Tōyō Kyōkai (sold) (東洋協會)

Tōyō Kyōkai (東洋協會; 1898 - 1945), also known as the Oriental Society, was founded in Tokyo as the 'Taiwan Society' (台灣協會 Taiwan Kyōkai) by a leading group of Japanese political and business figures to coordinate with the government on colonial policy. The group began to publish reports on its work and set up a school in 1900 to train colonial administrators for Taiwan. After the Russo-Japanese War, the organization broadened its focus from Taiwan to East Asia as a whole and was renamed Tōyō Kyōkai. Throughout the organization's history, its leadership included leading Japanese statesmen and business figures; for instance, in 1938 the President (會長) was Mizuno Rentarō (水野錬太郎; 1868 - 1949) and the Vice President was Nagata Hidejirō (永田秀次郎; 1876 - 1943). Nagata was twice the mayor of Tokyo and held cabinet positions in the Japanese Diet, including as Minister of Colonial Affairs in 1936 – 1937. Mizuno had served in many roles in government and been involved in several key events of the Taisho and early Showa eras. He is considered partly responsible for spreading anti-Korean rumors in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake that led to massacres of Koreans in Tokyo and Yokohama. After World War II, he was arrested as a Class A war criminal for his involvement with Dai-Nippon Koa Domei (大日本興亜同盟), an ultranationalist society that was formed in 1941 to subsume dozens of pre-existing organizations. Tōyō Kyōkai was dedicated to disseminating information about Korea, Manchuria, China, Taiwan, and other places in East Asia, especially their economies. It published a monthly magazine titled Tōyō (東洋) along with several other periodicals, research reports, and monographs on the politics, economics, and societies of various places in East Asia. It ceased functioning at the end of the war, but a new Taiwan Society was founded in Tokyo in 1950 by veterans of the colonial government and former Japanese settlers on Taiwan. It still exists today and coordinates with the Japanese and Taiwanese governments to promote mutual exchange and understanding.