Tadahiko Miyachi
Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan
Most previous studies have not recognized the due relevance of the Anglo-American influence upon the Japanese police administration in the interwar period. Although it has been generally presumed that before 1945 the Japanese police emphasised maintaining mutual respect and confidence between the public and the police, the role of the Anglo-American influence has been neglected. By analysing the official documents and periodicals published by the Japanese police, my paper will show the details of what the Japanese police learned from the Anglo-American police between the two world wars. Specifically, I will focus on the counselling service to residents and the police cooperation associations of the residents, which the Japanese police introduced. It is obviously inspired by the Anglo-American police, which adopted a policy of improving a cooperative relationship with the public and seemingly succeeded in it. The Japanese police continued the policy even in the early 1930s and kept contact with the American police to update their knowledge of police administration. Finally, I will examine the fundamental change of the policy that happened in the late 1930s.
Biography:
Tadahiko Miyachi is Associate Professor of Modern Japanese Politics at Senshu University, Tokyo. His publications include The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Policies of the Japanese Police in the Era of the Taisho Democracy (Crane Books, 2012);“The Taisho Democracy of the Police Revisited,” Journal of Japanese History (2018).