This lecture is part of a wider project examining how a spectrum of Japanese Buddhist leaders perceived, and sought to influence, international political issues during the interwar period. It will situate the theme of racial prejudice within this broader context, then explore in detail Buddhist reactions both to the abandonment of the “racial equality clause” at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and to the implementation of the US Immigration Act of 1924, informally known as the “Japanese Exclusion Law.” The lecture also seeks to connect these Buddhist reactions to broader interpretive issues of the period.

*** John LoBreglio is editor of The Eastern Buddhist, which is based at Otani University in Kyoto. He was formerly Senior Lecturer of Japanese Studies at Oxford Brookes University, where he taught courses on Japanese religious history, modern Japanese history, and Western perceptions of Japan and the Japanese. In recent years his research has focused upon the effects of Western imperialism upon Japan from the mid-nineteenth century and is informed by postcolonial methods of analysis.


Date&Time: July 10, 2026 (Fri.) 10:45-12:15
Venue: Tohoku University Kawauchi Kita Campus (Sendai, Japan). Grad. School of Intl. Cultural Studies, r. 302 west bldg. (MAP) 
Capacity: 30
Registration: Not required


Organized by: Tohoku University, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Department of Japanese Religion and Intellectual History

<Contact>
Orion Klautau(Department of Japanese Religion and Intellectual History)
E-mail: klautau[at]tohoku.ac.jp(Please replace “[at]” with “@”.)