Pan-Asianism in Prewar Japanese Foreign Affairs: The Curious Case of Uchida Yasuya

Japanese foreign policymakers before the early 1930s are described typically as Western-oriented pragmatists who were resistant to Pan-Asianist doctrines. This essay presents the case of Uchida Yasuya, Japan's foreign minister in parts of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s who was also a Pan-Asianist in his early career. Uchida's case illustrates how Pan-Asianist beliefs were easily reoriented to support the new policy goal of a Japanese mainland empire following the Russo-Japanese War. Because he was foreign minister during the Manchurian Incident, Uchida's views also shed light on the question of when Pan-Asianism began to meaningfully impact foreign policy in the 1930s.