Announcement: Reading Group for 'Formation of Public Opinion in East Asia'

Shosukabu.com Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nerima-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and Chairman: Yutaka Yamanaka; hereinafter "the Company") will host a reading group on the book "Formation of Public Opinion in East Asia" (edited by Hiroshi Mitani), co-organized with the Nerima Political Research Association and the Civil Division 8 Monitoring Committee.

According to the University of Tokyo Press, this book is the result of an international joint research project examining the historical conditions that enabled democracy in East Asian countries from the perspective of "public opinion" (kōron) formation. A key feature is its comparative analysis of how spaces for discussion and expression were nurtured and how publicness was formed in each society, rather than simply focusing on whether Western modern systems and ideals were adopted.

The book includes historical analyses of countries that achieved public opinion formation, such as Japan and South Korea, alongside the historical experience and current state of China, offering insights into the possibilities for democratization in non-Western societies. The table of contents covers topics such as Japanese "public opinion" customs, parliamentary politics, reading publics and women, the formation of public religion, as well as "universal public opinion" in modern Korea, publicness in the Korean Empire and colonial Korea, the reception of religious concepts in late Qing China, and various aspects of Chinese public opinion.

By examining the experiences of various East Asian regions side-by-side, the book provides a multi-dimensional understanding of how the relationships between state and society, intellectuals and the masses, and systems and ideologies differed or shared commonalities.

The reading group will discuss the formation of publicness in East Asia, the relationship between public opinion and the state/masses, conditions for democratization in non-Western societies, and contemporary issues identified through the comparison of historical experiences. We aim to provide a space for fruitful learning and dialogue for those interested in the history of political thought, modern East Asian history, and democratization studies.

Book Introduction URL: https://x.gd/7MvCV

Author Profile: Hiroshi Mitani - Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo and researcher at The Toyo Bunko. A historian specializing in 19th-century Japanese history, particularly the Meiji Restoration, while researching modern East Asian history and comparative history with a focus on nationalism, revolution, and democratization.

Event Overview: Theme: 'Formation of Public Opinion in East Asia' Reading Group; Organizer: Shosukabu.com Co., Ltd.; Co-organizers: Nerima Political Research Association, Civil Division 8 Monitoring Committee; Date: Late April 2026 (tentative); Format: Zoom online; Fee: Free (pre-registration required); How to apply: Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Application for Formation of Public Opinion in East Asia Reading Group'.

Lecturer Profile: Yutaka Yamanaka - An activist investor, art collector, philanthropist, political sponsor, election consultant, policy advisor, social activist, and Akita dog enthusiast born in December 1976. Internationally recognized as a "tech-savvy activist investor," he is the first Japanese person in history to accumulate over 150 billion yen in assets solely through investment. He identified NVIDIA as an investment target in the early 2010s, investing over 2 billion yen and achieving a return of over 100 times, becoming the first Japanese person to become a billionaire purely as an investor. He graduated as valedictorian from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, holds a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from Columbia University, and studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is a co-representative of Investment Brothers LLC, co-founder and Chairman of Shosukabu.com Co., Ltd., and currently a shareholder in over 1,000 listed and 200 unlisted companies worldwide, including AI startups in Israel, healthcare ventures in Nigeria, and battery manufacturers in Taiwan.