I've been beavering away and there have been some interesting developments. The first is that I will be making some public presentations on this work this year. The second is that while I've been absent from this blog, I did manage a research trip to Japan in December and January where I discovered some more interesting material.
To the first point, the presentations:
Presentation 1 will be to the Queensland branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs on 12 February 2013. Watanabe's journey will be the focus since this year marks 120 years since he was here.
Title: Contractual obligations: Interrogating
contemporary legacies of the political establishment in late 19th
century Japan and Australia.
This paper is part of a larger work which
aims to compare the political institutions and cultures of Japan and Australia,
as a means to understand the political relationship between two of the
Asia-Pacific key liberal democracies and their growing security
interdependence. Both nations have long considered themselves to be ‘in’ Asia,
but not of it.
There are two
main components to this study: one is the question of the ‘coincidence’ of
Japan and Australia’s modern political establishment being formed in the late
19th century. The Meiji era in Japan is noted for excursions by the
elite travelling abroad to understand a ‘foreign’ politics; coincidentally, the
Australian colonies were engaged in a decade-long debate about the federal
constitution, eventually promulgated in 1901.
The second question
is whether or not there can be comparisons made between the ‘social contracts’
of both societies, as a means to explain the commonalities of the polities of
both countries—to interrogate the legitimacy of the ‘liberal democracy’
rhetoric passed between the two, and a way to draw conclusions about that
element of politics, rather than the ‘East-West’ binary more commonly attached
to such comparisons.
The focus of
this presentation will be the
story of Watanabe Kanjuro, I seek to corroborate the detailed record (in
Japanese) of a journey undertaken by this Japanese adventurer in 1893, 120
years ago. The research is generated from the discovery of two documents I
found in the National Library of Australia as part of a study of early Japanese
writings and impressions of Australia. Watanabe’s report and the detailed
written and photographic documentation of his journey through Queensland and
the Northern Territory were an unanticipated discovery but one of immense value
in understanding Queensland history. Watanabe’s primary purpose was to
investigate the conditions of Japanese migrants working in Australia, mostly
associated with the sugar and pearling industries. Within three years of
Watanabe’s visit to Queensland, the Japanese government had established its
first consulate in Australia and it chose Townsville as that place.
The second presentation will be at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago in April 2013. That paper will aim to draw out the 'social contract' comparisons of both Australia and Japan, what were the comparable socio-political conditions of the time?
To the second point: my recent trip to Japan and some further ideas uncovered.
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| A screenshot of the online record of the Imperial Parliament of Japan |
Thus the purpose of this post is primarily to introduce a little more of the biographical information about these two I found in Japan's national library (the Kokkai Toshokan). But I also introduce it in the context of the current political climate in Japan.
I was there just a couple of days after the 16 December lower house election. The electorate returned the Liberal Democrats in coalition with the Komeito, a return to the pre-2009 governing coalition. An anlysis of that will be over on the other blog, Pesphy's~ologies in a few days. What struck me as interesting this time though, was the number of recently published books and articles which were seeking to draw parallels between the contemporary political scene and the Meiji establishment. I'll be offering an analysis of these books here over the next few months as well.
For now, let's consider the biographical details of Watanabe and Sato(w). I will include their details in Japanese as well, for those who read Japanese.
He was tasked with travelling to Australia by the then foreign minister (as we know) but also later similarly to Taiwan (Formosa) and to South Africa. (There is a reference to this aspect in The West Australian, 11 January 1904, p. 7)
On return, he became an editor in chief of the Jiyu Tsushin Company, a Tokyo municipal leader and a key role in the Keisei Electricity Co.
He was elected for one term in the 10th Imperial Diet in 1908, for the fledgling Rikken Seiyukai Party.
He died in October 1926.
渡辺勘十郎 ワタナベカンジュウロウ
1893年オーストラリアに派遣、「豪州探検報告」外務大臣に出す。後に、国会議員に…
立憲政友会 東京府東京市
当選（衆）1回 当選期 (10, 1908)
元治元年10月生まれ
東京都出身
英吉利法律学校卒
経歴
明治22年英吉利法律学校を卒業後米国に渡こ?, 帰国後殖民協会を創立し、移民事業に従事す。外務省のB託により豪州植民地を、また台湾総督 のB託
により南アフリカのトランバールを視察す。その後、自由通信社主幹、東京市助役、同収入役、京成電気軌道(株)監査役となる。
大正15年10月4日死亡。
Source: 白鳥令、監修、「激動の日本政治史 明治大正昭和歴代国会議員史緑」 （下）
東京、阿坂書房、1979.
Sato(w) Torajiro we know a little more about. The part I want to emphasise here is the fact that both Sato and Watanabe found themselves in parliament at the same time for the same party, the Rikken Seiyukai (although Sato was also elected to the eighth (1903) and ninth (1904) parliaments). He was a graduate of Michigan University with a Bachelor of Laws. He also set up a media company, the Yokohama Shinpo. His text of interest for purposes of this study is one he wrote in 1903, 'Shinseikei' ('A new politics and economics'). The text is available electronically and is one I am presently analysing for the larger project. There is mention of Thursday Island and Timor Island on p. 176 of this monograph. He is author of another monograph, 'A Theory on the Death Penalty'.
Sato died in 1928.
佐藤虎次郎 サトウトラジロウ
1890年代オーストラリアの木曜島に出て、島の商人として幅広く活躍し, 後に帰国して国会議員に…
「新政経」という本を明治36年に書いた.
立憲政友会 群馬C部
当選（衆）3回 当選期 （８, 1903.９, 1904.１０,1908）
元治元年６月生まれ
和歌山県出身
米国ミシガン州立大学卒
経歴
明治23年米国ミシガン州立大学卒業。豪州木曜島において真珠採取業に従事、造船所および商店を経営する。外務大臣により豪州植民事業調査のB託を受く、また横浜新報を発行し社長となる。著者に「死刑論」がある。
昭和3年9月6日死亡。(1928)
*NB There was another 佐藤虎次郎 listed as
having been elected for the LDP 5 times in the 22, 25, 26, 28, and 29
parliaments born January of Meiji 35, in Shizuoka, it's not clear if he is
related to the Thursday Is Sato.
Source: 白鳥令、監修、「激動の日本政治史 明治大正昭和歴代国会議員史緑」 （下）
東京、阿坂書房、1979.
From this we see a number of common points
to these two. There is the Wakayama connection, especially through the then
foreign minister Muto; both spent time overseas; both were asked to investigate
the conditions of immigrants in Australia, about the same time and both were
requested to do so by Muto. Both went on to set up or contribute to newspapers
of the day. They were born in the same year and by the time Satoh was in his
third term, Watanabe joined him in his first term as lower house rep for the same party. What might the conversations between the
two been?
This project coincides with renewed interest in Japan over the early 20th political leaders. As I was leaving Tokyo in January, commentators were remarking on some similarities in conditions between now and then, and looking at the efforts of politicians to rejuvenate the Japanese economy. It does seem that knowing something of the past will reveal to us, something of understanding our present.
Future posts will offer further translation and analysis of the writings of these and other notable figures of the time. Thanks for dropping by.
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