The Politics of Junrei no Tabi:Shimazaki Tōson and the Formation of a Zone of Political Contact in South America

Abstract

This paper considers the politics of Shimazaki Tōson’s Junrei no Tabi in 1936. In September 1936, Tōson visited South America to attend the PEN International congress in Buenos Aires and to observe and encourage Japanese immigrants as a representative of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His trip had an official and political nature as part of Kokumin Gaikou (national diplomacy), that aimed for advancement in the international status of Japanese government and Japanese immigrants. But there were some complex problems in the Japanese immigrant community――about Kimin-ron and Japanese-language education―― and Tōson became confused about the problems. Regarding the problem of Japanese-language education, he exhibited nationalism based on his study of Kokugaku, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy, and deviated from his position. During his trip, Tōson experienced impatience and inconvenience. For that reason, in Junrei he wrote about himself as a traveler and concealed his official and political mission. In this paper, I analyze Junrei as an escape from his responsibilities.

Keywords

• Shimazaki Tōson
• Junrei
• Japanese immigrants to South America
• Kimin-ron
• Japanese-language education