THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGINARY OF IMPERIAL JAPAN, 1931-1945 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 Aaron Stephen Moore August 2006 © 2006 Aaron Stephen Moore THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGINARY OF IMPERIAL JAPAN, 1931-1945 Aaron Stephen Moore, Ph.D. Cornell University 2006 “Technology” has often served as a signifier of development, progress, and innovation in the narrative of Japan’s transformation into an economic superpower. Few histories, however, treat technology as a system of power and mobilization. This dissertation examines an important shift in the discourse of technology in wartime Japan (1931-1945), a period usually viewed as anti-modern and anachronistic. I analyze how technology meant more than advanced machinery and infrastructure but included a subjective, ethical, and visionary element as well. For many elites, technology embodied certain ways of creative thinking, acting or being, as well as values of rationality, cooperation, and efficiency or visions of a society without ethnic or class conflict. By examining the thought and activities of the bureaucrat, Môri Hideoto, and the critic, Aikawa Haruki, I demonstrate that technology signified a wider system of social, cultural, and political mechanisms that incorporated the practical-political energies of the people for the construction of a “New Order in East Asia.” Therefore, my dissertation is more broadly about how power operated ideologically under Japanese fascism in ways other than outright violence and repression that resonate with post-war “democratic” Japan and many modern capitalist societies as well. This more subjective, immaterial sense of technology revealed a fundamental ambiguity at the heart of technology. While many elites encoded technology as the production of all aspects of life, some articulated technology as unexpected invention, transformative action, and creative self-formation. Such possibility was found within the very technologies that systematically structured society. By examining the thought and activities of the philosopher, Nakai Masakazu, I illuminate another notion of technology as cultural practices of invention that tactically employed the technologies mobilizing everyday life. Thus, I also explore other notions of the political in a context where politics was increasingly incorporated into the wartime effort through technology. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Aaron Stephen Moore earned his B.A. in History at the University of Virginia in 1994. In 1996, he entered the Masters Program in Asian Studies at Cornell University, earning an M.A. in 1999. In the same year, he joined the doctoral program in History at Cornell University and was admitted to candidacy in 2002. He has been a Graduate Research Fellow at Humboldt University in Berlin (2002-2003) and at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Tokyo (2003- 2004). His areas of study are modern Japanese and German intellectual history. iii In memory of the anonymous donor who gave me the gift of life iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is the result of tremendous support from numerous friends, teachers, and institutions over the course of nearly a decade. I would first like to thank my committee, Victor Koschmann, Naoki Sakai, and Michael Steinberg. They have always encouraged me to freely pursue my interests in an interdisciplinary manner and provided incisive criticisms of my work. Directed readings and coursework with Professor Koschmann has very much shaped the problematic of this dissertation, while Professor Sakai has always sustained my interest in modern Japanese philosophy. Professor Steinberg has consistently asked important questions of my work and made me think of the European historical context. I also thank John Weiss for enthusiastically agreeing to read my dissertation at the last minute and participate in my defense. I am grateful to the generous support of the Japan-United States Educational Commission (Fulbright Commission), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Cornell East Asia Program, the Cornell Department of History, and the Cornell Graduate School at various stages of the dissertation process. The Fulbright staff in Tokyo did everything possible to make my year in Tokyo an extremely productive one. Support from the DAAD enabled me to spend six months in Berlin to learn German and study some of the vast material on theories of technology there. Grants from the History department, Graduate School and the East Asia Program made various conference presentations, language study, last minute research trips, and, of course, much of the writing possible. v This dissertation would not have been finished without the miraculous work of the University of Colorado Liver Transplant Unit, without whose care, I would not even be alive today. I would also like to thank my wife, friends, parents, relatives, colleagues, and teachers who expressed their kind support during this very difficult time in my life. Thanks to them, I was able to recover in less than a semester and obtain the strength to finally complete this dissertation. I dedicate this work to my unknown donor and his family for their wonderful gift of kindness. This event has made me appreciate life even more and made me more committed to becoming a better scholar and teacher. Numerous friends and informal study groups in Japan have also shaped this work. The members of “Hagemasukai”—Tomotsune Tsutomu, Shidama Shinri, Suyama Daiichirô, and Kikuchi Naoko—have always encouraged me to “think out of bounds” and presented me with challenging theoretical questions, which I continue to struggle with today. They have been there for me since this dissertation was at the Masters thesis stage. I also thank Uemura Tadao for his encouraging comments and for welcoming me into his intellectual history seminar. His eclectic students also deserve my warm appreciation for their friendship and support: Iguchi Yufu, Hayashi Midori, Nakamura Takayuki, Odawara Rin, Kasai Hirotaka, and Takahashi Hiroshi. Iwasaki Minoru and Nakano Toshio of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies have sponsored me during my stays in Japan, and they have always involved me in various symposia, reading groups, and informal gatherings. Without their warm support, I would not have been able to navigate the Japanese academic world. The “Colonialism/Overcoming Modernity Research Group” (Shokkinken) has been a stimulating arena for me and has made me think of my work in more pan-Asian terms. Finally, I would like to thank vi Yamane Nobuhiro for always forcing me to consider some of the “hard” aspects of technology. Many friends at Cornell have helped me finish this dissertation over the years. My dissertation group—Sheetal Majithia, Anna Parkinson, Doreen Lee, Shirleen Robinson, and Tsitsi Jaji—have given me invaluable comments from various standpoints that have enabled me to articulate my arguments more clearly in the finishing stages of the writing. Susie Pak has been a kind reader and has always asked me focused questions that have helped develop my chapters and research. Ben Middleton and Trent Maxey, my fellow Japanese history colleagues, have shared their knowledge and friendship with me from the very beginning of graduate school. Other friends and colleagues I would like to thank over the years include John Namjun Kim, Mary Gayne, Heidi Voskuhl, Chiming Yang, Yoshiaki Mihara, Taik Kyun Kim, Michael Shin, Hsingchun Hsiao, Matsuko Katada, Takeshi Kimoto, Akiko Ishii, Ahilan Kadirgamar, Richard Calichman, Sharon Hayashi, Yukiko Hanawa, Frederick Neuhouser, Kyoko Selden, Jason Smith, Brett DeBary, John Ricco, Lisa Onaga, Choi Deokhyo, Sven Brandenburg, Iftikhar Dadi, Mark Driscoll, and Wesley Sasaki-Uemura. All of them have helped shape this work in one way or another. I have benefited immensely from wonderful environments in which to write. I am particularly grateful to the Kinugawas of Yakuno, Japan, for the peaceful country atmosphere that allowed me to escape the at times stifling city of Tokyo to write. Colorado Springs and Colorado College have also provided idyllic environments in which to finish. Much love and appreciation goes to my parents, Steve and Chung Moore, who patiently supported me throughout graduate school and my travels all over the world. Finally, I could vii not have done this without my wonderful wife, Nilanjana Bhattacharjya, who helped maintain my sanity and health throughout this whole process with her love, warmth, and wonderful sense of humor. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch iii Dedication iv Acknowledgments v Table of Contents ix List of Figures x Introduction 1 ONE Techno-Imperialism and the New Order in East Asia: Môri 39 Hideoto’s Theory of Technology TWO Subjective Technologies of Mobilization: Aikawa Haruki's 82 Wartime Theory of Technology THREE Cultural Technologies of Mobilization: Aikawa Haruki and the 150 Wartime ‘Culture Film’ FOUR Para-Existential Forces of Invention: Nakai Masakazu’s Theory 208 of Technology and Critique of Capitalism FIVE Nakai and the Politics of the Everyday 272 Conclusion 332 Works Cited 342 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Technologies of Society 122 Figure 4.2 The Logic of Committee 276 Figure 4.3 The Dialectic Between History and Logic 285 Figure 4.4 The Structure of Communication and Judgment 291 x INTRODUCTION Japan as Technological Superpower In December 1990 the Science and Technology Agency and the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy published