Miki Kiyoshi 1897-1945

This book takes us on a fascinating journey through the world of thought of Miki Kiyoshi, one of Japan’s pre-eminent philosophers before the Pacific War, and thus makes us discover the man behind the philosopher. His collaboration with government think-tanks in the late 1930s has made him highly controversial in historiographical debates. His death in prison, six weeks after Japan's defeat, hastened the lifting of pre-war restrictions on civil rights in Japan. He was a prolific, diverse and original thinker, revered by the Japanese as a plain-speaking, deeply humanistic philosopher who connected with the real lives of the people. As a translator, editor and journalist he intoduced many works of western European literature and philosophy into Japan.

Susan C. Townsend, Ph.D. (1995) in History, University of Sheffield is Associate Professor of Japanese History in the School of History, University of Nottingham. She has published on the intellectual history of pre-war Japan, including Yanaihara Tadao and Japanese Colonial Policy: Redeeming Empire (Curzon, 2000).