Review of "Overcoming Empire in Post-Imperial East Asia" edited by Kushner and Muminov, published in Japan Review

My review of Overcoming Empire in Post-Imperial East Asia: Repatriation, Redress and Rebuilding, edited by Barak Kushner and Sherzod Muminov and published by Bloomsbury has just been published in the latest issue of Japan Review.

Here is the link to the text: International Research Center for Japanese Studies Repository (nii.ac.jp)

Make sure to take a look at the articles in the issue as well!

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New Article - John Henry Duus, Anglo-Danish Merchant at Treaty Port Hakodate in the Meiji Period

New article just published in Vol. 10 of Shashi: The Journal Of Japanese Business And Company History : Western Merchants and the Meiji Transition: John Henry Duus at Treaty Port Hakodate (Part Two 1868-89) This is the abstract: In the second of this two-part article I examine the business activities of John Henry Duus in the years after the Meiji Restoration. Duus was already an experienced treaty port trader by the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and from his base in Hakodate, where he also served as Danish consul, he played a role in facilitating trade between Hakodate and Chinese treaty ports. Duus’ career in Japan spanned almost three decades including the transition from Tokugawa (Edo) to Meiji—Duus died in 1889, the year the Meiji constitution was promulgated. An examination of his activities utilizing fragments of his correspondence shows the opportunities and difficulties that Western merchants had to overcome as they sought to prosper in a turbulent era. Duus should have been well-...

Niigata Research Trip June 2022 Part 1

This June (2022) I had the pleasure of visiting Niigata on a research trip of about 24 hours (I spent the next day in Yokohama). The main purpose of the visit was to go through local archives to find materials related to the history of Niigata during the treaty port era including both primary sources and the work of local historians which is often published in local history journals which are only available in local libraries/museums. I found some of the former and plenty of the later at both the "Honpoto" Central Library ほんぽーと新潟市立中央図書館 and the Niigata City History Museum's 新潟市歴史博物館みなとぴあ reference room. I also tried to look into the connections of Niigata merchants with Hakodate and Ezochi (Hokkaido and Karafuto) in general. There was plenty of materials on these topics and I managed to get copies of a lot of the secondary materials. Niigata City History Museum's 新潟市歴史博物館みなとぴあ Verdict: interesting building and museum, reference room well stocked and staff very hel...

New Book Chapter - "The socioeconomic reintegration of repatriates: evidence from Gifu prefecture"

A new book chapter of mine was just published in a volume title End of Empire Migrants in East Asia , edited by Svetlana Paichadze and Jonathan Bull (both Hokkaido University) and published with Routledge. The chapter itself focuses on the process of socioeconomic integration among repatriates from Japan's former colonial empire in Gifu prefecture, including a brief discussion of the black market-turned-textile district right in front of Gifu station. Today the area is a bit run down but it used to be the heart of Gifu's postwar economy. Thanks to the editors for their rapid and careful management of the editing process, as well as their useful feedback on the chapter itself.

Steven Ivings (Kyoto University)

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