1920~30年代における日本少年赤十字の「国際通信交換」

Abstract

The Junior Red Cross movement started in the USA and Canada during the First World War to assist relief work of the Red Cross and very soon became international and rapidly spread throughout the world. In Japan, the Junior Red Cross was established in 1922 and become popular very quickly. Its major goals were promotion of health, work for community and international cultural exchanges curried through international school correspondence. lnternational school correspondence become especially appealing for the children throughout the world as a unique opportunity to communicate with children in far-away lands and learn more about history, geography and culture of different countries. As the exchanges could had been conducted between all the countries that established the Junior Red Cross (in the 1930s the number grown to 39 countries) the range of possible exchanges was remarkably extensive. This paper discusses the development of international school correspondence conducted by the Japanese Junior Red Cross in the 1920s and the 1930s, specifically the dynamic and the range of exchanges, the countries that became important exchange partners for Japan, and the significance of the exchanges. As the primary research references we used the journals and official publications issued by the Japanese Junior Red and the Japanese Red Cross and as the additional references - the journals issued by the American Junior Red Cross. During the rapid growth of the popularity of the Junior Red Cross in 1920s-30s' Japan, the Japanese children had been exchanging different items such as albums and scrapbooks, toys, dolls in national costumes and handicrafts to introduce Japanese culture mostly with Eastern and Western European and North American countries, namely the USA, Canada, Poland, Italy, France and Czechoslovakia. The exchanges between the USA and Japan proved to be the most numerous and frequent for the both countries.