ABSTRACT
Sakurai Jōji (1858–1939) is now recognized as a highly significant person in the history of science in Japan due in no small part to the extensive discussion of his career in James Bartholomew’s Formation of Science in Japan. 1 He was an organic and physical chemist by training with some reputation as a research scientist and skilled teacher during the Meiji period. 2 However, it was above all as an organizer and diplomat of science in Japan, particularly active during the interwar period, that he gained recognition. Sakurai was involved in establishing three principal organizations for scientific research, all eventually utilized to some extent for the mobilization of scientists for colonial exploitation and war efforts during World War II: the Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (Rikagaku Kenkyūjo or RIKEN, est. 1917), the National Research Council of Japan (Gakujutsu Kenkyū Kaigi or GAKKEN, est. 1920), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Nihon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai or GAKUSHIN, est. 1932). 3 He also assumed the presidency of the Imperial Academy (Teikoku Gakushiin) and the office of privy councilor from 1926 until his death in 1939. He stood quite literally at the crossroads of science and empire-building in interwar Japan. This essay addresses two questions: to what degree did Sakurai’s vision of science and empire, if any, shape the development of science in Japan? To what extent was he an unwitting accomplice to empire-building?
