Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power (Peoples of Hawai'i, the Pacific, & Asia)

ISBN: 082483139X

Author: Dudden, Alexis

Condition: New

From its creation in the early twentieth century, policymakers used the discourse of international law to legitimate Japans empire. Although the Japanese state aggrandizers reliance on this discourse did not create the imperial nation Japan would become, their fluent use of its terms inscribed Japans claims as legal practice within Japan and abroad. Focusing on Japans annexation of Korea in 1910, Alexis Dudden gives long-needed attention to the intellectual history of the empire and brings to light presumptions of the twentieth centurys so-called international system by describing its most powerful-and most often overlooked-members engagement with that system.Early chapters describe the global atmosphere that declared Japan the legal ruler of Korea and frame the significance of the discourse of early twentieth-century international law and how its terms became Japanese. Dudden then brings together these discussions in her analysis of how Meiji leaders embedded this discourse into legal precedent for Japan, particularly in its relations with Korea. Remaining chapters explore the limits of these universal ideas and consider how the international arena measured Japans use of its terms. Dudden squares her examination of the legality of Japans imperialist designs by discussing the place of colonial policy studies in Japan at the time, demonstrating how this new discipline further created a common sense that Japans empire accorded to knowledgeable practice.This landmark study greatly enhances our understanding of the intellectual underpinnings of Japans imperial aspirations. In this carefully researched and cogently argued work, Dudden makes clear that, even before Japan annexed Korea, it had embarked on a legal and often legislating mission to make its colonization legitimate in the eyes of the world.