Empire by Design: Railways, Architecture, and Urban Planning in Tokyo, Taipei, and Seoul

This dissertation examines the spatial and built forms of Japanese power. As it sought to consolidate control of new territory, the Meiji government followed a design forged in Tokyo as it attempted to build legitimacy through public works projects, namely railways, Western-style architecture, and urban improvements. The first half of the dissertation traces the emergence of hegemonic urban space in Tokyo from the initiation of the Ginza Bricktown project in 1872 to the opening of Tokyo Station in 1914. Chapter II shows how popular resistance to the Ginza Bricktown project led to a more pragmatic urban planning system in Tokyo. Thereafter, rather than imposing preformed cityscapes onto the city, Japanese urban planners would attempt to reduce costs and avoid popular resistance by strategically widening streets and improving urban infrastructure when and where possible. Chapter III illustrates how the lessons of the Ginza Bricktown paved the way for the re-creation of Tokyo as the imperial capital. As the discussion of Tokyo Station - the so-called "Gateway to the Imperial Capital" - demonstrates, it was the cooperation of government planners, architects, and local forces that ultimately produced imperial space at the heart of the imperial capital. The second half of the dissertation demonstrates how Japanese colonizers attempted to establish hegemony in the colonies through manipulation of the natural and built environments of Taiwan and Korea. As Chapter IV argues, Japan pursued railways in Korea from the mid-1890s in an effort to validate Japanese claims to Korean territory. Chapter V shifts the focus to consideration of the built environment in Japanese colonialism. As in Meiji Tokyo, Japanese planners sought to project Japanese imperial power in the colonial urban built environment through programs of Urban Planning (Shiku Keikaku) in Taipei in the 1900s, and Urban Improvement (Shiku Kaishū) in Seoul over the next two decades. Learning from the opposition such projects incited in Tokyo, colonial planners in Taipei and Seoul pragmatically adjusted their plans to make implementation more feasible. As the case study of Seoul will demonstrate, the centerpiece of these projects was the production of imperial space.2017-01-1

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 038, Dr. Katsuya Hirano (University of California-Los Angeles)

In this episode, Dr. Hirano recounts Japanese settler colonization of Hokkaidō during the Meiji Period, underlining the racialization and dispossession of indigenous Ainu inhabitants. We discuss the role of capitalism and infrastructural development in Japanese imperial expansion, the impacts of the Meiji Restoration on the Ainu population, conditions for Ainu today, and the challenges of cultural commodification.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 059, Dr. Garrett Washington (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)

In this episode, Dr. Washington reinserts Christianity into the history of the Meiji Restoration, detailing the activities of early missionaries to proselytize while promoting Japanese modernization. We discuss the illegality of Christianity and the Hidden Christians in Nagasaki in the early Meiji Period, the impact of Christian values on Japanese women, and the hybridized worship spaces constructed by Japanese Christian congregations.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 118, Dr. Ryōsuke Maeda (Hokkaidō University)

In this episode, Dr. Maeda retraces the process of political centralization during the Meiji period, culminating in the establishment of the Imperial Diet in 1890. We discuss the emergence of national politics, competing political interests at different levels of society, and the impact of Japanese colonialism on national integration along with the idea of a “Long Meiji Restoration.”Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 099, Dr. Noell Wilson (University of Mississippi)

This episode previews a new podcast series, Japan on the Record, a shorter format current events-themed series.  In episode 1, Dr. Noell Wilson details the American influences shaping Japanese deep sea whaling dating to the mid-19th century.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 116, Dr. Rachael Hutchinson (University of Delaware)

In this episode, Dr. Hutchinson traces the origins of many themes in contemporary Japanese video games to the Meiji Period. We discuss continuity in themes of Japanese identity and colonialism from Meiji literature to video games today, place video games into the context of cultural production, review representations of history in video games, and consider ways to use video games in the classroom to teach Japanese culture.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast. Episode 036, Dr. Hiromu Nagahara (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

In this episode, Dr. Nagahara charts the popular music of the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras, noting the politics of music and sounding the potential of songs to voice popular discontent. We discuss the formation of national music in the Meiji Period, the spread of protest tunes in the Popular Rights Movement, the lingering popularity of wartime propaganda anthems, and the counterculture sentiments of postwar jazz standards and Enka ballads.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 024, Prof. Peter Kornicki (University of Cambridge)

In this episode, Prof. Kornicki challenges the narrative of the Meiji period as revolutionary, instead underlining continuities in literary tastes, practices, and writing through the 1880s. We discuss the origins, meaning of, and alternatives to the term “Restoration,” literary transitions in the mid-Meiji Period, and popular discontentment and protest.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 037, Dr. Melek Ortabasi (Simon Fraser University)

In this episode, Dr. Ortabasi retells the story of folklore focusing on the works of Yanagita Kunio, and gives a comparative look at children’s literature in the Meiji Period. We discuss folklore themes in Japanese popular culture today, Meiji children’s education, and a comparative approach to teaching the Meiji Period.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult

Meiji at 150 Podcast, Episode 117, Dr. Paul Kreitman (Columbia University)

In this episode, Dr. Krietman uncovers the history of human waste in Tokyo, from early modern nightsoil collection to postwar sewage systems. We discuss the Edo nightsoil economy, impacts of infrastructural development and World War II, and municipal efforts to clean up the city leading up to the 1964 and 2020 Olympic games.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacult