Introduction: A Synopsis of the Shibusawa International Seminars on Japanese Studies, 1999-2004

ASIAN PERSPECTIVE, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2005, pp. 9-21. INTRODUCTION: A SYNOPSIS OF THE SHIBUSAWA INTERNATIONAL SEMINARS ON JAPANESE STUDIES, 1999-2004 Gil Latz and Masato Kimura Introduction On July 3-4, 1999, the first Shibusawa International Seminar on Japanese Studies was convened by the Shibusawa Ei'ichi Memorial Foundation, in Tokyo and Odawara, Japan. Its pur­ pose was to address the legacy of Shibusawa Ei'ichi (1840-1931), widely regarded as one of the key architects of Japan's emer­ gence as a modern country. The principal organizer and keynote speaker was Ei'ichi's great grandson, Shibusawa Masahide. The two men's lives had intersected briefly between 1925, the year of Shibusawa Masahide's birth, and his great grandfather's death, in 1931, at the age of 91. The significance of their encounter, with each at one end of the spectrum of life, was far greater than a young child's recollections, however, as presentations at the seminar made apparent. As keynote speaker, Shibusawa Masahide initiated the sem­ inar's discussion of the life and accomplishments of Ei'ichi by posing a particularly intriguing question: As Japan enters the twenty-first century, what possible lessons might be obtained through review of the leadership and vision of one of the com­ pelling figures in modern Japanese history, whose life bore wit­ ness to Japan's transformation into a modern country in the late 10 Gil Latz and Masato Kimura nineteenth and early twentieth century?1 For answers to this question, Shibusawa Masahide's remarks focused on the last thirty years of Ei'ichi's life, when his attention shifted from the projects of nation building through economic modernization to the question of Japan's place in the international community.1 2 Ei'ichi recognized that the success of Japan's modern nation building, for all its contributions to the welfare and prosperity of the Japanese people, also contained a darker potential in the nationalist sentiments it encouraged. In particular, Ei'ichi was aware that Meiji-era modernization was an inward-looking rev­ olution but that the rise of Japan as an economic power would give it a new interest in its relations with other nations. From 1902 until the end of his life in 1931, Ei'ichi devoted his extraor­ dinary energies to building positive relationships with those nations that he saw as the most important actors on the world stage. He was especially concerned to foster mutually advanta­ geous relationships with the United States and China, indeed the triangular relationship between all three countries, and con­ sistently fought against misguided stereotypes about Japanese culture. Shibusawa Masahide concluded his remarks by drawing provocative parallels between Japan in Ei'ichi's time and since 1992, the post-bubble economic era. Japan, he argued, has histor­ ically repeated a cycle of alternating isolation from and open­ ness to the world at large. As this cycle unfolds in the phase of isolation, social stagnation can result; this is followed by an outward -looking phase in which Japan opens itself to ideas from 1. The three presentations around which the First Shibusawa International Seminar on Japanese Studies were organized were: Shibusawa Masahide, "Comments on the Life of Shibusawa Ei'ichi"; Shimada Masakazu, "Shibusawa Ei'ichi as Business Leader"; and Kimura Masato, "Shibu­ sawa Ei'ichi's Legacy: Finance, Nation Building, International Relations." 2. For assistance in compiling a summary of the First Shibusawa Interna­ tional Seminar, we are indebted to Dr. Melissa Williams, University of Toronto, who shared with us her excellent notes of the two-day event. Mr. Hiroshi Ishii, Managing Director for Shibusawa Ei'ichi Memorial Foundation, also provided a most useful overview of the First Seminar (translated by Keiko Ikeda), which can be found at www.shibusawa.or. jp/research/seminar/seminar_01.html (Japanese) and www.shibu­ sawa.or.jp/english/ research/seminar/seminar_01.html (English). A Synopsis ofthe Shibusawa InternationalSeminars onJapanese Studies, 1999-2004 11 other cultures, granting them a distinctively Japanese context in the process, followed by renewed inward turning. Shibusawa Masahide suggested that contemporary Japan, like Japan at the threshold of the twentieth century, is turning inward after a period of intensive exposure to and experimentation...