1 PEACEFUL CHANGE OR WAR? 69a conference of the IPR. Indeed, Akami points out that members of the
Soviet group were critical of the IPR because ‘of its imperialistic nature’
and maintains that they in fact contributed little to it.^212
The second reason why the Yosemite conference was notable in
respect to the IPR’s membership was that it was the last IPR conference,
up until its conference of 1954, at which Japanese delegates would be
present. That this was to be the case was a consequence of the Sino-
Japanese War which broke out in 1937 and the Pacific War (or wider
Pacific War), that followed.^213 In the preface to the conference’s pro-
ceedings, Holland and Mitchell observed that as at Banff, the Yosemite
conference had taken place amidst ‘surroundings of great natural
beauty’. They went on to suggest that these surroundings, combined
with the ‘pleasant informality’ of the living arrangements (members
spent the duration of the conference ‘housed in cabins and tents around
Yosemite Lodge’), and the careful preparation for the conference on the
part of national councils and the International Secretariat, had ‘fostered
a spirit of frankness, tolerance, and mutual confidence.’ Notably, they
added that this spirit endured throughout despite the ‘acute political
controversies’ that the conference addressed.^214
When speaking of the conference many years later, Holland, had
a rather different recollection of the atmosphere at Yosemite. He
observed that the atmosphere was particularly ‘tense’ and that this was
precisely because of the looming Japanese threat.^215 This would have
been especially so given that, as Akami points out, the Japanese unit
of the IPR had now adapted its views so as to accord with the outlook
(^212) Ibid. Tomako Akami points out that the USSR members were critical of the IPR’s
periodical Pacific Affairs because in their view it ‘defended Japanese actions in China’
(ibid.). See also Condliffe, ed., Problems of the Pacific, 1929, 629.
(^213) Akami, Internationalizing the Pacific, 200. Akami notes that in addition to being
last conference until after the war at which a Japanese delegation would be present, the
Yosemite conference was the ‘last to follow the established format, the last to be open to
the public and the press, and the last to be held on the Pacific coast’ (ibid.).
(^214) Holland and Mitchell, eds., Problems of the Pacific, 1936, vii.
(^215) ‘Appendix 2: Holland-Hooper Interviews,’ in Hooper, ed., Remembering the
Institute of Pacific Relations, 19. See also Akami, Internationalizing the Pacific, 287. At
the International Secretariat of the IPR, Holland served as research assistant in the years
1928–1931; acting research secretary in the years 1931–1933; and research secretary in
the years 1933–1946. In 1946, Holland became the IPR’s secretary general.