Prince Saionji Kinmochi (1849-1940). The Japanese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference did not have the Japanese prime or foreign ministers with them as they had only just been elected and had plenty to do back home. The delegation was instead led by Prince Saionji, the dashing 'kingmaker' of early 20th-century Japanese politics whose life spanned the arrival of Commodore Perry and his 'black ships', the Japanese civil war, the Meiji Restoration, the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, and the rise of Japanese militarism. Unlike many of the conservatives of his day, Saionji was a man with experience of international diplomacy and admiration for European culture. Brought up in the days of the last Shogun, he became an active supporter of Japan's new ruling regime, after the Shogun was overthrown in a civil war, and a leading figure in the post-Restoration reform movement. In 1869 he founded the institution that would become the Ritsumeikan University - literally, 'The place to establish one's destiny'. He was sent to France for nine years to investigate Western technology and philosophy, and served for a decade as a Japanese ambassador in Europe. Returning to Japan, he served twice as Minister of Education and later became prime minister before resigning to become a revered elder statesman. Japan entered the First World War on the Allied side, seizing German possessions in China and the Pacific. In the closing days of the war, Japanese military forces participated in the Siberian Intervention - an American-led invasion of eastern Russia against Communist insurgents. At the Conference Saionji's presence was initially regarded by the Japanese as a sign that Japan had become a fully-fledged member of the international community and accepted on an equal footing with the Western Powers. His delegation introduced a controversial proposal to legally enshrine racial equality as one of the tenets of the League of Nations. The Japanese were also keen to grab colonies of their own, and went head-to-head with the Chinese delegation over the fate of the former German possession of Shandong. When Shandong was 'returned' not to China but to its Japanese occupiers, riots broke out in China. Despite Saionji's statesmanship and diplomacy, the Treaty of Versailles was regarded by many Japanese as a slap in the face. Saionji's influence weakened in his last years, while his party was dissolved and amalgamated with others.

First Published in 2005, but published originally in 1938 on the eve of the Second World War, this work focuses on the last member of a distinguished group of genros, or elder statesmen, who participated in the wars of the Meiji restoration and in 1889 under Emperor Meiji, drew up the Imperial Constitution on which the Japanese political system was based. Prince Saionji was the president of the Privy Council, the second president of the Seyukai party, twice Prime Minster and Japan's Chief Delegate to the Paris Peace Conference.

Col. Bonsal's confidential notes & diary, published with the encouragement of Pres. Wilson, depict the hopeless complexities of making peace among the small nations previously absorbed in the three former European empires at the end of World War I.

Japan, as an ally of Britain since the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902, entered the First World War at British request. During the war, Japan fought Germany in Asia and afforded protection to Australia. After the cessation of hostilities of the Great War, a peace conference was convened in Paris that commenced on 18 January 1919 and concluded on 28 April 1919, after some three and a half months of intense debate, discussions and negotiations among the representatives of various participating countries. Japan, as a victorious ally and as one of the Five Powers of the day alongside Britain, the US, France and Italy, participated in Paris Peace Conference. In the conference, Japan proposed the enshrinement of the principle of racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations. This Racial Equality Bill, despite the tireless efforts of the Japanese delegates, was rejected. Rejection of Racial Equality Bill contends that a number of factors converged to defeat the Japanese proposal. Resolute opposition by the Prime Minister of Australia William Morris Hughes to racial equality was the single most crucial factor that led to the rejection of the Japanese proposal.

This analysis of the politics and culture of Japan during the period of World War II argues that the wartime regime, repressive as it was, was very different from contemporary totalitarian states.

Challenges the persistent orthodoxies of the Tokyo tribunal and provides a new framework for evaluating the trial, revealing its importance to international jurisprudence.