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Imperial Japanese Propaganda and the Founding of The Japan Times 1897-1904
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
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Founded in 1897 as a semi-official government organ by Zumoto Motosada with the support of Itō Hirobumi and Fukuzawa Yukichi, The Japan Times played an essential role, as the first English-language newspaper to be edited by Japanese, in shaping Western understandings of Japan and Japanese modernisation in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The Japan Times framed Japanese ‘modernisation’ in the language of Western civilisation, thus facilitating Japan's rapprochement with the Western Powers (particularly with Great Britain) in the late 19th century by presenting Japan as a ‘civilised’ (i.e., Western) nation-state. The paper played an equally important role in manipulating Western public discourses in favour of Japan's expansionist ambitions in Asia by framing justifications for Japanese foreign policy in concepts of Western civilisation.
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References
Notes
1 Ito, S. 2017, ‘Lineage dates back to Edo Period’, The Japan Times, 22nd March, p.8.
2 For example, Hasegawa, S. 1966, Jyapan taimuzu monogatari: Bunkyū gannen (1861) kara gendai made (The Japan Times Story: From the first year of Bunkyū (1861) to the present day), Tokyo: Jyapan taimuzu sha. Hasegawa, S. 1958, ‘Jyapan taimuzu kokusaihan no tokusyoku to sekai ni okeru hankyō: Shinbun kyōkai syō wo ukeru’ (The features of the Japan Times international edition and its global impact: Until reception of The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association Award), Shinbun kenkyū, vol. 87. Yajima, A. 2015, ‘Ashida Hitoshi to jyapan taimuzu- 1930 nendai ni okeru nihon no taigai senden no ichi sokumen’ (The Japan Times under the Presidency of Hitoshi Ashida), Meijō Hōgaku, vol. 65, no.1.2. Shirayama, E. 2008, ‘Kokusai jya-narisuto Zumoto Motosada to taiheiyō mondai chōsakai’ (Zumoto Motosada and the Conference of the [sic] Pacific Relations), Kindai nihon kenkyū, vol. 25. Matsunaga, T. 2010, ‘Zumoto Motosada ni okeru hasshinkei eigo media no kiseki’ (Evolution of utterance-type [sic] English language media by Zumoto Motosada), Lifelong Education and Libraries, vol. 10.
3 For example, Matsumura, M. 1987, Nichiro Sensō to Kaneko Kentarō - Kōhō gaikō no kenkyū (Kaneko Kentaro and the Russo-Japanese War- Public Relations Diplomacy Research), Tokyo: Shinyūdō. Ineno, T. 1988, ‘Makino Nobuaki to nichro sensō‘ (Makino Nobuaki and the Russo-Japanese War), Gunma kenritsu jyoshi daigaku kiyō, vol. 8. Woodhouse, E. 1988, Nichiro sensō wo enshutsushita otoko morison (Morrison, witness to the Russo-Japanese war), Tokyo: Tōyō keizai shinpōsha.
4 Ōtani, T. 1994, Kindai nihon no taigai senden (Modern Japan's external propaganda), Tokyo: Kenbun syuppan.
5 In Japanese, the term ‘senden’- propaganda or advertising, can be divided in two categories: ‘external propaganda’ (taigai senden), which refers to Japanese Government propaganda that targeted nations outside Japan, in particular Western nations, and ‘internal propaganda’ (tainai senden) which targeted Japanese citizens. In English, both categories can be termed ‘propaganda’, however, this paper uses the word ‘propaganda’ only to refer to external (taigai) propaganda.
6 Ariyama, T. 2013, Jyōhō haken to teikoku nihon I- Kaitei ke-buru to tsūshinsya no tanjyō (Information Hegemony and Imperial Japan 1- Undersea Cables and the birth of News Agencies), Tokyo: Yoshikawa Bunkyū. Ariyama, T. 2013, Jyōhō haken to teikoku nihon II-Tsūshin gijyutsu no kakudai to sendensen (Information Hegemony and Imperial Japan 2- The Expansion of Telecommunication Technology and Propaganda Wars), Tokyo: Yoshikawa Bunkyū.
