The Journal of Japanese Studies

Established in 1974, the Journal of Japanese Studies features original, analytically rigorous articles from across the humanities and social sciences, including comparative and transnational scholarship in which Japan plays a major part

Kingsberg 38:2

ABSTRACT

 

MIRIAM KINGSBERG
Legitimating Empire, Legitimating Nation:
The Scientific Study of Opium Addiction in Japanese Manchuria

 

Through a case study of scientific research on opium addiction in early twentieth-century Manchuria, the epicenter of the global narcotic economy, I trace the changing ways in which colonial medicine was used to legitimate Japanese imperialism. From a justification of empire, research on addiction was transformed into a source of validation for the Manchukuo nation-state. Distinctive practices, including the establishment of local, world-class laboratories and the training of subjects as scientists, highlight the relative importance of colonial medicine to Japanese imperialism, compared to the West.

Volume 38, Number 2 (Summer 2012)
© 2012 Society for Japanese Studies