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Nese in Micronesia, 1885-1945, by Mark R. Peattie

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Nese in Micronesia, 1885-1945, by Mark R. Peattie THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. SPRING/FALL 1989 Nan'yo: The Rise and Fall ofthe Japa­ in the final chapters to describe the nese in Micronesia, 1885-1945, by conquest of a militarized Micronesia Mark R. Peattie. Pacific Islands Mono­ by us forces. Students ofthe Pacific graph Series no. 4. Honolulu: Univer­ War will find useful the descriptions of sity of Hawaii Press, 1988. xxii + 382 japanese military and civilian wartime pp, maps, photographs, notes, bibliog­ preparations and experiences. raphy, index. US$30.00. Between the chapters chronicling the beginning and end ofjapan's ven­ The growth ofjapan's commercial and ture into Pacific empire, Peattie evalu­ cultural ties with new Pacific Island ates the thirty years ofjapanese rule. nations and the approaching fiftieth japan governed Micronesia (except for anniversary of the war in the Pacific Guam and the Gilbert Islands) as a sin­ make this scholarly analysis ofjapan's gle political entity, establishing an island empire particularly timely. administration that mixed European Nan'yo (the term indicates the South habits ofcolonialism with japanese Seas, specifically Micronesia) is both a goals in the South Seas. Domestic and history ofthe japanese in Micronesia global politics, the character ofthe and a study ofjapan as a colonial naval administration and the later power. colonial civil service, and comparison Peattie relies on Japanese- and ofthe Nan'yo with japan's other col­ English-language documentary onies created the context in which sources, and makes occasional effective Micronesians and immigrant japanese use of oral history. In addition to gov­ began to form a distinctive colonial ernment documents, contemporary society. Peattie describes this society in newspaper and journal accounts, and chapters on the structure ofjapanese commercial records, he skillfully uses colonial authority, economic develop­ songs, novels, and poetry to character­ ment, large-scale immigration, and ize the japanese version ofthe myth of colonial social life. Each chapter is the South Seas and to trace the devel­ replete with detail, including maps, opment and denouement ofjapan's biographies, anecdotes, contemporary commitment to a maritime strategy of accounts, and close-up studies ofmajor expansion. islands. Apart from its obvious schol­ The book is part chronology and arly value, the description of colonial part analytical description. Meiji japan Micronesia is fascinating. Peattie encouraged economic expansion and writes well, with an eye to the telling maritime prowess, producing japan's anecdote and the significant person. near-monopoly of trade in German The image ofMori Koben, who settled Micronesia by 1906. Peattie untangles on Truk as a trader in 1892 and died the domestic politics that promoted there in 1945, eight days after japan's subsequent political expansion an&the surrender, stands out. In fact, Peattie international politics that gave japan dedicates his book to Mori's memory­ its first success, when it took control of "pioneer and patriot"-a dedication German possessions in the northern that reflects the author's attitude Pacific in 1914. He resumes chronology toward the subjects of his research. He BOOK REVIEWS 197 is critical ofJapanese treatment of nese Micronesia in 1940 was com­ Islanders, but uninterested in anticolo­ pletely destroyed five years later. nialist rhetoric. He takes the Japanese Peattie devotes an entire chapter to "pioneers" on their own terms and the question ofJapan's military inten­ chronicles their goals, their social tions in the area: were the Japanese for­ organization, their lives, their suc­ tifying the islands in the years between cesses, and their failures with respect­ the first and second world wars? Al­ ful sympathy. though for several reasons the Nan'yo Nan'yo considers several outstand­ government and the home government ing questions about Japan's colonial insisted fanatically on secrecy, to "pro­ efforts in Micronesia. How closely did tect" the colonies from trade or casual Japan adhere to its promises to the visits by outsiders, Peattie has found no League of Nations? Peattie examines evidence that their purpose was mili­ Japanese policy toward Micronesians tary. The Japanese commitment to eco­ in light ofthe provisions ofthe man­ nomic growth resulted in the construc­ date charter, with the explicit intention tion of airfields, habor facilities, and ofrendering historical judgment. Bas­ communication systems, all of which ing his conclusions on information could later be adapted to military pur­ about public health, education, land poses. But, although the navy was ownership, and economic opportunity, always aware ofthe strategic