A Buddhist Nationalist Critiques American Society and Politics

[Eighteen Years of Practical Research in North America] Juhachinen ma jitsusai kenkyu hokumai sekiraya kan

Ito, Enjo

Notes: A Japanese nationalist critique of the United States and American culture written by a Buddhist minister who oversaw a Jodo sect church in Honolulu. Ito (1876–1930) lived in Hawaii for 18 years, returning to Japan about 1920, where he wrote books on a variety of topics.

This book belongs to a thread of Japanese nationalist thought that perceived the United States as the main adversary of Japan on the world stage. Ito criticizes the anti-imperialist rhetoric of the US which opposed Japanese expansion into China and other parts of Asia. He saw this as hypocrisy because all of US history is a story of expansion and the Monroe Doctrine reserved two continents for US-only influence. Typical of similar books published in the 1920s, Ito also advances arguments critical of America's image as a beacon of freedom, emphasizing the lynchings of Black Americans and Asian exclusion laws. "The current situation in the United States is that the country pretends to be righteous and benevolent on the outside, but it is inwardly racist and militaristic," Ito writes in the introduction (all translations by your cataloguer).

He also says, "It is the responsibility of the subjects of the Japanese Empire to study American imperialism carefully" in order to oppose it. Ito also finds fault with American society–rampant alcoholism led to Prohibition and extensive corruption by citizens and law enforcement to evade the law. He concludes the book by describing American industrial development, natural resources, and its growing navy.

While most Americans in the 1920s paid little attention to Japan, a growing number of Japanese intellectuals and government leaders foresaw conflict on the horizon. Their views ultimately held sway, pushing the two countries into the Second World War two decades later. Roots of that conflict can be found in this book.

4-1/4 by 5-7/8 inches. 5, [blank], 13, [blank], 432, [4] pages.

Not located in OCLC.

Edition + Condition: First edition. A very good copy in stiff vinyl-like wrappers. Probably lacking a publisher's box.

Publication: Nihon Zensho Kankokai [Japan Zen Book Publishers Association], 1921 (Taisho 10).

Item No: #361859

Price: $1,850