Philanthropy in the United States and Japan Shibusawa Eiichi’s Lifetime (1840-1931)

Abstract

This study illuminates the context of American philanthropy from the late-nineteenth through the early-twentieth century, the lifetime of Shibusawa Eiichi, one of the world’s greatest philanthropists. Japan and the U.S. have much in common: modern economies that emerged from civil war, industrialization, wealth accumulation, and sophisticated philanthropy. Yet our investigation of the notions of public good and how to give morally reveals important, nuanced differences across the Pacific Ocean. Shibusawa Eiichi’s views on capitalism, and how one was to implement moral and ethical codes in the practice of business and philanthropy, can inform scholars and practitioners about their work today especially in “Corporate Social Responsibility” understood internally within a business as well as in the global societal context.