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Paper short abstract

This paper examines the engagement between Japanese noblewoman Kuroda Masako and Ethiopian nobleman Araya Abebe, exploring its global significance as a symbol of transnational solidarity among non-white communities in the 1930s.

Paper long abstract

In 1934, the widely publicized engagement between Japanese noblewoman Kuroda Masako and Ethiopian nobleman Araya Abebe drew international attention, symbolizing hopes for a racially equal world. Using this unrealized union as a point of departure, this paper foregrounds the voice of Kuroda Masako, a racially equal imperial feminist who tried to foster her vision of women's active participation in empire-building, even in new contexts for Japan such as Ethiopia. By illuminating her initiatives, the paper reveals why her perspectives resonated not only in the women’s press but also n a much larger intellectual scene that included Pan-Asian and Pan-African activists. The widespread resonance of the Kuroda-Araya engagement across various non-governmental actors worldwide posed a challenge to state-sanctioned agendas in multiple countries, which were unwilling to endorse an unprecedented alliance among Ethiopia, Japan, and the African American community—an alliance that challenged dominant Western and white civilizational narratives. As a result, the engagement created a rupture between popular sentiment and official policy, ultimately prompting Japan’s disengagement from Ethiopia well before the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.