German East Asiatic Society

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The OAG is a Tokyo-based scholarly and cultural society founded in 1873 by German merchants, scholars and diplomats to study East Asia, especially Japan, and to introduce Japan to the German-speaking world.

Last updated September 26, 2026

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Overview

The German East Asiatic Society — formally the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, commonly known as the OAG (Ostasiengesellschaft) — is one of the oldest foreign scholarly societies in Japan still active today. It was founded in Tokyo in 1873 by German merchants, scholars and diplomats, and its stated purpose is to research the countries of East Asia, particularly Japan, and to disseminate knowledge about them. Together with the Asiatic Society of Japan, founded a year earlier, it belongs to the earliest foreign scientific societies in the country that have remained continuously active. The OAG is a non-profit membership association under Japanese law. It has financed itself from its own resources since its founding and aims to preserve its independence. Its scientific and cultural programme is funded mainly through the rental of rooms in the OAG Haus in Tokyo, supplemented by donations and project financing. The society maintains a substantial library of more than 6,500 works in German and English. Its activities combine a scholarly mission — lectures and publications — with a social and cultural function: excursions, trips, celebrations and cultural events. From its earliest years the OAG was closely tied to the German experts (o-yatoi gaikokujin) invited to Japan by the Japanese government, and its membership included figures who contributed to Japan's modernisation, such as the physician Erwin Bälz, the Japanologist Karl Florenz and the geologist Edmund Naumann. The German ambassador traditionally served as the society's first chairman in the early decades. After 1900 the focus shifted towards the humanities and social sciences. The society's history spans the First World War, the interwar reconstruction, the National Socialist period, the destruction of its clubhouse in the Second World War, and its postwar rebuilding in Akasaka, where a new clubhouse with a lecture hall and library was inaugurated in 1956. Today the OAG describes itself as a meeting point for all German-speakers interested in Japan and East Asia, and it continues to publish, host lectures and organise cultural events. Its 150-year history was documented in a 2024 volume by Christian W. Spang, Rolf-Harald Wippich and Sven Saaler.