Ariyama, T. 2016, Jyōhō haken to teikoku nihon III- Higashi Ajia denshinami to chōsen tsūshin shihai (Information Hegemony and Imperial Japan 3- The East Asian Telegraph Network and the control of Korean media), Tokyo: Yoshikawa Bunkyū.
7 Katayama, Y. 2009, Nichiro sensō to shinbun- ‘Sekai no naka no nihon’ wo do ronjita no ka (The Russo-Japanese War and Newspapers- How was ‘Japan as a world power’ discussed?), Tokyo: Kōdansha.
8 Ibid.
9 Hoare, J.E. 1999, ‘Captain Francis Brinkley (1841-1912): Yatoi, Scholar and Apologist’, Hoare, J.E. (ed.) Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. III, London: Routledge. Meißner, K. 2016, ‘Responsivity within the Context of Informal Imperialism: Oyatoi in Meiji Japan’, Journal of Modern European History, vol. 14, no.2.
10 While Peter O'Connor's 2010 The English-language Press Networks of East Asia, 1918-1945 (2010) deals with The Japan Times and the propaganda activities of Zumoto Motosada, his analysis is brief or included as background information.
11 Mark E. Caprio (2011) studies The Seoul Press (‘Marketing assimilation: The press and the formation of the Japanese-Korean colonial relationship’, Journal of Korean Studies, vol. 16, no.1.25) but fails to mention Zumoto or his propaganda activities at The Japan Times. Other English-language studies of Zumoto are almost 100 years old: Harry Emerson Wildes' 1927 Press Freedom in Japan and Charles Nelson Spinks' 1939 The Background of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
12 For example, Chong, Chin-sok's 1987 ‘Ernest Thomas Bethell and his newspapers: the Daehan Maeil Sinbo and the Korea Daily News: the Korean problem in Anglo-Japanese relations, 1904-1910‘, Nanam Publications.
13 Yi, S. & Park, I. 2008, ‘Souru puresu (The Seoul Press) to chosen shokuminchi tōchi shihai no ikkōsatsu’ (An examination of The Seoul Press and the Colonial Occupation of Korea), Bulletin of Tokyo Gakugei University, Humanities and Social Sciences I, vol. 59.
14 Kawaguchi, Y. 1986. ‘Kyōdo no eigaku senkakusha Zumoto Motosada’ (Zumoto Motosada, a local pioneer of English-language learning), Tottori jyoshi tanki daigaku kenkyū kiyō, vol.15, p3.
15 Ibid, p.1.
16 Ibid, p.3.
17 Endō, K. ‘Kashiramoto Motosada’, Chapter 25- ‘Kengai ni ashiato wo nokoshita hitobito’ (People who have left footprints outside the prefecture), Dainihen Kako no Hino chō (The Hino of the Past-Second Edition), p.651.
18 This school was founded in 1874 as ‘Aichi National School of Foreign Language’ (官立愛知 外国語学校) but its name changed to ‘Aichi National School of English’ (官立愛知英語学校) and then ‘Aichi Prefectural middle school’ (愛知県中学校). (Kawaguchi Yasuko. 1986, Kyōdo no eigaku senkakusha Zumoto Motosada (Zumoto Motosada, a local pioneer of English-language learning), Tottori jyoshi tanki daigaku kenkyū kiyō, vol.15, p3-5.)
19 Shirayama, E. 2008, ‘Kokusai jya-narisuto Zumoto Motosada to taiheiyō mondai chōsakai’, pp.235.
20 Ibid, 4-5.
21 Ibid, 3.
22 Ibid, p.6.
23 Ibid, p.6.
24 Ito, S. 2017, ‘Lineage dates back to Edo Period’, The Japan Times, 22nd March, p.8.
25 Shirayama, E. 2008, ‘Kokusai jya-narisuto Zumoto Motosada to taiheiyō mondai chōsakai’ (Zumoto Motosada and the Conference of the [sic] Pacific Relations), pp.235-236.
