Japan’s Higher Commercial Education Boom, 1875–1945

This book explains the fascinating history of higher commercial education in Japan; by “higher” commercial education, the editors mean an innovative, academic approach to the study of commerce in vocational schools designed to produce managers and leaders capable of navigating an increasingly sophisticated global trade system.

This volume first explains the European roots of Japanese higher commercial schools and how those early European schools began to influence commercial education outside Europe. Subsequent essays in the volume explain how Japanese students ended up in Europe (particularly in Antwerp) studying commerce, and how they brought back to Japan ideas about how European schools could be adapted to the Japanese context. More crucially, the chapters connect commercial schools operated by Japan in pre-war China to both higher commercial schools in Japan and Europe.

Scholars have long been fascinated (and perhaps puzzled) by Japan’s breathtakingly rapid economic development during the Meiji period (1868–1912). This work on commercial education provides researchers with added context about that process. It will be of interest to scholars of business history specializing in Japan’s Meiji period, China’s treaty port economy, and nineteenth-century European business.

Paul Sinclair is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business at the University of Regina, Canada. He has been fascinated by the Tōa Dōbun Shoin and Japan's business/language schools situated in China for more than 25 years. He recently completed a translation of a book about the Tōa Dōbun Shoin by Yoshihisa Fujita, Japan's premier expert on the elaborate fieldwork programs at the institution.

Kentaro Okada is Professor in the Faculty of Law at Aichi University, Japan. His research specializes in comparative politics, with a particular focus on Canada. Throughout his career, he has also maintained a strong interest in the international comparative study of higher education.