In tempo di elezioni di Errico Malatesta : Traduzione e significato dell’opuscolo nel Giappone di fine anni Venti

Errico Malatesta has been a leading figure in international anarchism, both as a revolutionary and a theorist, whose work gained growing popularity in Japan in the 1920s and 1930s. However, it is still debatable to what extent his work affected the movement in Japan. Past research on Japanese anarchism developed a diffusionist model to explain the reception of European anarchist thought in Japan. This paper investigates the process of translating In Time of Election into Japanese, in order to verify this model. My conclusion is that the Italian text was modified by its translators in order to promote local political groups, and that the diffusionist model is not a useful tool for an adequate understanding of the reception of foreign anarchist thought in Japan.