Eiichiro Azuma. In Search of Our Frontier

Eiichiro Azuma is a renowned pioneer in the transpacific study of empire. His new book, In Search of Our Frontier: Japanese American and Settler Colonialism in the Construction of Japan’s Borderless Empire, is an outstanding contribution to the history of ­Japanese migration and colonialism in the Asia-Pacific region. It seeks to explore how the transmission of settler-­colonial ideologies and practices shaped imperial Japan’s “frontiers” from the late nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. Azuma not only reminds us of the racist and imperialist undercurrents among eminent Meiji intellectuals such as Yukichi Fukuzawa, who saw the British empire as an archetype of Japan’s modernization; he also resuscitates the voices of many unknown pundits and “pioneer men” who played a pivotal role in the formation of frontier discourse. Azuma uncovers the formation of transpacific migration and settler colonialism in the Western Hemisphere, especially in the US West, which “played a crucial role in informing and even helping shape Japanese imperialism on the Asian continent and in the Nan’yō” (30). Challenging the existing literature on Japanese colonialism, which tends to concentrate on the Asian continent and surrounding maritime area, Azuma emphasizes the profound impact of US racism and exclusionary immigration practices on the complex unfolding of Japan’s oversea migration and settlement making.

Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Empire · Frontier · Political science · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies