Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan's Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia

Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan's Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia
With Seiji Shirane
Part of a series of shows about the Second Sino-Japanese War
• The Second Sino-Japane...
In today's show, Seiji Shirane will explore the political, social, and economic significance of colonial Taiwan in the southern expansion of Japan's empire in 1937. The show will offer an overview of Japan’s acquisition of Taiwan and its strategic importance in Japanese southern expansion into South China and Southeast Asia. He will talk about his forthcoming book and the roles of Han and indigenous Taiwanese on the war fronts.
Seiji Shirane is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Affiliated Faculty Member in the Asian Studies Program at The City College of New York.
Follow him on Twitter @SeijiShirane.
Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan's Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia, 1895-1945 by Seiji Shirane
UK uk.bookshop.org/a/5843/978150...
USA bookshop.org/a/21029/97815017...
The book is also available at Cornell Press
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/...
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[@susanyu6507]

Woody you are knocking it out of the park with all these great presenters! Seiji is like the sweet spot of the current crop of historians. He's an author / historian / educator who has a connection with the material he presents and has studied extensively. My roots are in South China, but as an American, I know very little details. This hour long class really opened my eyes, and was presented in a way that was easy to understand and retain.

[@WW2TV]

Thanks Susan

[@sheldrake6]

This is why I am here, to learn about aspects of the SWW that are little known in the west. Kudos.

[@WW2TV]

Thanks for being on the ride since the beginning mate

[@philbosworth3789]

Wow!! Seiji did an excellent job here explaining the intricacies of the situation. It must have taken him years to unravel all that and then explaining it in in a balanced way that people like myself can not only understand, but enjoy listening to and learning from him. A worthy follow up to yesterday's episode.

[@davidlavigne207]

I have learned a new word watching today's presentation by Seiji Shirane: Austronesian. It has sparked a new topic of interest for me to study about the various peoples described by that term. I also learned a great deal about the Taiwanese peoples and how their interaction with the Japanese played out. I must purchase a copy of Assistant Professor (soon to be a full professor I'm sure) Shirane's book. Considering the Japanese way of establishing a pecking order for there colonial populations, it is a wonder that any colonials agreed to serve in their armed forces at all. The Japanese and Asian Co-prosperity Sphere was not so much mutual from all I have gathered. What I learned here gives credence to my understanding. Great work done here.

[@gagamba9198]

Pecking order would have been seen as normal - it's a very hierarchal region, well beyond the experience of modern Westerners. The Han Chinese saw the Mongols and Manchus as barbaric. And the Manchu Qing ran a strict two-tier system for much of its rule over the Han Chinese. The Koreans were not barbaric because they were Confucian and performed its role as a vassal state appropriately. In the late Ming dynasty the Japanese wanted to establish an equal relationship, but by the 1640s or so it transformed (the Kaei Metamorphosis) when Japan perceived the Manchu conquerors of Ming had ruined China. In late 19th and early 20th century East and SE Asia, Japan was an inspiration. Many moved there to study and/or work. Even plot. Park Chung Hee attended the Japanese military college and became an officer in the IJA. He wasn't alone. In most countries there was a spectrum of ideas, from those who welcomed Japan's rule to those who loathed it. For many, it was no change to their situations. For Taiwan, its experience with Japan was very different from those on the mainland. Their hardship came when the nationalists retreated across the Strait and upended society.

[@rickgreen2957]

A very illuminating presentation -- a great example of the devil being in the details. It was interesting to learn of Taiwan's role in Japan's pan-Asian expansionism, and the competition between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy, as to whose doctrine would lead. A connection to the 'Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze' show that I came across was that the Japanese commander of the Battle of Shanghai, Matsui Iwane, was a pan-Asianist who, while in command of the Taiwan Army in 1933, set up a branch of the Greater Asia Association there. Given his successes in capturing Shanghai and Nanjing, it would seem the "Southern Expansion Doctrine", represented by Taiwan and the Navy, dominated how Japan advanced into China afterwards. Ironically, Matsui had also known, and had once been a supporter of Chiang Kai-shek. Shirane's explanation of how the Taiwanese were used by the Imperial Japanese Army to facilitate their southern conquests and the administration of the conquered territories was also fascinating. Without the use of the collaborationist Taiwanese, Chinese, and Koreans to make up for their lack of occupation troops, how far could Japan have realistically expanded its empire? Would it have halted them before the tripwire of 1941? I'm looking forward to reading "Imperial Gateway" and curious to see where Shirane's scholarship leads him. Thanks for the opportunity to learn about this unique perspective and deepening our historical understanding.

[@TheVigilant109]

Fascinating presentation by Seiji. I learned a lot tonight. Thank you very much.

[@richardseverin1603]

Great presentation today. Very knowledgeable presentor Seiji Shirane. I was going to ask during the show, during the US/Japan war, so many Kami-Kaze aircraft took off from Taiwan (Formosa), were all pilots Japanese? Or were there other nationalities flying for Japan? Good show again. Thanks.

[@KevinJones-yh2jb]

Another excellent presentation on the Sino/ Japanese series. Having spent many years when at sea calling at the Taiwanese ports. They are a very proud and independent nation, with although connections with mainland China etc.Seiji’s presentation is tops, he really puts this area in context in a comprehensive, but easy top follow narrative. Paul you have nailed this with getting this together with excellent historians. WW2TV is as I’ve said before is at the top of the historical/ WW2 channels around, with a very growing following. Thank you Paul and Seiji. More from Seiji in the future if possible.

