Mobility, Contacts, and the Formation of Multi-ethnic/racial Empires across the Pacific A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Noriaki Hoshino August 2014 © 2014 Noriaki Hoshino Mobility, Contacts, and the Formation of Multi-ethnic/racial Empires across the Pacific Noriaki Hoshino, Ph. D. Cornell University 2014 My dissertation examines Japanese and American intellectual discourses, including discourses by Christian leaders, on the topic of Japanese transpacific migrations, and sets such discourses in conjunction with related Japanese migrant practices from the beginning of the twentieth century through World War II. I focus on how both Japanese and American intellectual discourses with regard to Japanese migration reflected keen interest in the integration of heterogeneous populations in both empires. In particular, I analyze the emphasis in these discourses on the multi-ethnic/racial character of the intellectuals’ own nations and consider Japanese migrants’ responses to such discourses. I argue that the Japanese transpacific migration is an important historical factor in the development of discourses on the broader nation formation in the twentieth century. My study bridges the fields of Japanese studies and American studies and reveals new points at which transnational studies of Japanese migrations and comparative studies of racism in the Japanese and American empires converge. Overall, my study illuminates not only the parallel mechanisms of Japanese and American imperial nation formations but also the role of transpacific Japanese migration as an important site of interaction between the two countries. Such an analysis has not, to the best of my knowledge, been undertaken in either Japanese studies or American studies. Thus, my thesis offers new perspectives on existing nationalized disciplines and articulates the critical potential of transpacific studies. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Noriaki Hoshino was born in Morioka, Japan. After obtaining a B.A. from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, he joined the University of Tokyo, where he completed an M.A. in 2004. He joined the PhD program in History at Cornell University in 2006. He will start teaching at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 2014. iii This dissertation is dedicated to my parents and my wife iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has been written after a long intellectual inquiry and many fruitful encounters with various scholars, teachers, and friends on both sides of the Pacific. Therefore I owe the completion of my thesis to many people, who helped either directly or indirectly. However, I would like to express my exceptional gratitude particularly to my main advisers. Professor J. Victor Koschmann kept encouraging me to pursue my interdisciplinary research throughout my Ph.D. years. With his wide range of knowledge as a distinguished scholar in the field, he always gave me careful and intellectually stimulating advice and patiently kept supporting the slow pace of my dissertation writing. He also offered warm support when I encountered difficulties in everyday life as an international student. Without his academic and non-academic mentorship, I could not have finished a Ph.D. program in a foreign country. Professor Naoki Sakai is the source of my intellectual inspiration. Any conversation with him always opened my eyes and expanded my research perspective. Although my dissertation framework itself is influenced by his previous studies, what stimulated me even more is his intellectual integrity as a thinker. He kept showing me the importance of thinking and acting beyond a narrowly bounded discipline or academia itself. Professor Derek Chang introduced me to the world of Asian American Studies. He gave me a supportive push when I started engaging in transnational research and kept offering me his warm support. His distinguished knowledge of American history and strong interest in minority politics helped me develop my understanding of the history of Japanese immigrants. I also owe the successful pursuit of my research to the help of Professors Brett de Bary and Katsuya Hirano at Cornell University and Professors Yoichi Komori and Yasuo Endo at the v University of Tokyo. Although I cannot mention everyone by name, I have also been supported by a number of faculty members in the Department of History at Cornell University. I am also indebted to various institutions and their financial support for my research project: a Fulbright Scholarship, a Honjo Scholarship from the Japanese American Association of New York, a Robert Smith Fellowship from the East Asian Program at Cornell University, and a Sage Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School at Cornell University enabled me to concentrate on coursework and dissertation writing. Collegiality and friendship were also important sources of my intellectual curiosity and the motivation throughout my dissertation-writing process. It is impossible for me to mention all the friends who supported my research all over the world, but I feel obliged at least to mention many of my wonderful colleagues and friends at Cornell: Takeshi Kimoto, Jeff DuBois, Deokhyo Choi, Christopher Jones, Masaki Kinjo, Seokwon Lee, Akiko Ishii, Annmaria Shimabuku, Gavin Walker, Soo Kyeong Hong, Min-Hwa Ahn, Yuanchong Wang, Junliang Huang, Pedro Erber, Christopher Ahn, Sujin Lee, Mari Crabtree, Trais Pearson, Yoon Jeong Oh, Josh Young, Jorge Rivera Marin, Hajimu Masuda, John Duong Phan, Lisa Onaga, Peter Lavelle, and Taomo Zhou. Last but not least, I cannot help feeling grateful to my parents Katsutoshi Hoshino and Tamiko Hoshino for their steadfast encouragement and support. One of the biggest delights of the completion of this dissertation is that I can now start repaying the infinite debt I owe to them. I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to my wife Arina Rotaru. Her insightful advice and cheerful smile always help me keep moving forward. It is to my parents and my wife that I dedicate this dissertation. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch iii Dedication iv Ackowledgements v Table of Contents vii Introduction: Approaching the Formation of Empires across the Pacific 1 Chapter 1: Migrations and the Expansive Formation of the Japanese Nation: 31 The Evolution of Japanese Migration Discourses Chapter 2: Imperial Subject Formations across the Pacific: 73 Transpacific Network of Japanese Social Reform and Problem of “Assimilation” Chapter 3: Japanese Immigrants/Americans and American Theory of Racial Contacts: 111 Missionary, Social Scientists, and Question of Loyalty Chapter 4: Transpacific Migrations and the Creation of Minzoku : 155 Japanese Sociological Discourse on Racial/Ethnic Contacts Chapter 5: Between Nightmare and Daydream: 188 Shibutani Tamotsu and Affective Traces of a Participant Observer Conclusion 219 Bibliography 226 vii Introduction: Approaching the Formation of Empires across the Pacific After the modern Japanese nation-state ended its strict regulation of emigration in the late nineteenth century, Japan’s population started circulating with increased frequency into and out of the main islands. The United States was one of the earliest destinations for such Japanese migrants, whose flow later extended into South America, the South Pacific Ocean (Nanyō), and Manchuria. At the same time, the presence of Japanese immigrants in the United States provoked strong exclusionary reactions in the early twentieth century, and led to a restrictive immigration law issued in 1924, which was preceded by a series of specifically anti-Japanese immigrant laws. However, during the 1920s and 1930s, issues related to Japanese migrants also stimulated intellectual discussions of what appeared to be emerging multi-racial/ethnic nations in Japan and the United States. Both countries had been forming their own empires across the Pacific from one another and were attempting simultaneously to incorporate and differentiate new peoples and territories. What exact impact did the geographic shifts and activism of Japanese migrants have on intellectual discussions of nation formation and racial/ethnic relationship in both countries? How did the migrants cope with life at the intersection of two expanding empires? My dissertation investigates these questions. The central aim of this research is to reveal the unexamined intersection between the history of transpacific migration and the formation of empires. For that purpose, I explore Japanese and American intellectual discourses, including discourses by Christian leaders, on 1 Japanese transpacific migrations and examine related Japanese migrant/immigrant practices mainly from the beginning of the twentieth century through World War II. I also devote some attention to post–World War II discourses as well. I focus on how both Japanese and American intellectual discourses on Japanese migration reflected a keen interest in the integration of heterogeneous populations in both empires. In particular, I analyze the emphasis in these discourses on the multi-ethnic/racial or mixed race character of the intellectuals’ own nations and consider Japanese migrants’ responses to such discourses. The perspective of my research grows out of recent methodological developments in studies of empires and migrations across the Pacific. My approach builds in particular on recent comparative studies of racism in the Japanese and American empires and transnational explorations