Japanese Neutrality in the Nineteenth Century: International Law and Transcultural Process

Abstract

An international and transcultural process, the history of Japanese neutrality in the nineteenth century is marked by changing ideas of the international laws of war and the rights of neutrals among the western powers.  The essay explores three points at which Japan's international history intersected with these developments in the meaning and practice of neutrality: the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the Sino-French conflict of 1884, and the Spanish-American War of 1898.  Japan's working out a position of neutrality turns out to be one of many international and shifting attempts to construct neutrality in the nineteenth century.