“Kaleidoscope: the Uchiyama Bookstore and Its Sino-Japanese Visionaries” RAS China, 4/2/23

Posted: January 22nd, 2023 | No Comments »

On Feb. 4, 2023 join RAS Shanghai and RASBJ for a joint online book discussion of “Kaleidoscope: The Uchiyama Bookstore and its Sino-Japanese Visionaries” featuring author Naoko Kato and moderator John Van Fleet. This event is free for RAS Members and was organized by RAS Shanghai in cooperation with RASBJ.

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK: In the 1920s, a Japanese businessman set up a bookshop in the city of Shanghai which changed the course of history by providing a forum for Chinese and Japanese intellectuals to meet and discuss the great issues of the day. Now, Naoko Kato’s book “Kaleidoscope” looks at the story of Uchiyama Kanzo and his bookstore from a fresh perspective, breaking it down into a series of reflections that shift as the years turn.

Uchiyama’s bookstore was a fulcrum of Sino-Japanese contacts, and many of the members of Uchiyama’s salon were intellectuals behind the Chinese Communist Party and Japanese anti-war organizations which were illegal in Shanghai at the time. The ability of Uchiyama and his bookstore to transcend intellectual divisions and borders makes his story of unique inter-cultural interest. The context of Uchiyama’s efforts to bring peace between his home country of Japan and his chosen home of China, is one of the most intellectually uplifting stories of the 20th century.

Kaleidoscope was written by Naoko Kato and is based on her 2013 doctoral dissertation, “Through the Kaleidoscope: Uchiyama Bookstore and Sino-Japanese Visionaries in War and Peace”. The book was edited by long-time RAS member Marcia Johnson, who discovered the dissertation and brought it to Earnshaw Books. Together, they transformed the academic piece into this book for general readers.

DATE: Feb. 4, 2023

TIME: 12:00 PM noon China Time

TO JOIN: Click the link below, then click “Register”, and follow instructions: https://ras-china.glueup.cn/event/39076

---