Wartime reform and postwar Asian studies in Japan : transwar activities and thought of Itagaki Yoichi

Abstract

Through tracing Itagaki Yoichi's transwar history, this thesis examines the intellectual and institutional continuity between the wartime and postwar era in Japan, especially in terms of Japan's relations with other parts of Asia. Itagaki was a symbolic figure in transwar Japan, who represented the wartime mobilisation of the social sciences, the imperial discussion on colonial order and the national economy, and the postwar re-formation of Japan-Asia as well as Japan-US relations and re-development of knowledge on Asia. Wartime questions of nationalism and the economy, which led to discussions on the restructuring of Japan's imperial order and economy, were not only carried over to the postwar period, but also moulded Japan's postwar perspective and practices towards Asia at least up until the mid-1960s. ltagaki's life embodies the fact that leading figures in colonial policy studies contributed to the institutionalisation of postwar Asian studies, and that wartime reform-minded projects recasting Japan's domestic system and foreign policy were taken over by anti-communist social democrats, who built bridges between Japan, Asia and the US after WWII. The Army and Navy mobilised intellectuals in order to manoeuvre Asian nationalists into the Japanese empire. Itagaki contributed to both the Army and Navy through working for the brains trust and military administrations. Itagaki led discussion on Japan's imperial formation in the Navy's research arm. In the Army's research project in Southeast Asia, Itagaki was a central figure. From 1944, Itagaki played an important part in coordinating the interaction between the Japanese military administration and Asian nationalist leaders. Itagaki contributed to Asian studies and Japan-Asia relations on the basis of his wartime experience and network in postwar Japan. Itagaki thought that war reparations to Asian nations were tickets to re-enter the Asian market for Japanese capitalism, and he became a major advocator for the conclusion of reparations agreements with Asian countries. The early 1950s was the epoch-making period for Japan's Asian studies: the Japanese Association for Asian Studies, the Institute of Asian Affairs and the Asia Association were established. Itagaki and his associates learned that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and economic circles would become good sponsors to Asian studies, and made links with bureaucrats and business leaders through their activities in the above three organisations. In 1958 their dream finally came true: the Institute of Asian Economic Affairs (Ajiken) was created by MITI and business groups. The creation of Ajiken was an indigenous enterprise based on the legacy of the Japanese empire. Itagaki was nominated as a candidate for the Rockefeller Foundation's grant by American liberals, who expected that Itagaki's visit to the US would promote anti-communist liberal ideas in Japan. However he did not fully follow modernisation theory but confronted the Americanisation of Japan's social science with his wartime colonial experiences. Contrary to the expectation of the US liberal intellectuals and foundations, Japan failed to establish an anti-communist social democrat camp that could make a change of regime possible in parliament politics or which exerted a major influence on academic journalism. Show more