Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the intelligence activities of Chinese language specialist and diplomat Shigemitsu Iwamura from 1897 through the 1930s, aiming to clarify how the Chinese language was used as a diplomatic tool in MOFA's information strategy, and its effect on the pre-war Sino-Japan relationship.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to explore a new dimension in Japanese diplomatic history by examining how a foreign language can be used to convey, collect, analyze and translate information in a diplomatic network. By focusing on the long-ignored Chinese language specialist and China expert, officer Iwamura Shigemitsu (1867-1943), this paper offers a glimpse inside the intelligence strategies of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in relation to Chinese affairs during the prewar period.

Until now, scholars have written specifically on prewar MOFA in relation to Chinese affairs, focusing on the formulation of foreign policy, personnel system construction, the consular system and its human resources. However, there is a lack of research on "non-career (middle-ranking)" China expert officers and how their Chinese language expertise was utilized in intelligence activities. To better understand Iwamura's diplomatic activities in Chinese affairs and his attitudes towards the Chinese language, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of officer Iwamura in the context of the utilization of the Chinese language in the bureaucratic structure and the routes along which the collected intelligence information was delivered. We gathered MOFA's official documents, along with published essays, a dictionary, and textbooks written by Iwamura to trace his activities and analyze the evolution of his diplomatic work.

To study the use of the Chinese language in Japan's intelligence network, we divide Iwamura's diplomatic activities into three periods. First, we provide a brief overview of Iwamura's acquisition of Chinese boosted by MOFA's personnel selection policy and how the dictionary he compiled contributed to diplomacy in China affairs. The dictionary was designed to disseminate the correct pronunciation of north Mandarin (1867-1899). Second, we examine how Iwamura undertook intelligence analysis and diplomatic negotiation in the Chinese language after he consolidated his position in MOFA (1899-1926). Finally, we focus on Iwamura's expanding range of activities after arriving back in Japan from two perspectives: how Chinese knowledge was utilized within MOFA to facilitate the exchange of academic information, and how it was utilized outside MOFA to educate the Japanese public about the Chinese language through the mass media (the 1930s-1941).

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