Japanese Studies at OSU Libraries (OSUL) is proud to announce that The Oriental Economist Digital Archives is now open for OSU users. It is the 6th database offered through JK Books at OSU, along with five other searchable databases. The Oriental Economist (TOE) was published by the Toyo Keizai Inc. (Toyo Keizai Shimposha: 東洋経済新報社) from 1934 to 1985. TOE was exceptional in the sense that, despite being a domestic magazine in Japan, it was written in English and intended for overseas readership.
The History of the Oriental Economist
TOE was founded in 1934 (Showa 9: 昭和 9) to commemorate the fortieth year of Toyo Keizai Inc.’s founding. Tanzan Ishibashi (石橋湛山), who was editor in chief and president of the Toyo Keizai Shimpo, decided to publish an English-language magazine because he thought that Japan was not correctly understood after the Manchurian Incident (1931) and withdrawal from the League of Nations (1933).
Target Audience and Perspectives
From the founding year, TOE targeted foreign audiences not only including the Axis powers of Germany and Italy, the neutral powers of Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal and the Soviet Union, Japanese Occupied Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, but also the Allied powers such as the UK and USA. The editorial policy was to lay bare the strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese economy and thus it was trusted by overseas experts.
Contents Information
Original books | The Oriental Economist |
Publisher | Toyo Keizai Inc. |
Original publication date | May, 1934 (Showa 9) – November/December, 1985 (Showa 60) |
Number of volumes | 874 issues |
Release date of JK | June 1, 2017 |
Number of pages | 44,000 pages |
Number of articles | 25,265 articles |
About search | Advanced Search and Book Shelves features available |
(as of June 2017)
Using the Oriental Economist
The Oriental Economist is open to anyone with OSU login credentials. Please, click here if you would like to see all searchable Japan Knowledge Products including Taiyo (太陽), Bungei Kurabu (文芸倶楽部), Fuzoku Gaho (風俗画報), the Gunsho Ruiju series (群書類従), the Toyo Keizai Archives (東洋経済アーカイブズ), and TOE at OSU Libraries. Please, also note that it is necessary to clear your cache when you change between these resources.