Humanitarian Internationalism Under Empire: The Global Evolution of the Japanese Red Cross Movement, 1877-1945

Winner, 2026 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize

This book examines the history of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) and through it offers a new account of the humanitarian movement in modern Japan. Michiko Suzuki argues that contrary to its typical portrayal, the JRCS was not wholly subordinate to the government and the Imperial Family, nor was it derivative of Western values and institutional models. Instead, the JRCS operated within a transnational discourse, both contributing to and borro...