Reforming Japan

In 1902 the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)petitioned the Japanese government to abolish the custom of rewardinggood deeds and patriotic service with the bestowal of sake cups.Alcohol production and consumption, its members argued, harmedindividuals, endangered public welfare, and wasted vital resources.

The petition was only one initiative in a wide-ranging program toreform public and private behaviour. Between 1886 and 1912, the WCTUlaunched campaigns to eliminate prostitution, eradicate drinking,spread Christianity, and improve the lives of women. As Elizabeth DornLublin shows, members did not passively accept and propagate governmentpolicy but felt a duty to shape it by defining social problems andinfluencing opinion. Certain their beliefs and reforms were essentialto Japan's advancement, members couched their calls for change inthe rhetorical language of national progress. Ultimately, theWCTU’s activism belies received notions of women’s publicinvolvement and political engagement in Meiji Japan.