The Private Diplomacy of Shibusawa Eiichi
Title
The Private Diplomacy of Shibusawa Eiichi
Subtitle
Visionary Entrepreneur and Transnationalist of Modern Japan
Price
€ 103,99
ISBN
9781898823827
Format
eBook PDF (Adobe DRM)
Number of pages
429
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
14.5 x 22.4 x 3 cm
Discipline
Asian Studies
Also available as
Hardback - € 104,00
Table of Contents
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List of Figures
Foreword by Akira Iriye
Preface
Chapter 1 Awakening to a Wider World
Chapter 2 Launching Private-Sector Diplomacy
Chapter 3 World Tour Before the Storm
Chapter 4 Flattery without Scruple
Chapter 5 Promoting Goodwill in the United States
Chapter 6 The Roots of the Anti-Japanese Movement
Chapter 7 Cultivating the Friendship of Giants
Chapter 8 The Japanese-American Relations Committee
Chapter 9 The Washington Naval Conference
Chapter 10 The Sunset of Private-Sector Diplomacy
Chapter 11 Rainbows over the Ocean
References
Index

Shibusawa Masahide

The Private Diplomacy of Shibusawa Eiichi

Visionary Entrepreneur and Transnationalist of Modern Japan

“This book offers an account of the life of Shibusawa Eiichi, who may be considered the first ‘internationalist’ in modern Japan, written by his great grandson Masahide and published in 1970 under the title, Taiheiyo ni kakeru hashi (Building Bridges Over the Pacific). Japan had a tortuous relationship with internationalism between 1840, when Shibusawa was born, and 1931, the year the nation invaded Manchuria and when he passed away. The key to understanding Shibusawa’s thoughts against the background of this history, the author shows, lies in the concept of ‘people’s diplomacy,’ namely an approach to international relations through non-governmental connections. Such connections entail more transnational than international relations. In that sense, Shibusawa was more a transnationalist than an internationalist thinker. Internationalism presupposes the prior existence of sovereign states among which they cooperate to establish a peaceful order. The best examples are the League of Nations and the United Nations. Transnationalism, in contrast, goes beyond the framework of sovereign nations and promotes connections among individuals and non-governmental organizations. It could be called “globalism” in the sense that transnationalism aims at building bridges across the globe apart from independent nation-states. In that sense Shibusawa was a pioneering globalist. It was only in the 1990s that expressions like globalism and globalization came to be widely used. This was more than sixty years after Shibusawa Eiichi’s death, which suggests how pioneering his thoughts were.” [Akira Iriye]
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Author

Shibusawa Masahide

Masahide Shibusawa (b. 1925) graduated from the Department of Agricultural Economy of the University of Tokyo in 1950. Closely involved in organizations dedicated to facilitating international exchange and dialogue, he was executive director of the MRA (Moral Re-armament) Foundation from 1964 to 2013, executive director of the Language Institute of Japan from 1968 to 1997 and director of the East-West Seminars (run by the MRA Foundation) from 1970 to 1997.