Abstract

"Before Hegemony – Early Americanization of Japanese Commercial Education: The Story of Tokyo Business College (1875–1885)"

Paul Sinclair, University of Regina (paul.sinclair@uregina.ca) and Adrien Jean-Guy Passant, ISTEC Business School

This article investigates the origins of business education in Meiji Japan, focusing on Tokyo Business College (TBC, 1875–1885). Drawing on cross-archival research in Japan and the United States, it shows that TBC had a practically oriented, selectively hybridized, US-inspired curriculum that achieved administrative stabilization yet remained academically marginal until it was transformed into Tokyo School of Commerce in 1885. The article distinguishes the institutionalization of business education from its academic legitimation, thereby illuminating the early development of business education in Japan.