Moving out from the “Margin”

Imperialism and Migrations from Japan, the RyÛkyÛ Islands and Taiwan

Bibliographic Data

ID12349447
AuthorsHiroko Matsuda (Academia Sinica, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume32
Issue4
Pages511-531
Publication date2008-11-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-7823 • E-ISSN: 1467-8403
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10357820802492610
OpenAlexW1987494595
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited7

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments I would like to thank Mayumi Shinozaki and Sumiko Kanazawa, librarians in the National Library of Australia, for their assistance in completing the reference list. I am also grateful for the comments of Tomoko Aoyama and two anonymous reviewers. Notes 1. For example, see Nakasone (2002 Nakasone, Ronald Y. 2002. Okinawan diaspora, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. [Google Scholar]). 2. The Yaeyama Archipelago consists of 32 islands – in 2005, 12 of these were inhabited. While the distance between Ishigaki Island and Naha-shi, Okinawa's prefectural capital, is approximately 411 kilometres, the distance between Taiwan and Yonaguni Island, which is at the western end of Yaeyama, is only around 111 kilometres (Okinawa Prefectural Office Website, http://www3.pref.okinawa.jp/site/view/contview.jsp?cateid=49&id=6128&page=1, accessed 3 May 2007). 3. I should note that Allen (2002 Allen, Matthew. 2002. Identity and resistance in Okinawa, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. [Google Scholar]) focuses on Kume Island, which is remote from the main island of Okinawa. 4. This term is frequently used to describe the economic depression in Okinawa prefecture during the interwar period. It refers to the situation whereby the islanders lacked food and ate cycads, which required careful cooking to avoid poisoning, to stave off starvation. 5. During my fieldwork from 2003 to 2008, I conversed with various people living on the islands, but the materials I examined for my research are the oral histories of people who were born on either Ishigaki or Taketomi Island and who worked in colonial Taiwan between 1927 and 1946. Most of my interviewees started to work in Taiwan as unskilled or semi-skilled workers such as factory workers or domestic workers. 6. The Annual Report of Statistics of Okinawa Prefecture reveals that in 1880 only 380 Okinawan samurai families were entitled to receive a living allowance (Okinawa-ken, 1881 Okinawa-ken. cir. 1881. Meiji 12-nen Okinawa-ken tôkei gaihyô, Okinawa: Okinawa-ken. Microfilmed by Yushodo Film Publications Ltd., Tokyo. 1963. Reel No. 493 [Google Scholar], p. 192). 7. Later, Itoman fishers travelled to Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, and even toward East Africa and South America in search of richer marine resources (Ueda, 2001 Ueda, Fujio. 2001. “Itoman gyomin to Tônan Ajia”. In Ajia no umi to Nihonjin, Edited by: Ômoto, Keiichi. 163–182. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. [Google Scholar]). 8. Koga Tatsushirô (1856–1918) was the pioneer of the marine product industry in Yaeyama. Koga was originally from Fukuoka Prefecture and opened a marine products firm on the main island of Okinawa just before RyÛkyÛ's annexation by Japan. He then opened the Ishigaki Island branch of his firm, called Koga Firm. Koga commercialised various marine products and dealt with foreign traders. In particular, he was successful in trading turban shells, which were used for shell buttons. Koga sent materials from Yaeyama to the Osaka Koga Firm, which was managed by his brother, and the Osaka Firm exported these marine products overseas (Mochizuki, 1990 Mochizuki, Masahiko. 1990. Koga Tatsushirô to Ôsaka Koga shôten. Nantô shigaku, 35: 1–21. [Google Scholar]). 9. Ichiki also notes that a few entrepreneurs attempted to carry out larger-scale fishing around Yaeyama or to establish facilities for cultivating marine products in Ishigaki Island, but none of these were successful. Only the Itoman migrants' traditional way of fishing continued to dominate until the early 1900s (Ichiki, 1965 Ichiki, Kitokurô. 1965. “Ichiki shokikan torishirabesho”. In Okinawa Kenshi vol. 14, Shiryô-hen no. 4, Zassan no. 1, Edited by: RyÛkyÛ, Seifu. 491–606. RyÛkyÛ: RyÛkyÛ Seifu. [Google Scholar], p. 605). 