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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Marshaling Culture: Strategies of Japanese Mobilization in Colonial Taiwan Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8hd9p8zt Author Chang, Winifred Kai-wen Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Marshaling Culture: Strategies of Japanese Mobilization in Colonial Taiwan A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Winifred Kai-wen Chang 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Marshaling Culture: Strategies of Japanese Mobilization in Colonial Taiwan by Winifred Kai-wen Chang Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Richard von Glahn, Chair In 1895, Japan annexed Taiwan, nominally ruled by China, and embarked on a period of expansion that only ceased at the end of World War II. Aside from military force, early colonial policies preserved Taiwanese lifestyles and sought the acceptance of Japanese rule. The colonial government administered cultural policies centered on sentimentality to remake Taiwanese people of aborigine and Han origin into Japanese citizens and imperial subjects amenable to mobilization. New standards of citizenship based on emotional affinity and sympathy were constructed for the Taiwanese, whose feelings and consequent actions became crucial for their positions in the empire. Japanese official documents, newspapers, and textbooks are evidence of Japanese manipulation of Taiwanese emotions and identity in order to motivate submission and collaboration. Martial ideals involving violence were broadly imparted through literacy and ethics. When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the colonial apparatus aimed to cultivate genuine self-effacing love for Japan, convertible into direct participation in the war effort by Taiwanese men, women, and children. Stories of patriotic emotional outbursts and ii moving though violent deaths were disseminated through schools and the press, perpetuating a focus on the empire despite wartime hardships increasingly troubling for the Taiwanese people in their everyday experiences. Generally, Japanese cultural strategies were more effective for Taiwanese born in the last three decades of Japanese rule. However, Japan could not completely harness Taiwanese emotions. Apart from patriotism, sources generated by Taiwanese people such as diaries and postwar oral histories demonstrate ambivalence, apathy, avoidance and pretense. This dissertation chronologically covers the five decades of Japanese rule on Taiwan through three sets of interrelated themes. The first is the paradigm shift in Japanese cultural policy from colonial expediency to wartime necessity. The second is the dialectical relationship between the “cultural” and the “martial,” exemplified by the power of education to effect mobilization. The third consists of the changing ideals and meanings of masculinity and femininity. This dissertation’s focus on the emotional dimension of colonialism affirms individual experiences and agency, sees institutional power as contingent, and contributes to the study of Taiwanese and Japanese history, colonialism, and identity formation. iii The dissertation of Winifred Kai-wen Chang is approved. Andrea S. Goldman William Marotti Theodore Huters Richard von Glahn, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv Marshaling Culture: Strategies of Japanese Mobilization in Colonial Taiwan Table of Contents Contents Chapter 1: Hard Feelings and Soft Power ....................................................................................1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................2 Major Themes .........................................................................................................................5 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Emotions............................................................................ 12 Brief History of Taiwanese Historiography ............................................................................ 18 Japan’s Colonial Empire ........................................................................................................ 26 Dissertation Structure ............................................................................................................ 27 Chapter 2: Dōka: Paradoxical Approaches to Difference, 1895-1930 ......................................... 33 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 33 Initiating Cultural Change in the First Five Years .................................................................. 38 The Role of Opinion-Editorials in Creating Consciousness of Difference and Similarity ....... 44 Teaching Japanese and Inspiring Japaneseness ...................................................................... 58 Assimilation?: Diaries of Colonized Taiwanese Elite Men ..................................................... 77 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 87 Chapter 3: The Musha Incident: Japanese Management of Emotions and Violencein Pre-War Taiwan ...................................................................................................................................... 93 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 93 Background on Aborigines in Taiwan .................................................................................... 95 The Musha Incident ............................................................................................................. 102 Official Reflections and Unofficial Opinions ....................................................................... 120 Consequences of the Musha Incident ................................................................................... 129 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 132 Chapter 4: Teaching Patriotic Feelings: the Reach of Colonial Cultural Policies in Taiwan in the Prewar Japanese Empire .......................................................................................................... 134 Changing Discourse for the Taiwanese Population............................................................... 139 Textbooks and Psychological Preparedness for War ............................................................. 144 Elite Actions and Feelings ................................................................................................... 156 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 170 Chapter 5: Imperiled Stronghold or Certain Victory: Between Everyday Life and Extraordinary Performance in Colonial Taiwan, 1937-1945 ........................................................................... 173 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 174 v Kōminka: Situating Taiwan in the “War for Everlasting Peace” ........................................... 178 Mobilizing through Wartime National Language and Social Education................................ 194 National Language Mobilization Guide ........................................................................... 196 National Language Readers ............................................................................................. 201 Imperializing Society .......................................................................................................... 210 Elite Diaries: Alongside Japan with Emotions or Rationality ............................................... 220 Ordinary People Caught in Extraordinary Times .................................................................. 237 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 247 Chapter 6: Rethinking Colonial Identity through Emotions...................................................... 250 Restoring Feelings to the Study of History........................................................................... 264 Emotions, Choice, and Identities in Transnational Contexts ................................................. 267 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 271 vi Acknowledgements This dissertation is based upon work supported by a Dissertation Year Fellowship and a Pre-Dissertation Fellowship from the UCLA History Department, two Hiroshi Wagatsuma Memorial Fund Fellowships from the UCLA Asia Institute, a mini-grant from the Pacific Rim Research Program, two Sasakawa Fellowships and two Aratani Fellowships from the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies, and two Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grants from the American Historical Association. Chapters of this dissertation have been presented at various conferences, with support for travel expenses from the History Department, Center of Study for Women, and Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA,
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