Modern Japan from the Colonial Perspective

Modern Japan&s;s empire linked foreign wars with territorial expansion yet lacked a centralized colonial ministry. Governance combined autonomous Government-Generals with common recruitment from the metropolitan bureaucracy, producing both centripetal and centrifugal forces. Matsuda reviews ‘imperial history’ approaches since the 1990s and argues for reconstructing a global frame that connects Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Manchuria, and sites beyond. He surveys migration research, highlights limits of quantitative comparisons, and proposes cross-referencing Korean and Taiwanese historiographies—especially on local elites, governance, and social mobility—to overcome area-study silos. By foregrounding intercolonial connections, this chapter reframes Japan from a colonial perspective and redefines imperial history&s;s scope.