[@pattenicus]

Excellent! Bloody brilliant. More please.

[@bruceday6799]

A much much deeper dive into this than I could have expected. 🌟🌟🌟

[@ErrolGC]

Playing catch-up this week. Another great theme, top-class presenters. Learning even more than usual

[@MrRugbylane]

Totally new to me. Just super

[@scottgrimwood8868]

An excellent presentation! I learned alot about Tawain and it really helps me understand not only the islands role in WW2 but the current issues with the PRC.

[@jimwatts914]

Howdy folks. Tremendous and comprehensive explanation of Taiwan. Learned lots. I worked in Taiwan for several years mid-1970 and am a big fan of the place and people. No rabbit holes at all. Bring Seiiji back soonest.

[@cybertronian2005]

The final Japanese soldier to surrender - decades after WWII ended, in 1974 - was actually indigenous Taiwanese! Teruo Nakamura surrendered a few months after the more well known Hiro Onoda, after being captured in Indonesia.

[@morningstar9233]

Thanks for expanding my limited knowledge of a complicated history in an easy to follow discussion. An exceptional presentation.

[@Emchisti]

I'm compelled to make another comment here - this was a truly engaging and very well delivered lecture. Please get him on again, Paul. In the meantime, I'll be picking up his book, for sure.

[@YYCRS]

Fabulous presentation!

[@Canopus44]

work got in the way of watching this live so just finished it. Wow, another fantastic show and guest. Will be definitely getting his book!

[@curtiswebb8135]

Excellent.

[@robertoneill2502]

Another brilliant show, and another vote to have Seiji on again

[@standyl2268]

I can't add anything to all the positive comments already shared about this program. Dr. Shirane's unfolding of the complexities and nuance of this subject matter is riveting. It makes sense, once he presents it, but it was not intuitive to me, largely due to my ignorance. Some years back, Kellogg's did a marketing campaign for Corn Flakes along the lines of "Taste them again for the first time." That's what Paul is doing thru WW2TV for WW2 history and historiography. I've been reading WW2 history as a layman off-and-on for over sixty years. But listening to the authors and scholars Paul finds to present, is like, for me, engaging with WW2 history for the first time. It's amazing!

[@pippohispano]

This was one very, very good presentation! Seiji really knows his subject ans was able to give us a very in depth view of these ethnic, national and political intricacies that I didn't knew about. One thing that he didn't refered to, or wasn't asked, is the way Japanese foreign and military policies were determined, by political-military factions (Army and Navy), by which seems that Japan was run by several, independent and competitive polities, which is quite odd for a modern State.

[@brianschwarz]

Excellent presentation. Thank you.

[@chrisr9380]

Great presentation. Book is now on my kindle.

[@worldoftone]

I learned a lot here. Hadn't really thought about the different dialects and class ranking between the nationalities.

[@TheHistoryWonderer]

Just wonderful.

[@zainmudassir2964]

Good interview

[@porksterbob]

Really great questions! A shame we didn't get to go into the post war Taiwan experience in depth. Censorship and the lack of the draft meant Taiwanese people didn't really know about Japanese atrocities. This meant when the Chinese came in in 1946, Taiwanese people saw the ragged troops as rapacious illiterate peasants. For the Chinese part, they saw the Taiwanese as pampered collaborators who were nostalgic to be ruled by the murderers of millions. Then in 1947, Taiwanese protesters against the new Chinese government wanted to avoid infiltration by government agencies. They decided to speak a language the Chinese wouldn't know. They spoke Japanese. They were promptly shot in the face. It was the 228 incident and kmt government killed tens of thousands.

[@scottkrater2131]

Non Japanese used by Japan seems at least a rough comparison to the Trawniki guards used by Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe.

[@gagamba9198]

The Satsuma Clan invaded and took over Okinawa in 1609 _after_ gaining approval from the Tokugawa Shogun - they invaded on his behalf. At the time, Japan was keen to re-establish trade links with the Ming dynasty, but was rebuffed. Okinawa was a Ming vassal then, and Japan wanted to preserve that tributary relationship to continue trade by proxy and to gain info on the mainland's political situation. The Okinawans were instructed to not reveal to Ming they had been taken over. It went so far as to when Ming traders and officials arrived, all signs in Japanese were hidden and the Okinawans were ordered to never speak Japanese in the presence of the Chinese. Okinawa ended up having to pay tribute to both Ming and Japan. Moreover, Hokkaido was not Japanese. Before 1869 Hokkaido was known to the ethnic Japanese as Ezo. While the Japanese considered Ezo to be within their sphere of influence and there was a small Japanese-controlled zone in the southern tip of Ezo for trading from the 16th century, Ezo was a foreign land inhabited by the Ainu people. Part of Sakhalin Island was later occupied. It too was populated by the Ainu, and they were Qing vassals. (They had been vassals of the Mongol Yuan dynasty earlier.) Hokkaido was only fully incorporated into the Japanese state in 1869 following the Meiji Restoration, after which Japanese settlers colonised the island beyond the southern tip. The indigenous Ainu people were dispossessed of their land and forced to assimilate, but really treated as second-class people, if not worse. That said, almost everyone in Japan was treated as second- or even third-class. Second-class were those who were not samurai (Toyotomi Hideyoshi banned social elevation in the late 16h century) and third-class were the burakumin, the untouchable caste.