The Turning Point in US-Japan Relations: Hanihara’s Cherry Blossom Diplomacy in 1920-1930

This book analyses two international incidents in the 1920s shocked Japan and changed the way in which the country looked at the West. In the Paris Peace Conference, Japanese proposed Racial Equality Bill was defeated. In 1924, the US passed the immigration law that singularly excluded Japanese from immigration. Little known today, the two incidents made significant impact on Japanese mind-set. Detailed study of the two incidents reveals how they contributed towards the drastic transformation of Japan, from the liberal thinking Taisho Democracy in the 1920s to the violent rise of ultra- nationalism in the 1930s. Departing from a purely academic style writing, the story develops around the life of Hanihara Masanao, Japanese diplomat, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and ultimately the Ambassador to Washington during the fateful years of 1923-24. A unique pair of a Japanese Studies scholar in Australia and a leading investigative journalist in Japan undertook the work. Rigorous archival search extended over Japan, the United States, Australia and Europe resulted in a significant amount of new materials never published in English before.