Companion to the exhibition “Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain”, KU Leuven University Library, October 2022 With more than 3,000 titles in almost 14,000 volumes, the 1920s Japanese book donation to the University of Leuven/Louvain is an invaluable time capsule of near-forgotten pre-modern culture and knowledge in Japan. This book combines an attractively illustrated overview of the history of the donation, thus giving the reader fascinating insights into the vibrant 1920s in Japan, its politics, society, and popular culture, with detailed descriptions of a careful selection of 100 pre-modern Japanese books. This book offers a collection of cutting-edge academic essays and a wealth of high-quality reproductions of astonishing exhibits such as visually captivating commercial and political 1920s posters that represent progress and conflict, highlighting both Imperial ambitions and a willingness to contribute to international cooperation. With more than 3,000 titles in almost 14,000 volumes, the 1920s Japanese book donation to the University of Leuven/Louvain constitutes an invaluable time capsule of Japan’s pre-modern culture in all its diversity and richness. A century on, the time is right to take a new look at its contents, as well as its history and the political, social and cultural context surrounding the donation. To commemorate its centenary, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) and the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) have joined forces to set up a special exhibition under the title “Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain. Japanese Cultural Identity and Modernity in the 1920s” (October 2022–January 2023), at the central library of KU Leuven. The present book has been compiled for the occasion of the exhibition, to serve as a durable guide to the magnificent book donation and its historical background, and as a reference for further research in the future. In five essays by historians of politics, media, culture, and arts of Japan, it offers a richly illustrated overview of the history of the donation and its wider historical context, providing illuminating insights into the vibrant 1920s in Japan, its politics, society, and popular culture. The reader is further invited to explore a sample of 65 remarkable and rare items from the donation, which were carefully selected for inclusion in the exhibition and are provided here with a detailed description. Moreover, the reader is introduced to 41 representative items, including visually captivating commercial and political posters related to Japan’s modernity in the 1920s which represent mass culture, progress and tensions and highlight both imperial ambitions and a willingness to contribute to international cooperation. KU Leuven and UCLouvain’s Co-operation Strengthened by Japan — Luc Sels & Vincent Blondel Message by the Ambassador of Japan to Belgium — Shimokawa Makita Introduction — Jan Schmidt, Willy Vande Walle, Eline Mennens The First World War as the Precondition to the Japanese Donation to the University of Louvain — Jan Schmidt An Empire of the Mid-Tier: The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the New Mass Public-Focused Diplomacy of the Early Twentieth Century — Lieven Sommen The Japanese Book Donation to the University of Louvain — Willy Vande Walle Selected Books from the 1920s Japanese Donation — Willy Vande Walle Japanese Art in Belgium in the 1920s: Hidden Treasures and Public Celebrations — Freya Terryn Japan’s Sonic Modernity: Popular Music and Culture in the 1920s — Aurel Baele Selected Objects from 1920s Japan: Modernity in Popular Culture, Media, Society and Politics as Background to the Donation — Jan Schmidt Notes About the Editors and Authors Bibliography Acknowledgements Classification List of Selected Books List of Selected Objects List of Background Explanations Alphabetical List of Selected Books Alphabetical List of Selected Objects Colophon