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A Short History of the Japan P.E.N. Club

Kiyohara Yasumasa
2010/09/22

The catalyst for creation of the Japan P.E.N. Club was a letter which arrived from London in March 1935. Sent by Miyazaki Katsutarō, a first secretary of the Japanese Embassy in London, and received by Amō Eiji, an information officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this semi- official correspondence passed along an International PEN London office message asking Japan to establish its own organization for international fellowship of writers. The letter also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to act as an intermediary in making this happen. Amō discussed the request with Yanagisawa Ken, head of section ...

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Welcome to Japan P.E.N. Club Digital Library (International edition)!

Today, the situation of books of various countries in the world is changing greatly in globalized electronic environment. At the first half in the 15th century, mass distribution of books big changed because of the Gutenberg type printing. The human experienced the first revolution.

About 600 years later, the human is experiencing the second revolution of paperless book because of a new digital tool. Under this trend, we are trying to open a digital library（international edition） in english for 76th International PEN Conference in Tokyo after an interval of 26 years memorial event.

Some Japanese P.E.N. club presidents literary works have already been introduced in this digital library. At this time, we are making a internet presentation of the Japanese traditional public entertainment and the Japanese P.E.N. club history’s works.

Our last digital library introduces literary works from classic to modern. It covers poetry, essay, novel and critical works in various fields. We are happy to hear that this site is sometimes used as a reference for Japanologists and for those who study Japanese language.

We hope to have more worldwide readers by translating Japanese literary works not only into English but also into other foreign languages.

Please visit our website and enjoy Japan.

Japan P.E.N. Club Digital Library.