AcknowledgementsIntroduction: The Japanese Racial AnomalyOn the (ir)relevance of studying raceSubject and scopeTheoretical framework -- the racial middle groundFocus and sourcesStructure of the bookPart I Race in the Japanese Context: Early Modern Patterns of Differentiation and the Introduction of Race in Modern Japan1 Patterns of Differentiation in Early Modern JapanOn the existence of race in early modern JapanConfucianism and the `Middle Kingdom'Gender and equality in early modern JapanHairy barbarians: Ainu, foreigners and Japanese civilisation2 The Translation of Race in the Meiji PeriodIntroducing modernity: the translation of race in the early Meiji periodAdapting the concept of racePart II A Racial Middle Ground: Negotiating the Japanese Racial Identity in the Context of White Supremacy3 Between Two Races -- The Birth of the Racial Middle Ground between Japan and the WestJapan and the standard of civilisation: the problem of race against civilisationJapan, the West and the racial middle groundRacial pessimism and the survival of the fittest4 Two Wars and First Successes: From the Port Arthur Massacre to the Treaty of PortsmouthEarly benefits of the racial middle ground: the Port Arthur Massacre`Yellow fears' of `yellow peril': race and the Russo-Japanese WarAgents of the racial middle ground5 Further Successes and the Limits of the Racial Middle Ground -- The California CrisisBecoming visible: Japanese immigration to the United StatesTheodore Roosevelt and the Japanese racial identity6 African Americans and the Racial Middle GroundThe race at the bottom (I): the Black press and the California CrisisThe race at the bottom (II): the meaning of African Americans for JapanEarly Japanese views of African AmericansThe `Black problem' or how to sell Japanese immigrantsThe human aspect of the racial middle ground7 The End of the Racial Middle GroundThe crisis goes on: the Alien Land Law of 1913Losing appeal: the West, Japan and alternative visions of world ordersEmbracing yellowness: the appeal of Pan-AsianismThe collapse of the racial middle ground: the Paris Peace ConferenceConclusion: The Elusive Japanese RaceReferencesIndex