Synopses & Reviews
In 1871-1882 fifty Americans, along with other foreign experts, were employed by the Japanese government to develop Japan's northern frontier, Hokkaido. Their work covered a wide scope of activities, from introducing Western agriculture and industry, constructing roads and a railroad, and surveying topography and mines, to establishing an agricultural college. While examining the overall undertaking, Professor Fujita specifically focuses on the prominent members who left copious private and public records. She thoroughly examines their ideas as well as their attitudes toward an alien culture. At the same time, she shows the Japanese responses to these experts and their alien culture.
This is the first booklength examination of a development project that, in many ways, approaches some of the twentieth century undertakings in scope and complexity. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars of inter-cultural relations, and Japanese and American nineteenth-century history.
Review
....graceful account of American and Japanese collaboration on a shared enterprise.American Historical Review
Review
The work's greatest value lies in the light it sheds on the nature of the Japanese-American relationship at its star, through its attention to the complex question of contact and communication between disparate cultures and its comparison of attitudes of both Japanese and American....it should be a valuable addition to any library collection on modern Japan.The Historian
Synopsis
The first comprehensive study of American experts in nineteenth-century Hokkaido.
Synopsis
In 1871-1882 fifty Americans, along with other foreign experts, were employed by the Japanese government to develop Japan's northern frontier, Hokkaido. Their work covered a wide scope of activities, from introducing Western agriculture and industry, constructing roads and a railroad, and surveying topography and mines, to establishing an agricultural college. This is the first major study of this undertaking; one that has been considered to approach in scope and complexity the development aid projects of the mid to late twentieth century.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [175]-184) and index.
About the Author
FUMIKO FUJITA is Professor of American History at Tsuda College, Tokyo, and an expert on US-Japanese relations.
Table of Contents
Preface
Hokkaido and the United States
Horace Capron: A Messenger of Western Civilization
Benjamin Smith Lyman: A Disillusioned Helper
Henry S. Munroe and Edwin Dun: Contrast in Commitment
William Smith Clark and Young Professors
The Japanese Response
Conclusion: The Lesson of History
Appendix
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index