Milli mála - 2020, Page 45

Milli mála 12/2020 45
KRISTÍN INGVARSDÓTTIR

10.33112/millimala.12.1
Abstract
Japan and Iceland: Adventure Isles
Nonni’s stay in Japan 1937–1938
Late in his career as an author, Jón Sveinsson, Nonni, realised his
dream of visiting Japan and nowhere did he feel that he had met with
a better reception than in Japan. This despite the fact that Jón was
among the best known and most widely travelled Icelanders of his
time, as his popular children’s books had been translated into around
30 languages. He arrived in the spring of 1937, to spend a year at the
well-known Sophia University, run by his fellow Jesuits in Tokyo.
The present article aims to cast light on Jón’s stay in Japan and where
and how the writer and his works were discussed in contemporary
Japanese newspapers and magazines. As Jón Sveinsson’s stay in Japan
attracted a great deal of attention, media reports were both frequent
and extensive. This article is based on sources gathered by the author
from mainly Japanese archives and databases. These sources add a
new perspective to previous research conducted on Jón Sveinsson’s
Japan visit. Emphasis is also placed on the significance of the social
and religious changes gaining prominence in Japan in the first half
of the last century, which undoubtedly influenced the reception of
the author and his work. The role and position of Sophia University
in Japanese society is also examined, together with the complicated
status of Christianity and the Jesuits in Japan in the years preceding
World War II, which were characterised by ascending imperialism,
nationalism, state Shinto and armed aggression on the Asian continent.
Keywords: Jón Sveinsson – Nonni, Japan, reception (media coverage),
travel literature, religion