Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the American missionary in Japan, William Imbrie, and the political activities that he undertook to lobby for the end of the unequal treaties with the West and to discourage the rise of the 'Yellow Peril' discourse.

Paper long abstract:

Around the time of the formation of the unequal treaties between Japan and US and the other Western powers in 1858, a gradual influx of Christian missionaries came to Japan. Generally speaking the Catholics focused upon the lower classes and rural areas while the Protestant denominations courted the elite and the urban population. This paper focuses on one particular American Presbyterian missionary, William Imbrie, who arrived in Japan in 1875. Imbrie was involved in founding Meiji Gakuin University, whose library still contains the richest primary sources concerning his activities in Japan. His life as a missionary was not restricted to teaching Christianity and encouraging education more broadly, for his sympathy for Japan led him to become a defender of the Japanese side in some of its negotiations with the Treaty Powers, such as the Normanton Incident in 1886, and to emerge as an active proponent of the view that the West should be prepared to engage in treaty revision. Even after the removal of unequal treaties in the mid-1890s he continued to be an important vocal figure in stressing Japan's progressive sympathies. Most notably, he argued against the trend to see Japan in 'Yellow Peril' terms and was active in ensuring that the Russo-Japanese conflict of 1904-5 could not be viewed as a war between Buddhism and Christianity. This paper therefore re-examines Western perceptions of Japan through the eyes of a missionary who had a sincere appreciation of Japanese culture and who continually emphasized the Japanese aptitude for progress.