Herbert Norman became a diplomat by virtue of his knowledge and scholarship on Japan. While several of his scholarly publications became well known, and his work Japan's Emergence as a Modern State was for many years considered a classic, a good many more of his writings have never been published. This website will gradually incorporate many of these materials (including his Japanese-language writings and speeches), as well as a sampling of his diplomatic correspondence.
1940: Japan's Emergence as a Modern State: Political and economic problems of the Meiji period (New York,
Institute of Pacific Relations)
1943: "Soldier and Peasant in Japan: The origins of conscription"
Part I: Pacific Affairs Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 47-63;
Part II: Pacific Affairs No. 2, pp. 149-65
Review of John F. Embree's The Japanese (War Background Studies, No. 7; Washington, DC, Smithsonian
Institution), in Pacific Affairs Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 363-64
1944: "The Genyosha: A study in the origins of Japanese imperialism," Pacific Affairs Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 261-84
"Japan and the Japanese Empire: General Considerations" (Sept. 22) [Although this material was prepared
during wartime to inform Canadian policy-makers, it is of a historical nature, and so is included here]
(Library and Archives Canada, RG-25, Vol. 3442, File 4606-40, pt. 1)
1945: "Feudal Background of Japanese Politics" (paper delivered at the 9th conference of the Institute of Pacific
Relations, Hot Springs, Virginia)
"Mass Hysteria in Japan," in Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 65-70
1947: Review of Edwin O. Reischauer's Japan Past and Present, in Pacific Affairs Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 358-59
(post-1947): "The Japanese and the Chinese Revolution" (unpublished manuscript)
1949: "Observations on the Trial of War Criminals in Japan," in External Affairs (monthly bulletin), Vol. 1, No. 2,
pp. 12-23 [anonymous]
"Democratic Traditions in Japan," in External Affairs (monthly bulletin), Vol. 1, No. 11, pp. 12-13
"Ando Shoeki and the Anatomy of Japanese Feudalism," in Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan,
Series 3, Vol. 2 [Tokyo]
1956: Kurio no Kao: Rekishi Zuisho Shu [The Face of Clio: Random Essays on History] (Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten)
1977: "People Under Feudalism," in Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 57-61
Okubo Genji, ed.:
1978: Historical and Political Writings [MSS] by Herbert Norman
1977-78: Haabaato Nooman Zenshuu, dai 1–4 kan [Complete Works of Herbert Norman, vols. 1–4]
"In a single decade—the 1940s—he [Norman] had already distinguished himself as far and away the most incisive and influential Western scholar exploring this terrain [modern Japan]. He had, indeed, no real predecessor."
– John W. Dower