Archives Unbound:
Asian Studies
 
Archives Unbound: Asian Studies

With extensive coverage of Japan, China, and Korea from 1910 to 1950, this collection supports the study of colonialism, politics, nationalism, military actions, government systems, economics, and even geography of Asia during a critical period of engagement with the Western nations.

Japan

Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports Japan (1941-1961) - This series consists of reports, studies, and surveys on various topics of interest to the Department of State. The reports vary from short memorandums to detailed, documented studies. The topics range from individual commodities or countries to the economic and political characteristics of whole regions. This collection consists of research and intelligence reports prepared during 1941-1947 on Japan.

Evangelism in Japan: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1859-1911 - The American Presbyterian Church was committed at its inception to the belief that it is a missionary church and that every member is a missionary. The establishment in 1837 of the Presbyterian Church’s Board of Foreign Missions signaled the beginning of a worldwide missionary operation destined to embrace some fifteen countries in four different continents The records offered here provide invaluable information on social conditions in Japan and on efforts to spread the gospel during the nineteenth century. Documenting the church’s educational, evangelical, and medical work, these are records mainly of incoming correspondence from the mission field and outgoing correspondence from the Board headquarters.

Japan and Korea: Summation of Nonmilitary Activities, 1945-1948 - The rebuilding of postwar Japan and southern Korea by Allied occupation forces is described herein a series of thirty-six monthly reports. The reports offer detailed information on industrial reparations; conversion of production from military to consumer goods; land reform; restructuring of educational, public health, and welfare programs; and the establishment of a liberal, democratic political system. The reports on SCAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers) activities in Korea cover the administration of civil affairs and reconstructive efforts under the military occupation government and later the South Korean Interim Government. This digital archive is based on eight microfilm rolls.

Japan at War and Peace, 1930-1949: U.S. State Department Records on the Internal Affairs of Japan - During the 1920s and early 1930s, Japan progressed toward a democratic system of government. However, parliamentary government was not rooted deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which expansionism and militarization became increasingly influential in government and society.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Commercial Relations, 1910-1949 - This archive reproduces microfilm of the U.S. Department of State Decimal Files 611.94 and 6194.11. The documents trace the commercial relations between the United States and Japan over the course of almost half a century in the years 1910-1929, 1930-1939, 1940-1944, and 1945-1949. The files are predominantly instructions to -- and despatches from -- diplomatic and consular officials. Notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomats in the United States, memoranda prepared by State Department officials, and correspondence with officials of other government departments and with private businesses and persons are also featured. Subjects include: advertising, aircraft, commerce, customs administration, drug regulations, duties, embargo, free ports, landing certificates, law, markets, merchandise, prison-made goods, pure food, and drug regulations, smuggling, tariff treaties, export and import trade, undervaluation of imported merchandise, among many other topics.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Commercial Relations, 1950-1963 - This archive reproduces Decimal File 494 and is based on the microfilm title Records Relating to U.S. Commercial Relations with Japan, for the years 1950-1954, 1955-1959, and 1960-1963. The documents in this collection are predominantly instructions to -- and despatches from -- diplomatic and consular officials are often accompanied by enclosures. Notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomats in the United States, memoranda prepared by State Department officials, and correspondence with officials of other government departments and with private businesses and persons are also included.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, 1950-1954 - The documents in this collection are predominantly instructions to and dispatches from U.S. diplomatic and consular staff regarding political, economic, military, social, and other internal conditions in Japan. Documents also include reports and memoranda prepared by U.S. State Department staff, communications between the State Department and foreign governments, and correspondence with other departments of the U.S. government, private firms, and individuals. Contained here are U.S. Department of State Decimal Files 794, 894, and 994, entitled Records Relating to the Internal Affairs of Japan, for the years 1950-1954.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, 1955-1959 - The documents in this collection are predominantly instructions to and dispatches from U.S. diplomatic and consular staff regarding political, economic, military, social, and other internal conditions in Japan. Documents also include reports and memoranda prepared by U.S. State Department staff, communications between the State Department and foreign governments, and correspondence with other departments of the U.S. government, private firms, and individuals. Contained here are U.S. Department of State Decimal Files 794, 894, and 994, entitled Records Relating to the Internal Affairs of Japan, for the years 1955-1959.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Political Relations, 1930-1939 - The year 1931 stands as a major turning point in Japan’s modern history. In September 1931 Japanese armed forces overran Manchuria, committing their government to a course of direct action in Asia and, ultimately, to the rejection of the structure of international relations which had emerged in the 1920s. By 1940 Japan was caught up in a cycle of extreme nationalism, isolation, and ultimately war with the United States. This archive charts a key decade in U.S.-Japanese relations. It is one of three digital collections based on the microfilm title Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to United States Political Relations with Japan, 1930-1954. The source material contains Decimal File 711.94.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Political Relations, 1940-1944 - This archive traces the outbreak of the U.S. war with Japan in December 1941 through 1944. It is one of three digital collections based on the microfilm title Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to United States Political Relations with Japan, 1930-1954. The source material contains Decimal File 711.94.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Political Relations, 1945-1949 - Japan in the summer of 1945 was a nation totally exhausted by war. The Allied Occupation, dedicated to political and social reform, thoroughly transformed the country in a remarkably short period of time. This is one of three digital collections based on the microfilm title Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to United States Political Relations with Japan, 1930-1954. The source material contains Decimal File 711.94.

Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1950-1959 - In 1945 Japan was a devastated and occupied country. A decade later it reemerged as an independent state within an American-led order of capitalist states. This rapid transformation was the product of the unusual circumstances of the U.S. occupation and the global rivalry of the Cold War. Eager to ensure Japan’s dependability as an anti-Communist ally in Asia, staunch anti-Communist leaders found favor with the occupation, and postwar Japan was born as a coalescence of renewed commitments to democracy and an East Asia fractured by U.S.-Soviet rivalry. The primary beneficiaries of this formula became Japan’s export industries. Favorable currency exchange rates gave Japanese manufactures easy access to the large U.S. market. In these years, Japan’s economy grew at a double-digit pace. Commercial documents include, for example, Pacific Ocean Fisheries Convention between the United States, Canada, and Japan (1950); the duty of frozen tuna fish (1951); finding of “radioactive radiation in the fisherman, fish and boat affected by the explosion of the hydrogen bomb at Bikini” (March 1954); records of Philippine tourists to Japan 1953-1956. Diplomatic correspondences include those of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and discussions of U.S.-Japanese policies in the Pacific and East Asia (June 1957).

Japan: U.S. Naval Technical Mission, 1945-1946 - The U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan was established on 14 August 1945. The purpose of the mission was to survey Japanese scientific and technological developments of interest to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in the Japanese islands of Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, Hokkaido; China; and parts of Korea. The enterprise entailed the seizure of intelligence material, its examination, the interrogation of personnel, and ultimately the preparation of reports which would appraise the technological status of Japanese industry and the Japanese navy. During the period of operation, a total of 655 officers and men served the organization and 185 individual reports were published.

Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group Records, 1979-1981 - On May 2, 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira met in Washington, D.C., and agreed to establish the Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group—informally known as the “Wise Men.” This small group of distinguished persons drawn from private life would submit recommendations to Carter and Ohira for maintaining a healthy bilateral economic relationship between the United States and Japan. Among the issues considered were the role of economic issues in the overall “political-security-cultural relationship,” especially Japan’s emerging position as a world power; Japan’s future comprehensive economic security needs; and its involvement in foreign assistance programs. The Group actively solicited the views of the American public (Congress, business, labor, agriculture, public interest groups) to provide an additional forum for those who wished to be heard. The Group also drew upon research that was currently underway in the two countries and sponsored a modest program of separate independent research.

Records of the Far Eastern Commission, 1945–1952 - All the activities of the multinational Far Eastern Commission (FEC), which oversaw the postwar governing and reconstruction of Japan, are fully documented in this publication. The collection includes two distinct sets of records: The first set contains the FEC's official policy statements, or action plans. The commission released statements on practically every aspect of the occupation, ranging from Japan's post-surrender policy to all facets of that country's economic development. The second set contains primary materials upon which policy statements were formulated and includes: reports, photographs, clippings, and position papers for investigation of the economic and political reconstruction of Japan, and the interactions of powerful nations with very different objectives.

The Papers of Sir Ernest Mason Satow - A collection of prominent British diplomat Ernest M. Satow's private, diplomatic and other correspondence, letter books, diaries, and papers. Sir Ernest Mason Satow (1843–1929) was a legendary British diplomat, a key figure in East Asia and Anglo-Japanese and -Chinese relations, particularly in Bakumatsu (1853–1867) and Meiji Era (1868–1912) Japan, and in China after the Boxer Rebellion (1900–1906). He also served in Siam (present-day Thailand), Uruguay, and Morocco, and represented Britain at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. This collection, sourced from the UK National Archives, consists of Satow's private, diplomatic and other correspondence, letter books, diaries, and papers. His diary included herein covers a period of over sixty-five years (1861 to 1926). With the exception of a few drafts among those addressed to Lord Reay, the letters are all originals that appear to have been returned to Sir Ernest Satow after the death of their several recipients.