History

The OAG was founded in Tokyo in 1873 by German merchants, scholars and diplomats. According to the society's own account, on 22 March of that year — the birthday of the German Emperor and King — Germans resident in Yedo (Tokyo) and Yokohama gathered to establish a German society for the study of nature and ethnology of East Asia. Its purpose was to create a common centre for individual efforts, to stimulate research, and to make the results accessible to a wider public. The OAG thus set out to research East Asia, relying on German scholars who had been invited to Japan by the Japanese government as foreign experts (o-yatoi gaikokujin). In its first decades the German envoy usually served as chairman, which helped in dealings with the Japanese government, for whom questions of status were important, for example in the provision of premises. The early envoys also showed interest in Japan beyond purely political matters. The early Mitteilungen der OAG were dominated by contributions from natural scientists, physicians and jurists, but there was also ethnographic interest. The society even maintained a small museum, furnished with acquisitions by members and gifts from Japanese, for which it rented rooms in a side temple of Zōjō-ji. For cost reasons it was abandoned as early as 1878, especially as the Japanese state itself was founding museums; the collection was donated to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Leipzig, deliberately to support a non-Prussian museum. After various club premises, in 1885 the society was able to operate its own house, and the social side of club life developed with bowling and gentlemen's evenings. Because the language of the society was German, Japanese members appeared in the register only gradually, prominently Prime Minister Katsura Tarō and Ambassador Aoki Shūzō. In July 1874 B. Miyake published a contribution on Japanese obstetrics. A monument was even erected on the Kōjimachi grounds to the deceased honorary member, the physician Aoyama Tanemichi (1859–1917). After 1900 the emphasis shifted towards the humanities and social sciences. When in 1907 the German ambassador showed no interest in the chairmanship, a constitutional amendment created the position of honorary chairman, which he then accepted. The connection to the embassy remained advantageous: Dietrich von Klitzing (d. 1940), who visited Tokyo with his wife in 1912 coming from Indonesia, was made aware of the OAG by Ambassador Count von Rex; the Klitzings then donated 15,000 marks, which together with further donations was enough for a new clubhouse in a representative location. In 1914 a plot near the embassy was acquired and plans for a large house were ready — but then the First World War broke out. Personalities of the OAG in the early years included Leopold Müller, physician and co-founder of German medical education in Japan and founder of the OAG; Theodor Hoffmann, co-founder with Müller; Emmerich von Arco-Valley, envoy and first chairman; Erwin Bälz, physician at Tokyo University; Max von Brandt, envoy and first chairman; Friedrich Dönitz, biologist and first chairman; Karl von Eisendecher, envoy and first chairman; Karl Florenz, Japanologist, second chairman and founder of Japanology in Hamburg; Franz Hilgendorf, biologist; Johann Joseph Hoffmann, philologist; Erwin Knipping, meteorologist and cartographer; Theodor von Holleben, envoy and first chairman; Rudolph Lehmann, engineer and long-serving first chairman; and Gottfried Wagener of the Tokyo Technical College, chairman. The outbreak of the First World War meant that the society had to make do with the land purchase and the existing building. Activities largely ceased; the existing house could at least be maintained until 1919, when the property was confiscated as enemy property. In 1920 the property was returned, with the help of Ambassador Solf and Count Gotō Shimpei. Club activities resumed, but volumes 14–16 of the MOAG show how laborious it was to close the publication gaps of the previous six years. In 1923 the house was extended with a first floor and a fireproof building was erected for the valuable library. The o-yatoi system had long ended; now Germans in 'normal' positions as lecturers at Japanese universities shaped the OAG's activities. After 1933 the OAG, like all German institutions abroad, was increasingly drawn into the orbit of National Socialism. The air raids of the Second World War finally destroyed the clubhouse. After the end of the war the property was retained by the Japanese side. Moreover, many Germans were repatriated, so that between 1945 (or 1948) and 1951 the OAG practically ceased to exist. After the property was returned in 1950 it was sold and a smaller plot in Akasaka was acquired, and a new clubhouse with a lecture hall and library was built, inaugurated on 21 March 1956. In 1977 the Federal Republic of Germany, looking for inexpensive accommodation for the Goethe-Institut, concluded a contract with the OAG: the OAG provided the valuable plot for a new building, whose ground floor and first and second floors are used by federal institutions. The OAG has continued to operate as an independent, self-financing non-profit membership association under Japanese law, with a library of more than 6,500 works in German and English, and a programme of lectures, publications, excursions, trips, celebrations and cultural events. In 2024, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, a comprehensive history of the society from its founding to 1979 was published by Christian W. Spang, Rolf-Harald Wippich and Sven Saaler.

2024
A 606-page history of the OAG from 1873 to 1979 is published by Iudicium Verlag.
1977
The Federal Republic of Germany concludes a contract with the OAG to provide the plot for a new building used by federal institutions.
1976
The OAG receives a special prize from the Japan Foundation.
1956
A new clubhouse with lecture hall and library is inaugurated on 21 March.
1950
The property is returned and sold; a smaller plot in Akasaka is acquired.
1945
The clubhouse is destroyed in air raids; the OAG practically ceases to exist until 1951.
1923
The clubhouse is extended with a first floor and a fireproof building is erected for the library.
1920
The property is returned with the help of Ambassador Solf and Count Gotō Shimpei; club activities resume.
1919
The OAG property is confiscated as enemy property.
1914
A plot near the German embassy is acquired and plans for a large clubhouse are completed; the First World War breaks out.
1907
A constitutional amendment creates the position of honorary chairman after the German ambassador declines the chairmanship.
1885
The OAG operates its own clubhouse for the first time.
1878
The society's small museum is abandoned for cost reasons; its collection is donated to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Leipzig.
1874
B. Miyake publishes a contribution on Japanese obstetrics in the OAG's Mitteilungen.
1873
Founded in Tokyo on 22 March by German merchants, scholars and diplomats.

Products and positioning

A non-profit, independent German-language scholarly and cultural society in Tokyo dedicated to the study of East Asia, especially Japan, and to German-Japanese exchange.

Mitteilungen der OAG (MOAG)
The society's scholarly publication series, published since the 1870s.
OAG library
A library of more than 6,500 works in German and English.
OAG Haus Tokyo
The society's clubhouse in Akasaka, Tokyo, with lecture hall and library; rooms are rented out to fund scientific activities.
Die OAG. Die Geschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens 1873-1979 (2024)
A 606-page history by Christian W. Spang, Rolf-Harald Wippich and Sven Saaler, published by Iudicium Verlag, Munich.

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