands.
Fumihito Hasegawa was an author in prewar Japan. In 1938, he also
published a book in Japanese entitled, Issues Surrounding a Tense Far
East on the Verge of Catastrophe.
Interview
Cemil Aydin
Interview: Imperial Japan’s Islamic Policies and Anti-Westernism
Abstract: In this interview, Cemil Aydin is questioned in regard to his
understandings of the role and meanings of prewar Japanese Pan-Asianism
as it related to Japanese-Islamic relations. This wide-ranging interview
addresses issues related to the origins of Japanese studies of the
Islamic world, the political thought of Pan-Asianism and Pan-Islamism,
and even current debates about anti-Westernism and the Islamic world
today. The interview is followed by a discussion in which Aydin
addresses the reactions that he received from three scholars about the
content of the original interview.
Cemil Aydin is Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina,
Charlotte. |
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Source: Shingetsu Institute |
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