The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932
Author: Yoshihisa Tak Malsusaka and Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs (Paperback)
In this history of Japanese involvement in northeast China, the author argues that Japan's military seizure of Manchuria in September 1931 was founded on three decades of infiltration of the area. This incremental empire-building and its effect on Japan are the focuses of this book.
The principal agency in the piecemeal growth of Japanese colonization was the South Manchurian Railway Company, and by the mid-1920s Japan had a deeply entrenched presence in Manchuria and exercised a dominant economic and political influence over the area. Japanese colonial expansion in Manchuria also loomed large in Japanese politics, military policy, economic development, and foreign relations and deeply influenced many aspects of Japan's interwar history.
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Summary
In this history of Japanese involvement in northeast China, the author argues that Japan's military seizure of Manchuria in September 1931 was founded on three decades of infiltration of the area. This incremental empire-building and its effect on Japan are the focuses of this book.
The principal agency in the piecemeal growth of Japanese colonization was the South Manchurian Railway Company, and by the mid-1920s Japan had a deeply entrenched presence in Manchuria and exercised a dominant economic and political influence over the area. Japanese colonial expansion in Manchuria also loomed large in Japanese politics, military policy, economic development, and foreign relations and deeply influenced many aspects of Japan's interwar history.
Description
This book explores the history of Japanese imperialism in Manchuria from the acquisition of a railway concession following the Russ-Japanese War of 1904-5 to the founding of the puppet state of Manchoukuo in 1932. The author argues that Japan's subjugation of this territory, although culminating in armed seizure in 1931, was, for the most part, an incremental process of establishing colonial realities on the ground. He pays special attention to the activities of the South Manchuria Railway Company, a quasi-official corporation that played an instrumental role in laying the foundations of Japanese rule over the course of a quarter-century. The evolving aims, strategies and meanings of Japanese empire-building in Northeast China are the focuses of this book.
Critic Reviews
“Lurking behind the deceptively specialist title of this monograph lies an important and engaging book...In the described historical events, Japan found itself pulled deeper and deeper into a quagmire that led to a disastrous war. Matsusaka uses a chronological approach to examine the roles of the Foreign Ministry, the Army, and the South Manchuria Railway. The result casts great light on a crucial phase of Japanese imperial history while at the same time enthralling the reader with a tale to compete with a good novel.”
-- (11/01/2001)
About the Author
Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka is Associate Professor of History at Wellesley College.
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