This lecture is part of a wider project examining how a spectrum of Japanese Buddhist leaders perceived, and sought to influence, international political issues during the interwar period.

It will situate the theme of racial prejudice within this broader context, then explore in detail Buddhist reactions both to the abandonment of the "racial equality clause" at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and to the implementation of the US Immigration Act of 1924, informally known as the "Japanese Exclusion Law." The lecture also seeks to connect these Buddhist reactions to broader interpretive issues of the period.

Date: July 10, 2026
Time: 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Venue: Tohoku University Kawauchi Campus.
Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, West Building, Room 302 (map)

About the Lecturer:

John LoBreglio is editor of The Eastern Buddhist, which is based at Otani University in Kyoto. He was formerly a senior lecturer of Japanese studies at Oxford Brookes University, where he taught courses on Japanese religious history, modern Japanese history, and Western perceptions of Japan and the Japanese. In recent years his research has focused on the effects of Western imperialism on Japan from the mid-nineteenth century and is informed by postcolonial methods of analysis.

This English language lecture is organized by the Department of Japanese Religion and Intellectual History at the Tohoku University Graduate School of International Cultural Studies. It is free and open to anyone who is interested. Registration is not required.