The Hungarian Nippon Society was founded in 1924, with the aim of building and developing
Hungarian–Japanese relations, popularising Japan and Japanese culture in Hungary,
and encouraging research on Japan. The society organised public lectures on Japan
and Japanese culture and art exhibitions and social events connected to Japanese culture,
and through these activities the society was the most important organiser and promoter
of Japanese culture and art in Hungary between the two world wars. This society was
the first (and for a long time, until the foundation of the Hungarian Japanese Friendship
Society in 1987, the only) association in Hungary to focus solely on Japan and Japanese
culture. This study summarises the most important issues related to the Nippon Society,
with the aim of placing its history and activity in the broader historic and ideological
context of its time. Examining the history of the Hungarian Nippon Society can provide
us a more nuanced picture about how and why Japan’s image changed during the first
half of the 20th century in a Central European country that had different images and
concepts about the East and thus a different approach than Western European societies
had. Moreover, this case of a primarily cultural association in a politically difficult
era can show how different cultural and intellectual thoughts and theories can be
affected by identity issues and by contemporary politics, political thinking, and
international situations.