10. Sasamori Gisuke (1845–1915) was born into a samurai family in Hirosaki-han, which was later designated Aomori Prefecture. After exploring the Kuril Islands in 1892 in order to investigate national defence at the northern border, he decided to explore the RyÛkyÛ Islands out of a similar interest in 1893. His exploration resulted in the publication of Nantô tanken (The Exploration of the Southern Islands) in 1893. 11. Ichiki Kitokurô (1867–1944), who was a secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, conducted research on Okinawa Prefecture in 1894, and wrote the research report entitled Ichiki shokikan torishirabesho (The Research Report of Secretary Ichiki). 12. During the 1890s on Miyako Island, there was a people's movement against the old customs and the head tax system, which was supported by migrants from the main island of Okinawa and the Japanese Main Islands (Nishizato, 1981 Nishizato, Kikô. 1981. Okinawa kindaishi kenkyÛ: KyÛkan onzonki no shomondai, Okinawa: Okinawa Jiji Shuppan. [Google Scholar], pp. 216–37). It is possible that local officials were concerned about whether a similar incident would occur in Yaeyama. 13. For the details of Nakagawa Toranosuke's project, see Miki (1980 Miki, Takeshi. 1980. Yaeyama kindai minshÛshi, Tokyo: San'ichi Shobô. [Google Scholar]). 14. Nakagawa Toranosuke's home region, Tokushima Prefecture, was famous for its white sugar industry during the Edo period. Nakagawa was born into a well-established sugar manufacturing family known for its traditional technology of producing quality white sugar. However, because a large quantity of cheaper but good quality sugar was imported from overseas in the 1860s, traditional sugar manufacturing fell into decline. Nakagawa attempted to get through the crisis by developing modern agriculture and industry in Japan's new frontier (Miki, 1980 Miki, Takeshi. 1980. Yaeyama kindai minshÛshi, Tokyo: San'ichi Shobô. [Google Scholar], pp. 135–40). 15. There were two different kinds of vegetable fields, known as uchibata[internal fields] and aribata[wild fields]. Internal fields were looked after by individual farmers and inherited by their descendants. Farmers grew potatoes, vegetables, tobacco and so forth in internal fields, which were usually proximate to residential areas. Internal fields were maintained as if they were the private property of individual farmers, but accounted for only one-third of total vegetable fields (Nakayoshi, 1895 Nakayoshi, Chôjo. 1895. Yaeyamajima nôgyôron, Tokyo: Dainihon Nôkai. [Google Scholar], p. 23). The rest of the fields were shifting fields, locally known as aribata, which were rarely found in other RyÛkyÛ regions. Shifting fields, which accounted for two-thirds of the total agricultural fields, were usually located at a distance from farmers' residences. As residents in a community shared shifting fields, anyone in the community could cultivate part of the field. This traditional way of using land was observed even around the time that the reclamation projects began in Yaeyama. 16. Hiroshima Prefecture ranked first; the number of emigrants from Hiroshima between 1899 and 1941 was 96,848 (Ishikawa, 2000, p. 70). 17. In fact, today, Okinawan migrants are remembered as fishers in Taiwan, and it is often assumed that the majority of Okinawan migrants engaged in fishing. However, because new settlers dominated fishing, it is unlikely that fishing was a common occupation among Yaeyama migrants. Indeed, I have never come across a Yaeyama resident who worked as a fisher in Taiwan. Okinawan migrants are probably remembered as fishers by contemporary Taiwanese because Okinawan fishers created distinctive communities in Taiwan, which made them noticeable. 18. According to this rule, only Mainland Chinese who have contracts with approved Taiwanese sponsors are able to work in Taiwan (Matsuo, 1937 Matsuo, Hiroshi. 1937. Taiwan to shinajin rôdôsha: Migi ni kansuru hitotsu no chôsa hôkokusho, Taihoku: Nanshi Nanyô Keizai KenkyÛkai. [Google Scholar], p. 19). 19. Interview with the author. Tape recording. 3 July 2004. 20. Interview by the author. Tape recording. 30 June 2003

Ancient history · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Geography · Margin (machine learning · Asian American and Pacific Histories · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture

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