Japan, Turkey and the World of Islam

Comparisons and Deflections: Indian Nationalists in the Political Economy of Japanese Imperialism, 1931–1938

“…It is also important to understand this paradox by considering how Japanese intellectuals understood and interpreted pan-nationalist movements, as well as the political trends that developed in India during the 1930s. Much has been written about how Japanese Pan-Asianists, such as Ōkawa Shūmei, sought to build connections and support anticolonial nationalist movements in the Islamic world (Aydin 2007;Esenbel 2011). However, the situation was more complicated regarding the question of India's Muslims.…”

“…Cross-Currents 32 | 121 nationalist agenda, his views were not universally accepted within the Indian community in Japan. 9 Much has been written about the establishment of mosques in Kobe and Tokyo as indicative of Japanese appeals to Pan-Islamism to build alliances with the Muslim world (Aydin 2007;Esenbel 2011). However, as the case of Niaz shows, members of the Indian Muslim community in Kobe had to navigate between the activities of the British and Japanese empires as well as those of Bose and Sahay.…”

“…Much has been written about Japanese overtures calling for anticolonial solidarity outside the traditional area-studies definition of "East Asia." The works of Cemil Aydin (2007) and Selçuk Esenbel (2011) are noted for their immense contributions in understanding Japan's relationship with the Islamic world. Similarly, scholars such as Joseph Calvitt Clarke (2011), Marc Gallicchio (2000, and Gerald Horne (2018) have drawn attention to the fascinating connections between Japan, Africa, and Black…”

Managing Muslims: imperial Japan, Islamic policy, and Axis connections during the Second World War

“…Krämer points out that there were over 100,000 Qur'ans sold in translation in Japan in the 1930s, indicating that there was a growing interest among regular Japanese people about Islam that went beyond simply achieving foreign policy objectives. 49 As Japanese scholars of Islam searched for words in their lexicon to convey the meaning of Arabic words, they struggled with how to deal with 'theologically charged concepts'. 50 Translators wondered if they should 'make use of pre-existing religious terminology to facilitate understanding and evoke religious associations, should they resort to seemingly neutral terms to avoid such associations, or should they even try to invent new words not tainted with potentially misleading earlier notions'.…”