26 Ibid.
27 Zumoto, M. 1932. Itō Kō to Kenpō Seiji (Viscount Itō and Constitutional Government). Self-published, p.2. Author's translation.
28 Ibid, pp2-3. Author's translation.
29 Hasegawa, S. 1966. Jyapan taimuzu monogatari, p7.
30 Ibid, pp4-5. Author's translation.
31 Ibid, p.8. Author's translation.
32 O'Connor, P. 2010. The English-language Press Networks of East Asia, 1918-1945, Folkestone: Brill, p.33.
33 Shirayama, E. 2008. ‘Kokusai jya-narisuto Zumoto Motosada to taiheiyō mondai chōsakai’ (Zumoto Motosada and the Conference of the [sic] Pacific Relations), p.236.
34 Hasegawa, S. 1966. Jyapan taimuzu monogatari, p6.
35 Ibid, p.9.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid.
38 Fukuzawa, Y. 1885, ‘Datsu-A-Ron’, Jiji Shinpō, 16th March.
39 Hasegawa, S. 1966. Jyapan taimuzu monogatari, p6.
40 O'Connor, P. 2010. The English-language Press Networks of East Asia, 1918-1945, p.31.
41 Hoare, J.E. 1999. Hoare, J.E. (ed.) Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. III, p.103, (Original source: London and China Express 9th September 1897)
42 Ibid.
43 O'Connor, P. 2002, ‘The Japan Chronicle and its three editors, Robert Young, Morgan Young and Edwin Allington Kennard, 1891-1940‘, Cortazzi, H, ed. 2002. Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. IV, London: Routledge, p.459.
44 Ibid, p.337.
45 Ibid.
46 Williams, H.S. 1958, Tales of Foreign Settlements in Japan, Vermont: Tuttle, p.163.
47 Brinkley, F. & Kikuchi, D. 1912, A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era, London: The Encyclopaedia Britannica Co., p.1.
48 Hoare, J.E. 1999. Hoare, J.E. (ed.) Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. III, p. 103.
49 See ‘The Far East- Russians and Japanese in Korea’ 24th September 1897, ‘The Far East’ 5th November 1897, ‘Japan- On the Eve of the New Treaty Era’ 9th June 1899.
50 London and China Express, 9th September 1887 cited in Hoare, J.E. 1999. Hoare, J.E. ed. Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. III, p. 103.
51 JACAR(Japan Center for Asian Historical Records)Ref. A10110601400, Meiji 31nen 6 gatsu 27 nichi (27th June 1898). Sei roku i kun yontō Ariga Nagao hoka ichimei jyoi no ken (Senior Sixth Grade Fourth Order of Merit, Ariga Nagao another person Advancement of court rank). Daijyōkan-naikakukei, Jyoi saikasho-Meiji 31 nen- Jyoi maki no yon (Records Concernign Daijyōkan/Cabinet - Records on Ratification of Conferment of Ranks- 1898 - Advancement of court rank Volume 4) (kokuritsu kōbun shokan-National Archives of Japan).
52 ‘Our Raison D'Etre’, 1897, The Japan Times, 22nd March, p.2.
53 The Japan Times Archive, 22nd March 1897 issue.
54 JACAR(Japan Center for Asian Historical Records)Ref. B08090014100, Nisshin seneki ni saishi gaikoku shinbun sōjyū kankei zassan (Miscellaneous about operation of foreign newspapers during Sino-Japan War)- Eikoku no bu, Gaimushō Kiroku, (Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Great Britain Section)p.80.
55 Ibid.
56 ‘Jyapan Taimuzu Shinbun’, 1897, Jiji Shinpō, 2nd-7th March.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid.
60 ‘The Japan Times’, 1904, The Japan Times, 6th January.
61 Yi, S. & Park, I. 2008, ‘Souru puresu (The Seoul Press) to chosen shokuminchi tōchi shihai no ikkōsatsu’ (An examination of The Seoul Press and the Colonial Occupation of Korea), p.122.
