About Us

The Japan P.E.N. Club was founded on November 26, 1935 as the Japanese centre of International P.E.N., which has its headquarters in London. By 1935, Japan, having left the League of Nations in the wake of the Manchurian Incident, was being pushed in the direction of international isolation. This was a cause for concern among liberal literary figures and diplomats, and it was against this backdrop that the Japan P.E.N. Club was founded in response to a request by International P.E.N. in London with the voluntary support of the leading novelists, poets, foreign literary figures, and critics of the day. Major novelist Toson Shimazaki served as the organisation's founding president, which also played the role of the Japanese centre of International P.E.N. Even when the suppression of free speech became severe during the subsequent Sino-Japanese and Pacific wars, the Japan P.E.N. Club maintained contact with the London office, protecting its unique position as a window to the world throughout this period.

The Japan P.E.N. Club is a gathering of poets and playwrights (P), essayists and editors (E), and novelists (N), who subscribe to the philosophy, as reflected in the reasons for its founding and its subsequent history, of seeking peace and opposing all forms of suppression of freedom of expression. The Japan P.E.N. has been a leader in the Japanese press throughout its history; carrying out all of its activities based on the principles of independence and self-respect without receiving any subsidies from national government or organizations. The role of president of the Japan P.E.N. Club in each era has been filled by some of the most influential and representative novelists of the day.