A World of Crisis and Progress: The American YMCA in Japan, 1890-1930

Three related themes weave through the experience of the American YMCA missionaries and Japanese Christians between 1890-1930: the connection between national identity and Christianity, resulting conflicts between these Christians, and an alternating sense of crisis and progress. In the 1920s, tensions between Americans and Japanese leaders led the American YMCA missionary movement to reevaluate its purpose and forced it away from nationalism.