No label defined (Q4946200)

The present article covers the entire period of research in topology in Japan, from probably the first paper published in 1911/1912 to the International Conference on Manifolds and Related Topics in Topology held in 1973 in Tokyo. It is an exhaustive listing of involved personalities, their institutional and educational background, their publications, colloquia and interaction with research outside Japan. Without entering into mathematical details, the author claims that at least in the Taisho era (1910-1925), when only two books by Kerékjártó and Veblen were available in Japan, the topology of curves and surfaces had been studied independently and successfully inside Japan. One might thus indeed speak of a ``Japanese School of Topology'' as indicated in the title of the paper. For the Showa era (1925-1989) the situation becomes fairly different: the foundation of journals and departments of mathematics in numerous universities and the foundation of the Mathematical Society of Japan in 1946 with a topology branch furthered significantly international scholarly exchange. In particular after World War II, numerous significant contributions were made by Japanese topologists in all the central subjects of interest in algebraic, differential and combinatorial topology. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0922.54003].