Forced Labour in Imperial Japan

Special Issue: Race and Empire in Meiji Japan

The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 18 | Issue 20 | Number 6 | Article ID 5501 | Oct 15, 2020
Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Japan Focus.


Forced Labour in Imperial Japan’s First Colony: Hokkaidō
Pia M. Jolliffe

Abstract:
This article examines the role ofAbstract: This article examines the role of forced labour with inthe context of Ezo/Hokkaidō’s colonization. I draw attentionto how in this process, different groups ofsubaltern people – the indigenous Ainu,political convicts, indentured labourers andKorean workers – contributed to the making ofimperial Japan’s first colony and the building ofthe modern Japanese nation state. Yet, evenwith their shared conditions of working under aJapanese ruling class, these subalternlabourers were not united. My article highlightshow their experiences were instead, largely shaped along ethnic, gendered and generational lines.

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