value of he concludes that Japanese ethnic ideas the islands, construction that was and the swelling tide of immigration to explicitly military did not take place the islands relegated Micronesians to until 1939. the status of"third-class people"-not Mark Peattie is a historian, a stu­ actively exploited, for the most part, dent ofJapanese imperial and military but pushed aside in the rush to develop history. His familiarity with Japanese the new territories. history and politics is a valuable per­ Another question on which the jury spective from which to view the ofhistory is still out is that ofthe eco­ empire's tropical possessions. In his nomic exploitation of the islands. The preface, Peattie apologizes for concen­ Japanese made these colonies pay trating on the Japanese, rather than the through a combination ofgovernment Micronesian, experience ofthe Japa­ assistance and entrepreneurial persist­ nese era. The apology is unnecessary. ence. They expanded tropical agricul­ The study ofMicronesian history has ture, connected remote atolls to global many exciting decades ahead of it; we trade networks, and developed the can wish for the analysis ofindigenous commercial value ofthe ocean. They perspectives while still valuing this also caused severe degradation ofthe study ofthe colonial rulers. Peattie's environment and introduced disloca­ comprehensive and fascinating book tion and economic stresses that have adds greatly to our knowledge of affected Micronesian life ever since. Micronesia's recent history and pro­ Peattie is content to leave the balance vides significant insights into the oper­ sheet at this; in any case, the produc­ ation of colonial governments in gen­ tive economic machine that was Japa- eral, the Japanese empire in particular, THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. SPRING/FALL 1989 and the global significance ofthe heretofore unpublished or sketchily Pacific Islands. suggested here and there in print and in LIN POYER film. Thomas' central character is "Mau" University ofLouisville Piailug, well-known already as the nav­ igator ofthe 1976 voyage ofthe recon­ structed voyaging canoe Hokule'a to The Last Navigator, by Stephen D. Tahiti, and for his sharing oftradi­ Thomas. New York: Henry Holt, tional Carolinian navigational knowl­ 1987.308 pp, maps, notes, appendixes, edge with the Hokule'a sailors. While glossary, index. US$22.9S. Piailug may not actually be the last tra­ ditional navigator left on Satawal, In 1983 Stephen Thomas, a young much less in the rest ofthe Pacific, he American yachtsman, made a pilgrim­ has the reputation of being the age to Satawal Island in the central youngest ofthe old guard of fully qual­ Caroline Islands to learn the art of tra­ ified traditional navigators there. He is ditional navigation from "Mau" also a man vitally concerned with the Piailug, the "last navigator" ofthe title preservation and dissemination ofhis ofthis book. This is primarily a per­ lore and methods, yet frustrated sonal account in which Thomas tells because few young men on his island why he chose Satawal and Piailug, how evince much interest in such an "old he finally meets Piailug on the island of fashioned" way ofguiding a vessel. Yap, convinces him of the sincerity of This, plus his ambition to know the his quest, and becomes accepted as his outside world, is why Piailug was such pupil, and then, how once on Satawal a good choice as navigator for Hoku­ he learns navigation and associated le'a in 1976 and as a teacher for Nainoa lore from Piailug and others both on Thompson, the Hawaiian who is reviv­ land and at sea during interisland voy­ ing noninstrument navigation in ages in Piailug's canoe. Polynesia. Yet, as Thomas' narrative Thomas' style is much more John repeatedly indicates, Piailug is a much McPhee and the New Yorker than Ray­ more complicated and ultimately more mond Firth and the Journal ofthe Poly­ human figure than many ofhis admir­ nesian Society. He focuses more on tell­ ers suppose. Piailug is a navigator, and ing the tale of his quest in personal not a chief. He rules his canoe at sea terms, than on a dispassionate render­ and has certain privileges ashore, but ing ofwhat he found. While some may should, ideally at least, always defer to object that this approach leaves out the chiefs on matters terrestrial. Yet, vital information, immodestly empha­ because ofhis work with Hokule'a, the sizes Thomas' own qualifications as a books, articles, and films that have fea­ navigator, and entangles th~ reader tured him, andthe recent award of an with Thomas' yearning for an ideal honorary doctorate by the University father, the result is an enthralling ofHawaii, Piailug has gained a Pacific­ account that reveals insights into the wide, if not worldwide reputation, current state of Carolinian navigation while Satawal's chiefs are only known.
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