Kyoto, Japan, 1966. Visiting the Daitoku-ji Buddhist Temple.
On the left is Seigen Tanaka, beside him is Archduchess Regina.
Our archive offers a rich and diverse range of material, relevant to the international field as well, providing not only a basis for understanding the nature, characteristics and complexities of the global Cold War and the world order that followed, but also a valuable reference for contemporary international political discourse and practice. The documents reveal that, although Otto von Habsburg’s political legacy is primarily significant in a European context, his horizons extended far beyond our continent. One interesting aspect of his global political aspirations is that, following the cataclysm of the Second World War, he placed particular emphasis on the development of international relations between Japan and the transatlantic region, thus contributing to the reaffirmation of the island country’s prestige and reputation, and to the development of economic relations and political cooperation.
From the 1950s onwards, the Archduke was a frequent visitor to Japan, where he was in close contact with leading politicians, including several prime ministers, as well as members of the imperial family and business leaders. From the late 1970s, as a Member of the European Parliament, he devoted considerable attention to deepening cooperation between the Far East and the Old Continent. Through his close friendship with Friedrich August von Hayek and the great minds of the Austrian School, and his membership of the Mont Pelerin Society, Otto von Habsburg became deeply involved in the economics of Japanese reconstruction, facilitating the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning economist, who was very popular in the Far East, and Japanese business leaders.
Exploring these links was the ambition of Eiichiro Tokumoto’s visit to our Foundation in April. Our guest, who had worked as an economics correspondent for the Reuters news agency in the 1990s and later as an investigative journalist, looked through our Foundation’s documents relevant to Japan and related material from our photo collection. Through his archival research, he sought to gain a more detailed picture of the transnational networks that were shaped considerably by the former heir to the throne and that connected political and economic decision-makers in the United States, Europe and Asia.
During his stay in Hungary, Mr. Tokumoto also studied in depth Otto von Habsburg’s role in the preparations for the Pan-European Picnic. In addition to researching archival sources, he visited important places for the historical memory of Otto von Habsburg in Hungary, including the memorial site in Sopronpuszta, where the picnic had been held. An interesting highlight of Eiichiro Tokumoto’s stay in Budapest was his meeting in our office with the Ambassador of Switzerland, Jean-Francois Paroz, who had represented his country in Tokyo for four years between his two missions in Budapest.
His time in the Hungarian capital was useful not only for exploring the records in our collection – and thus for a more precise dissection of our namesake’s extensive network of contacts and international political activities – but also for the realization of our Foundation’s exhibition in Tokyo, scheduled for September.
Eiichiro Tokumoto | The Tiger of Tokyo: The Life and Times of Seigen Tanaka
