Japan and the Wider World in the Decade of the Great War: Introduction

Abstract

This introductory chapter of book views the through two lenses, both wide-ranging effects of Great War, and longer temporal framework that goes beyond chronological confines of 1910-1919. For East Asia, 1910s were high-water mark of a particular type of international relations, in which Japan saw itself, and was seen by others, as a role model for nation-building projects across region, even as Japanese foreign policy worked largely in cooperation with that of dominant Anglo- American powers. It was period in which Japan achieved early Meiji objective of acceptance among ranks of imperial powers and during which it acted within confines of order established by leading Western states, even as it asserted greater political, economic, and cultural influence within East Asia. Keywords: East Asia; Great War; Japan