［研究論文］戦後日本「国際文化交流」の黎明──占領期の国際文化振興会理事長・加納久朗に着目して

抄録

  This study examines the continuity and transformation of Japan’s international cultural exchange policy between the prewar and postwar eras, focusing on the role and philosophy of Kano Hisaakira. As President of the Society for International Cultural Relations (Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, KBS) during the Occupation period, when subsidies from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) were suspended, Kano sought to remake KBS into a ‘purely private’ organization. A former international banker and viscount, he articulated a philosophical foundation for cultural exchange grounded in mutuality and universality, yet ultimately failed to position KBS as a leading institution in the field. Upon assuming the presidency, he struggled to recruit a management team and to reform KBS, which had previously functioned as a MOFA-affiliated propaganda body. Drawing on his ideas of “Commercial Culturalism” and “Socialist Culturalism,” he emphasized reciprocity in cultural initiatives and the gradual cultivation of humanism. In late 1951, he approached John D. Rockefeller III, who sought to institutionalize Japan–U.S. cultural relations. However, he failed to secure a central role in this endeavor, which instead culminated in the establishment of the International House of Japan outside KBS. When MOFA subsidies resumed in 1953, Kano resigned from KBS, which thereafter reverted to a government-affiliated organization.