Internationalism in Crisis: The Fifteenth International Conference of the Red Cross in Tokyo, 1934

The Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) was Japan’s first international humanitarian organisation and among the largest civic organisations in the world before 1945. In 1934, it hosted the Fifteenth International Conference of the Red Cross in Tokyo, which was the first to convene in Asia. The conference was the largest international humanitarian congress of the interwar period; invited guests came from all five continents representing both nation-states and colonial possessions in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. 

This lecture explores the JRCS’ humanitarian diplomacy during the Conference, under the leadership of JRCS President Tokugawa Iesato (1863-1940), the Sixteenth head of the Tokugawa Family. The Great Depression, the Manchurian Incident, the rise of National Socialism in Germany, Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations, and the resurgence of political and economic nationalism worldwide created an atmosphere of great global uncertainty. Amidst great international tensions, the Conference unanimously adopted the Tokyo Declaration of 1934; while not approved by Great Powers, would become the foundation of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. In the process, the JRCS successfully coordinated its activities with numerous National Red Cross Societies, including Societies of nations at odds with Japan’s foreign policy, notably such as the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) and the American Red Cross (ARC).  

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About the speaker 

Michiko Suzuki is a research scholar in the history of modern and contemporary Japan at the University of Tokyo and received her doctorate at SOAS University of London. She is the author of Humanitarian Internationalism Under Empire: The Global Evolution of the Japanese Red Cross Movement, 1877-1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2024). 

JRC Meiji Jingu Autumn Lecture 2024

The Japan Research Centre Meiji Jingu Autumn Lecture is sponsored through the generosity of the Meiji Jingu-Intercultural Research Institute.

• Organiser: SOAS Japan Research Centre
• Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk

Header image: Humanitarian Internationalism Under Empire: The Global Evolution of the Japanese Red Cross Movement, 1877-1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2024).