62 O'Connor, P. 2010, The English-language Press Networks of East Asia, 1918-1945, p.33.
63 Ibid.
64 Caprio, M.E. 2011. ‘Marketing assimilation: The press and the formation of the Japanese-Korean colonial relationship’, Journal of Korean Studies, vol. 16, no.1-25. p.6.
65 O'Connor, P. 2010. The English-language Press Networks of East Asia, 1918-1945, p.33.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Yi, S. & Park, I. 2008, ‘Souru puresu (The Seoul Press) to chosen shokuminchi tōchi shihai no ikkōsatsu’ (An examination of The Seoul Press and the Colonial Occupation of Korea), pp.122-123.
70 United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division, Prince Itō and Crown Prince of Korea, Digital ID cph.3b20130.
71 Yi, S. & Park, I. 2008, ‘Souru puresu (The Seoul Press) to chosen shokuminchi tōchi shihai no ikkōsatsu’ (An examination of The Seoul Press and the Colonial Occupation of Korea), p.121-130.
72 National Institute of Korean History, ‘Kankoku kyūtei ni oite kikan shinbun hakkō no keikaku nikansuru ken‘(Concerning the Establishment of a Korean Palace News Organ) (Gaimudaijin Komura Jyūtarō hatsu, zaikan tokumei zenken taishi Hayashi Gonsuke ate bunsho, 1904/10/7- Letter from Foreign Minister Komura Jūtarō to ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary Hayashi Gonsuke 7th October 1904) Chūkan nihon kōshikan kiroku, 22 kan (Records of the Japanese Embassy in Korea, Volume 22)(Korean history database). Cowen's letter to Zumoto is attached to this document.
73 Hasegawa, S. 1966. Jyapan taimuzu monogatari (The Japan Times Story), p12.
74 Ibid.
75 ‘Death of Mr T. C. Cowen’, 1906, The Daily Mail, 3rd July, p.3.
76 ‘Our Raison D'Etre’, 1897, The Japan Times, 22nd March, p.2.
77 ‘UK journalist Bethell established newspapers in 1904‘, 2010,The Korea Times, 11th May.
78 Ibid. As Chong Chin-Sok indicates in Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. VIII. ‘Ernest Bethell’, pp.481-482, the Korea Daily News had a Korean-language sister paper called the Daehan Maeil Sinbo that also encouraged opposition to Japan. Being a Korean-language paper, it had a wider reach in Korea than its English counterpart and was consequently targeted by the Japanese government which petitioned Britain to deport Bethell and close down his papers.
79 National Institute of Korean History, ‘Kankoku kyūtei ni oite kikan shinbun hakkō no keikaku ni kansuru ken’ (Concerning the Establishment of a Korean Palace News Organ).
80 Ibid.
81 Joya, M. ‘Personality Profiles of Men Behind Paper's Destiny’, 1962, Japan Times, 22nd March.
82 O'Connor, P. 2010. The English-language Press Networks of East Asia, 1918-1945, Folkestone: Brill. p.33.
83 Ibid., pp.75-76.
84 National Diet Library Digital Collections, Taishō san nen nichidoku seneki shashin chō, Tokyō kaikōsha Taishō 4 nen (Japanese-German war Photograph Album 1914, Tokyo Kaikōsha, 1915).
85 ‘Our Raison D'Etre’, The Japan Times, 1897, 22nd March 1897, p.2.
86 Ibid.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid.
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid.
93 Our Financial Prospect', The Japan Times, 1897, 22nd March, p.2.
94 Ibid. (As there is no reference to which contemporary newspaper made the criticism, it is impossible to cite it here.)
95 Ibid.
96 Ibid.
97 Untitled Article, The Japan Times, 1897, 20th April, p.2.
98 Ibid.
99 Ibid.
100 ‘Our Raison D'Etre’, The Japan Times, 1897, 22nd March, p.2.
101 Hasegawa, S. 1966. Jyapan taimuzu monogatari, p2.
102 Although The Japan Times was the first Japanese-edited English-language newspaper, it did have a staff of native English speakers such as Thomas Cowen who would sub-edit the paper.
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