For our latest Emerging Voices feature, we are thrilled to hear from doctoral student Kayo Yokoyama at Peking University about her research on animal welfare and protection movements in contemporary East Asia!
Kayo Yokoyama is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at Peking University. She specializes in modern Japanese and Chinese history, with a particular focus on the history of human–animal relationships. Her doctoral research examines animal protection movements in modern Japan and China from a comparative perspective.
Hi Kayo! To start, what first inspired you to include animals in your research?
I grew up in the countryside of Japan surrounded by animals – dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, and turtles – and have always felt a deep connection to them. From a young age, I vaguely knew I wanted a career involving animals. My first encounter with “Animal History” was during my undergraduate years at Waseda University. At the time, I was majoring in Modern Japanese History and my supervisor, Professor Masayuki Manabe, was conducting research on the history of human-animal relations. (He recently published a book titled Cats in Modern and Contemporary Japan 猫が歩いた近現代 available in Japanese and Chinese.) Professor Manabe taught me that while animals have traditionally been marginalized in historical narratives, bringing them into focus allows us to view human society through a different lens. This approach reveals aspects of history that are often overlooked by anthropocentric perspectives, which I found incredibly inspiring.
After graduating, I worked in the private sector for a few years before moving to China to study the language, fuelled by a long-standing interest in Chinese culture. While Japan and China share deep cultural roots – including our common use of Kanji and many overlapping traditions – living in China opened my eyes to the many ways our societies differ, from political systems and social customs to broader ways of thinking. This experience also led me to notice distinct differences in how animals are perceived in each society. This led me to my current path at Peking University, where I now study the modern histories of Japan and China through the lens of animal history.
Your Ph.D. focuses on animal welfare and protection movements in China and Japan. Could you summarise your thesis topic for us?
In my Ph.D. dissertation, I examine and compare animal protection ideas and movements in modern Japan and China, focusing primarily on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Both countries were emerging as modern nation-states and encountered Western ideas of animal protection during the process of modernization. These ideas did not simply replace existing beliefs; rather, they interacted – sometimes harmoniously, sometimes in tension – with local ethical and religious traditions. While there are important similarities between Japan and China, for example, the emphasis on cultivating moral sentiment through animal protection rather than solely improving the physical treatment of animals, there are also significant differences. The types of animals prioritized, the degree of religious influence, and the relationship between animal protection and state agendas varied in notable ways. Although previous scholarship has examined Japan and China separately in relation to Western animal protection, I argue that a direct comparison between Japan and China – two geographically and culturally proximate societies – reveals dynamics that might otherwise be overlooked.
Is there anything surprising you’ve come across in your research so far?
One of the most surprising findings in my research to date is the wartime activism of Hiroi Tatsutaro 広井辰太郎, a pivotal figure in modern Japan’s animal protection movement. In January 1939 at the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War and amidst intensifying state mobilization, Hiroi resurrected the journal Dōbutsu Aigo 動物愛護, the official organ of the Animal Protection Society 動物愛護会, after a hiatus of over thirty years. Given the stringent wartime controls of the era, it is remarkable that he chose to relaunch and sustain a publication dedicated to animal protection – a cause that might seem entirely peripheral to the national war effort. Even more striking is that the journal persisted until March 1944, barely a year before Japan’s defeat, at a time when daily life was disrupted by severe material shortages. This discovery has prompted me to re-evaluate the positioning of animal protection within wartime society and the specific moral and social meanings it garnered under such extraordinary circumstances.
Another finding I have come to find equally thought-provoking emerged from my comparative work with China. Japanese animal protection organizations of this period were, by and large, not strongly tied to religious institutions or frameworks. In contrast, the Chinese Animal Protection Society 中国保護動物会, founded in 1934 by Chinese members, was led predominantly by Buddhists, and its activities were deeply shaped by Buddhist principles and values. I find this contrast genuinely striking, and it is one of the key differences I intend to explore more fully in my dissertation.
Is there a resource or theory you’ve found particularly helpful while developing your research?
Building on the previous point, the journal Dōbutsu Aigo, the official organ of the Animal Protection Society under Hiroi Tatsutaro’s leadership, has been a central source for my research. Existing scholarship on modern Japanese animal protection has largely focused on either its early development during the Meiji period or its post-war evolution. Consequently, the wartime years, specifically the period of the Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars, have often been dismissed as a time of stagnation or decline, frequently escaping rigorous scholarly scrutiny. However, Hiroi’s writings and activities during this era present a far more nuanced and complex picture. In certain respects, his efforts appear to have even intensified during the war. They have encouraged me to reflect on how Hiroi negotiated his commitment to animal protection within an increasingly militarized society. I am currently preparing to present a paper on these findings in the near future.
On the Chinese side, the Shanghai Municipal Archives holds a rich collection of primary sources related to animal protection in modern China—including materials on the SSPCA (Shanghai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), established in the Shanghai International Settlement in 1898, as well as documents relating to the Chinese Animal Protection Society. Access to archives in China is currently subject to considerable restrictions, and I have not yet been able to gather all the materials I need. Nevertheless, I intend to keep returning to the archives as many times as it takes, and I hope to draw extensively on these primary sources in my completed dissertation.
How can we find out more about your research?
I am currently preparing an article for publication in an upcoming special issue of Animal History, so I look forward to sharing more of my research soon!
Finally, if you could be an animal, what animal would you be and why?
I would choose to be a cat – ideally one with a very kind owner, of course! As someone who spends so much time immersed in studying the complex relationships between animals and human societies, I often find myself daydreaming about simply observing the world from a sunny windowsill, free from deadlines!