Date of Submission

Spring 2024

Academic Program

Historical Studies

Project Advisor 1

Robert Culp

Abstract/Artist's Statement

The signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States on July 29, 1858 saw the opening of Japan to international relations on a much larger scale than previously experienced, allowing for not just the creation of connections with the Western world, but the transmitting of Western ideas of power and control--namely, the structures of imperialism and colonialism. The research that follows aims to grapple with just how much influence the United States had in the development of Japanese colonialism by looking at the development of Japan’s northern island of Hokkaidō in the Meiji period. This paper argues that, while the development of Japanese settler colonialism in Hokkaidō has its origins before the creation of the United States, it was most profoundly impacted by American views on racial hierarchies and land development that the Japanese came into contact with following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Research will primarily consist of analysis of three sets of primary sources, and how they discuss topics of race and land, and the connection between the two, in both Hokkaidō and Japan as a whole. The first set of sources consists of the Memoirs of Horace Capron, the United States Commissioner of Agriculture whom was hired by the Meiji government to kickstart the development of agriculture in Hokkaidō from 1871 to 1875. The second set of sources consists of a series of reports and other official letters written by Capron and his team to the Kaitakushi (Hokkaidō Development Commission). Lastly, the third set of sources consists of the documents written by the Iwakura Embassy, a group of Japanese diplomats who traveled to the United States and Europe from 1871 to 1873.

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Open Access

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