Einstein’s Impact on Japanese Intellectuals

Abstract

In response to an invitation from a Japanese publisher, Einstein decided to visit Japan in order to satisfy his yearning for the distant Orient and to escape from the oppressive anti-Semitism prevalent in Germany since the assassination of Foreign Minister Rathenau.¹ Departing for Japan on the N.Y.K. liner Kitanomaru which sailed from Marseille on October 8, 1922, he arrived in Kobe on November 17 and stayed forty-three days in this Far East land, sparking off an “Einstein boom” in Taisho Japan (1912–1926). Sailing from Moji on the N.Y.K. liner Harunamaru which departed on December 29, Einstein arrived on February 1 in the following year at Port Said, where he went ashore and headed for Palestine. Including the time spent aboard ship on the outward and homeward voyages, his visit to Japan lasted a full four months.