ABSTRACT
SOMETIMES loudly, sometimes in whispers, Japan’s “Monroe Doctrine” has been heralded for many years. If the original Monroe Doctrine, after having existed for so long, can still be considered by the Council of the League of Nations to be “an unsolved international conundrum,”2 the imitated tenet, on the other hand, may well be construed by partisan spokesmen as warranting Japan’s invasion of China. Although the existence of Japan’s Monroe Doctrine is well known, its origin has been shrouded in an atmosphere of mystery. It was not until the publication of Viscount Kaneko’s secret memoirs in the September (1932) issue of Contemporary Japan that this mystery was removed, and the world, for the first time, enlightened on the fact that it was no other than Theodore Roosevelt, one of America’s most famous Presidents, who was responsible for its enunciation.
