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This article discusses an episode in the history of Sōka Gakkai that began as alternative youth movement under Ikeda Daisaku who came to advocate “people’s diplomacy” (minkan gaikō) as a way to foster goodwill between China and Japan. Why would Sōka Gakkai, a legally constituted “religious corporation” (shūkyō hōjin) be so serious about engaging with a Communist regime that did not recognise religion? The article discusses what “religion” or “religious behaviour” means in Sōka Gakkai, and questions the usefulness of such a classification on a qualitative level. Ikeda’s interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism highlights his approach to something seemingly very “unreligious”—namely, the normalisation of Sino-Japanese relations. Unlike the more traditional “reactive revolution” of protest movements that constructed politics as primarily a binary, ideological choice to achieve its aims, Ikeda prioritised finding ways to transcend that very ideology-centric, counter-politics approach. By appealing to conviviality, a sense of shared humanity and humility on the part of the Japanese towards their past history of colonialism, a new social imaginary and attitude that differed from politics of opposition between left and right entered as a historical force that continues to be promoted by Sōka Gakkai today.

The Sōka Gakkai 1968 Youth Movement: The Creation of Conviviality and Friendship in Sino-Japanese Relations