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This paper examines the Japanese factor in Afghanistan’s international relations from the Mukden Incident to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War and aims to offer a more three-dimensional understanding of the Great Game.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the Japanese factor in Afghanistan’s international relations from the Mukden Incident to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. Despite Afghanistan’s attainment of independence in 1919, Anglo-Russian rivalry over the country, known as the Great Game, persisted. Under these circumstances, the Afghan government sought to approach extra-regional great powers capable of acting as a “powerful patron” within the Great Game. In particular, considering the shift of Soviet strategic reorientation from Central Asia toward Far East following the Mukden Incident, the Afghan government moved closer to Japan, one of the principal actors in this shift, in an effort to counterbalance the Soviet influence.

Nevertheless, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sought closer relations with Afghanistan as a means of establishing an intelligence-gathering base concerning Xinjiang and of gaining diplomatic leverage vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. Simultaneously, the Kwantung Army conceived plans to link up with the Berlin–Kabul route operated by Lufthansa, conceptualizing Afghanistan as a communications hub linking Japan and Germany. Taken together, these initiatives positioned Afghanistan within Japan’s external strategy as a nodal point for intelligence and communications oriented toward Central Asia.

Following the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Army General Staff sought to disrupt Soviet supply lines to China by inciting the Basmachi movement, using Japan’s legation in Kabul as a base of operations. Such actions risked entailing Afghanistan into a conflict with the Soviet Union and consequently led the Afghan government to adopt a more cautious stance toward Japan. Concurrently, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey concluded a mutual non-aggression pact―the Saadabad Pact―, thereby constructing a regional security system designed to counter great-power rivalry. Japanese maneuvers threatened to destabilize this system, and Turkey in particular came to perceive Japan as a potential security threat, even contemplating the possibility of declaring war.

By analyzing Japanese–Afghan relations in the 1930s, this paper aims to offer a more three-dimensional understanding of the Great Game, which has hitherto been predominantly interpreted through the trilateral relationship among Britain, the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan.

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The research examines how three diplomats of Armenian origin, Diana Apcar, Hovhannes Masehian, and Hovhannes Tevosyan, each serving under different states, played a decisive role in establishing and restoring diplomatic relations with Japan on behalf of Armenia, Persia, and the Soviet Union.

Paper long abstract

This research examines the work of Armenian-origin diplomats who served in Japan in the first half of the 20th century on behalf of the First Republic of Armenia, Persia, and the Soviet Union. The study aims to reveal their contributions to the establishment and development of bilateral relations between Japan and the countries they represented.

Diana Apcar, the first Armenian woman to hold the title of honorary consul, became a central figure in early Armenian-Japanese relations through her work in Japan in the early 20th century. Apcar distinguished herself by protecting Armenian refugees. She promoted international awareness of the Armenian Question, acted as an intermediary in diplomatic matters, and produced a body of literary work that supported her mission.

The appointment of Hovhannes Khan Masehian as the first Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Persia to Japan carries special significance. Following the establishment of diplomatic and commercial relations with Japan, the Persian government entrusted its representation in Japan to Masehian, an Armenian Christian who was held in high regard by the Persian royal family. His role reflects both the trust placed in him and the broader presence of Armenians within the administrative structures of Persia.

Hovhannes Tevosyan became the first Soviet ambassador to Japan after the WW2, during the period when diplomatic relations between the USSR and Japan were being restored. His mission was vital for renewing political dialogue. His contribution became even more important given the tense political climate of the time. He facilitated the easing of hostility between the two countries and supported the development of a new diplomatic course.

The careers of these Armenian diplomats show that their appointments were shaped by the global dispersion of Armenians, their personal and professional skills, the international respect they enjoyed, and their strong presence within the state institutions they served. Their work left a lasting mark on the history of bilateral relations between their respective states and Japan, and highlights the broader diplomatic potential of Armenians on the international stage.

Keywords: Armenian diplomats, Japan, 20th century, Diana Apcar, Hovhannes Masehian, Hovhannes Tevosyan, Armenian-Japanese relations, Persian-Japanese relations, Soviet-Japanese relations.

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This study will examine the case of the Network Nikkei Initiative (NETNI Chile), to explore the actions and practices of Nikkei actors, and their relationships with the Japanese government. It is argued that young Nikkei are integral participants in Japan’s public diplomacy in Chile.

Paper long abstract

This study will examine the case of the Network Nikkei Initiative (NETNI Chile), created in 2018 by young Nikkei Chileans to identify new generations of Nikkei in Chile, with the support of the Japanese government, to both address the low participation of Chilean Nikkei youth in social and community activities, and to develop a network.

Through this case, this presentation aims to reflect on the initiatives and agency of Japanese-Chilean (Nikkei) associations and networks in Chile. It seeks to explore the actions and practices of Chilean Nikkei actors, as well as their relationships with Japanese government agencies such as JICA and the respective embassy. Central questions guiding this study include: Can their practices and initiatives be understood as diplomatic actions? And how can their relationship withthe Japanese government be interpreted?

For that, this presentation will examine data collected through document and secondary research, as well as fieldwork conducted in Chile between 2023 and 2026. Drawing on relational and diaspora diplomacy, this presentation argues that through initiatives like NETNI, young Nikkei are demonstrating strong agency, positioning themselves as valid diplomatic actors and integral participants in Japan’s public diplomacy in Chile, by establishing a collaborative diplomatic relationship with the Japanese government, despite the difference in their purposes.

The ultimate goal of this presentation is to explore the scope of the conceptual framework of diaspora diplomacy and to propose a new way of understanding the practices and actions of Nikkei actors within Japan’s diplomacy.

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This dissertation argues that Japan’s persistent status seeking reflects a continuous performance of the state as a “real” actor. Using a performativity approach, it shows continuity in status construction across varied Japanese governments in the period 2006–2020.

Paper long abstract

This dissertation project answers the overarching question of why Japan keeps pursuing status without end in its international relations. Concern about status is perhaps the constant in Japanese international relations, from the Meiji Restoration to the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars to the imperial pursuit leading up to WWII to the economic boom of the 1960s-80s through to the “normal state” discourse of the post-Cold War and Japan’s subsequent military buildup. Through these more than 150 years, Japan achieved much across every thinkable metric, yet status insecurities never seem to dissipate. This observation goes against traditional IR scholarship on status, which assumes a finality to status seeking. To answer the overarching question, the dissertation examines how Japanese status was produced in its international relations in the years 2006-2020. Previous research on Japanese foreign policy – a key institution in a country’s international relation – during these years emphasizes the differences between the different LDP governments 2006-2009, the DPJ governments 2009-2012, and the second Abe government 2012-2020. This dissertation therefore takes these years to be a “least likely case” of Japan pursuing status in a consistent way. Analyzing the three political sites of elite narratives, academic narratives and visual narratives, it argues that, in fact, these years saw a core continuity in the construction or “performance” of Japan as a “real actor” that is “strong”, “autonomous” and of “high rank” in international relations, the status construction that reappears perennially in discourses on Japan’s international relations at large. The dissertation employs a performativity view of “status”, where status is seen as part of “statecraft” that is constantly performed, or in other words, that which makes up the subject of the “state”. Japan’s perennial status seeking is, as such, an effort to constantly reproduce the state, more specifically as a “real actor”. The attraction toward producing the state as a “real actor” stems from, the dissertation argues, a normative commitment among actors to “autonomous individuality” as the ideal type of agency in various fields of social life, a commitment that cuts across the mutually constitutive fields of (academic) International Relations and world politics.