Seinen-kai (The Young-Men's Associations) and the Library Movement after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95

Abstract

The library movement of the Young-Men's Associations was originally a self-intiated and self-sustaind movement. However, in order to match the changes that were brought about in Japanese society after the war, the library movement underwent a change in direction based upon the requests and needs of the national government.
After the war, the activities of Young-Men's Associations libraries all over the country were expanded under the slogan “The improvement of morality” but those activities were in reality a reflection of the government's policy, which was to solve the problem of youth through improving the order of society by means of moral education, thereby promoting the growth of nationalism.