Ian Rapley is a historian specializing in modern Japanese history, with a focus on cultural and intellectual exchanges between Japan and the wider world. He is the author of Green Star Japan: Esperanto and the International Language Question, 1880–1945 (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2024), which explores Japan’s engagement with Esperanto as part of broader debates about language, identity, and internationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rapley’s work examines how global movements intersected with national discourse, offering new perspectives on Japan’s role in transnational intellectual networks. He is recognized for his contributions to the history of language and modern Japan.