Pan-Asianism

The concept of Asianism in Japan and China has changed during the early 20th century from a foreign-imposed and negatively received, to a self-referential and embraced concept, according to historian Torsten Weber.

Japanese Pan-Asianism

Japanese Pan-Asianism includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Oceania.

The concept of a unified Asia under Japanese leadership had its roots dating back to the 16th century. For example, Toyotomi Hideyoshi proposed to make China, Korea, and Japan into "one". Moreover, Hideyoshi had further planned to expand into India, the Philippines, and other islands in the Pacific.

Originally, Japanese Pan-Asianism believed that Asians shared a common heritage and must therefore collaborate in defeating their Western colonial masters. However, Japanese Asianism mostly focused on East Asian territories, with occasional references to South East Asia and West Asia.

The first lasting pan-Asianist organisation started in Japan. In 1877, inspired by Ōkubo Toshimichi's promise to Chinese statesman Li Hongzhang to promote Chinese-language schools in Japan as a channel of mutual understanding, a Pan-Asianist body was established in Japan known as Shin'akai (Promoting Asia Society), followed by the more successful Kōakai (Raising Asia Society) in 1880. Both focused on the promotion of mutual understanding through providing language education, setting up schools in Japan for teaching Chinese and Korean languages, as well as branches in Korean and Chinese cities. China's envoys to Japan and Korean reformers held membership, and even two diplomats from the Ottoman Empire. The Society used Classical Chinese as the common language of East Asian Pan-Asianists. Japanese Pan-Asianism before 1895 was characterized by an egalitarian view on relations between China, Korea and Japan; in order to avoid the accusation that Japan sought to 'lead' Asia, the Kōakai changed its name to the "Asia Association."

Pan-Asianist ideologues included Tokichi Tarui (1850–1922) who argued for equal Japan-Korea unionization for cooperative defence against the European powers, and Kentaro Oi (1843–1922) who attempted to push social reforms in Korea and establish a constitutional government in Japan. Pan-Asian thought in Japan was further popularized following the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). This sparked interest from Indian poets Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo and Chinese politician Sun Yat-sen.

The growing official interest in broader Asian concerns was shown in the establishment of facilities for Indian Studies. In 1899, Tokyo Imperial University set up a chair in Sanskrit and Kawi, with a further chair in comparative religion being set up in 1903. In this environment, a number of Indian students came to Japan in the early twentieth century, founding the Oriental Youngmen's Association in 1900. Their anti-British political activity caused consternation to the Indian Government, following a report in the London Spectator.

Okakura Kakuzō, a scholar and art critic, also praised the superiority of Asian values upon Japanese victory of the Russo-Japanese War:

The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritance of every Asiatic race, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world, and distinguishing them from those maritime peoples of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, who love to dwell on the Particular, and to search out the means, not the end, of life.

In this, Kakuzō was utilising the Japanese concept of sangoku, which existed in Japanese culture before the concept of Asia became popularised. Sangoku literally means the "three countries": Honshu (the largest island of Japan), Kara (China) and Tenjiku (India).

However, Japanese Pan-Asianism evolved into a more nationalist ideology that prioritized Japan's interests. This was evident by the growth of secret societies such as Black Ocean Society and the Black Dragon Society, which committed criminal activities to ensure the success of Japanese expansionism. Exceptionally, Ryōhei Uchida (1874–1937), who was a member of the Black Dragon Society, was a Japan-Korea unionist and supported Filipino and Chinese revolutions. In addition, Asian territories were seen as reservoirs of economic resources and outlets for the Emperor's "glory" to be displayed. These were evident in government policies such as the Hakkō ichiu and Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere agendas. Even Kakuzō was critical of Japan's expansionism after the Russo-Japanese War, viewing it as no different than Western expansionism. He expected other Asians to call them "embodiments of the White Disaster".

Historian Torsten Weber compares these contradictions to the Monroe Doctrine, which opposed European imperialism to foster the unimpeded growth of American imperialism.

Japanese pan-Asianism had strong connections to pan-Islamist circles in a mutual anti-Western frame work from the early 20th century, with the Japanese being seen as key force against Western imperialism after the Russo-Japanese War. Key figures in this include Russian Tatar Abdürreshid Ibrahim and Japanese figures like Hasan Hatano Uho. It included advocacy groups and papers, such as the Agia Gikai.