ABSTRACT
In relation to the broad theme of the dilemma between internationalism and nationalism in modern Japan, Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957) is a particularly striking example of the magnitude of that intellectual conflict in one and the same person. Tokutomi, the son of a well-to-do family in Minamata (Kumamoto), was one of a new generation of intellectuals that emerged in the post-Meiji Restoration years who were schooled in some of the first Western-style institutions and embraced the ideals of contemporary Western political thought. Lacking the sort of clan affiliations that would almost certainly have guaranteed him a position in the government bureaucracy, he turned to journalism and emerged as one of the most prolific and influential figures of the next 50 years. Kokumin no Tomo (The Nation’s Friend), published from February 1887 until August 1898, was set up under the auspices of the Minyusha in which Tokutomi was the leading figure. It was undoubtedly one of the most diverse and provocative journal-style publications of that period, providing a crucial vehicle not only for the promotion of Tokutomi’s liberalism but also for the development of up-and-coming writers and critics in a more general literary sense. The Kokumin Shinbun, by contrast, was a more clearly focused political tabloid, which during its long run of publication from 1890 to 1942 became the definitive platform for Tokutomi’s commentary on his nation’s development, changing its orientation very much in tandem with the process of political reorientation that was undergone by Tokutomi himself.
