The technology of Japanese imperialism: Telecommunications and empire-building, 1895-1945

More than any other technology, telecommunications played the role of connecting Japan's far-flung imperial possessions before its disintegration in 1945. Taking telecommunications as a case study, this dissertation addresses two interconnected subjects: the role of technology in and the techniques of Japan's empire-building endeavor in the first half of the twentieth century.;Much emphasis has been placed on Japan's anachronistic ideology for imperial domination in Asia. Largely overlooked were the links between its imperial dreams and modernist visions as well as techniques. A study of telecommunications suggests how broad the intersection of nationalism/imperialism and technology was in prewar Japan. Since the late nineteenth century, telegraphs and telephones had been important not only in the wars Japan fought in Asia, but also in administering the territories that came under its control afterwards. Outside its formal colonial empire, Japan used telecommunications as a means to augment its influence in competition with Western interests. During the late 1930's, as Japan set out to reorder Asia into an autarkic "co-prosperity sphere," it embarked on an ambitious project of establishing an East Asian Telecommunications Network, which would encompass the home islands, Korea, Manchukuo, China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Centered in Japan, this great artery was to strengthen the imperial bonds between these areas as well as to consolidate Japan's position as the leader of Asia.;While telecommunications hegemony in Asia had always been a part ot Japan's imperial ambitions, Japan's progress in telecommunications technology during the 1930's, as exemplified in the invention of the non-loaded cable long distance telephone system, further reaffirmed its confidence that Japan was now capable of bringing the "eight corners of the world under one roof." Paradoxically, while the telecommunications network was supposed to foster integration and unity within the imperium, telecommunication policies often turned out to heighten rivalries between different Japanese bureaucracies. Thus, telecommunications fell short in accomplishing its expected empire-building mission for imperial Japan.