The Curious Case of Ms. Tommy Japan

In 1895, the murder of Shina Nakagawa, widow of the pearl diver known as ‘Tommy Japan’, exposed entanglements of gender, race, class, and empire on Thursday Island, Queensland. While the murder was framed as a crime of passion, it reveals deeper histories of hyakushō knowledge, maritime foraging, and the oceanic lifeworlds that sustained Japanese migrants. Manimporok juxtaposes archives from Japan, Australia, and Europe with oral traditions to trace how hyakushō engaged in non-colonial intimacies and developed an ‘oceanic affect’ grounded in the Arafura Sea. In so doing, it challenges narratives of industrial modernity and colonial possession in the Pacific.