This work is about the swift process of acculturation of antisemitism in Japan ¿ a Shintoist/Buddhist society with no Jews ¿ in the decade following the First World War due to the impact of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Major Japanese primary sources related to the subject are introduced in detail and analyzed in the book for the first time in any language: the 1921 Imai TokiöYoshino Sakuz¿ impromptu debate, Higuchi Tsuyanoske¿s best-seller Yudayaka [The Jewish Peril], the March 1929 roundtable on the «Jewish Problem» organized by the Heibon publishing house, and writings by Ariga Seika, Soebe Inchinoske, Yamanaka Minetar¿, Kinoshta Masao, and others. This is also the case with most materials mentioned in the section on Japanese awareness of antisemitism before and during the First World War. In addition, the author proposes, defines, and demonstrates the applicability of the term «Conspiracy and Scapegoating Antisemitism» to both non-Japanese and Japanese milieux.

The Author: Jacob Kovalio is Professor of Japanese and Asian History/Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in Japanese history and an M.A. in Chinese history, both from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the former president of the Japan Studies Association of Canada [JSAC], three-time holder of Japan Foundation research fellowships, and the winner of three Excellence in Teaching awards. Among his publications are Japan in Focus (ed.) and numerous book chapters and journal articles.