Japan’s role in the First World War will be the focus for a lecture in London on February 15th 2016.
Allied to the Entente powers, Japan provided naval support for the Allies, not only in the Pacific but also as far afield as the Mediterranean. A Japanese Imperial Navy task force was sent to Malta in 1917.
But Professor Ian Gow will argue that Japan’s WW1 contribution ‘has not been fairly and positively acknowledged’.
“Evaluations tend to range between Japan as a ‘hyena state’ feeding off the spoils of war at worst or an ally driven mainly by self-interest and opportunism,” says Professor Gow, who will be speaking at the event organised by the Japan Society, a UK-based education charity promoting Anglo-Japanese relations.
His lecture is entitled Japan’s Role in the Great War 1914-18: A Reassessment from a Military History Perspective.
Professor Ian Gow is Director of the Confucius Institute at Glasgow University. He’s also been a visiting professor at Japanese universities.
The free lecture takes place on Monday February 15th at 6.45pm. The venue is the Swedenborg Hall, 20-21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH. Full details here.
Information & images (Japanese battleship Suwo/Wikipedia/Public Domain) courtesy of The Japan Society
Posted by: CN Deputy Editor