Culture, Power and Politics in Treaty-port Japan, 1854-1899: The treaty ports

Download or read book Culture, Power and Politics in Treaty-port Japan, 1854-1899: The treaty ports written by James Hoare and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This two-volume collection, supported by an in-depth introduction that addresses origins, actuality, endgame and afterlife, brings together for the first time contemporary documentation and more recent scholarship to give a broad picture of Japan's treaty ports and their inhabitants at work and play in the second half of the nineteenth century. Many facets of the treaty-port world are featured in the 16-page plate section (including many rarely seen images) located in Volume 2. The material selected, providing a single point of reference for future research by the academy, shows how the ports' existence and the Japanese struggle to end their special status (extraterritoriality), impacted on many aspects of modern Japan beyond their primary role as trading stations. Compared with their counterparts in China, the Japanese treaty ports cast a smaller shadow: they were far fewer - only four really mattered - and lasted for just under fifty years, while the Chinese ports made their centenary. Yet the Japanese ports were important. The thriving modern cities of Yokohama and Kobe had their origins as treaty ports. Nagasaki, a major centre of foreign trade since at least the sixteenth century, may not have owed so much to its treaty-port status, but it was a factor in its modern development.'