This panel discusses the relationship of globalization and Japanese colonialism from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. As the main force of globalization in East Asia, the Japanese Empire transformed the traditional socio-economic systems of mainland Japan and its colonies, Taiwan and Korea, on the basis of the programs of self-transformation and modernization of the Meiji Restoration. Japanese colonialism had a profound impact on the modernization of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan itself.
“Globalization” refers to the process of international integration consequent on the exchange of world outlooks, products, concepts and other cultural elements. Scholars have generally argued that globalization was already underway in the sixteenth century, but large-scale globalization in its modern sense began in the early nineteenth century due to the expansion of global trade and imperialism after the industrial revolution in the West. However, it must be noted that although Taiwan and South Korea were forced by Western imperialism to open ports in the late nineteenth century, what mainly affected the globalization and modernization of these two regions was Japanese imperialism, which inherited and imitated Western imperialism and carried out colonial actions in East Asia.
Previously, scholarship has only rarely explored the establishment of the modern economic systems of the colonies under Japanese imperialism in terms of globalization and modernization. At the same time, the similarities and differences in how Japanese colonialism influenced the construction of modern economies in Taiwan and Korea remain relatively understudied from a comparative perspective.
This panel brings together scholars from different methodological backgrounds who provide a comparative perspective and extensively employ digital resources. The papers put emphasis on the formation of modern economic institutions and practices. These include Customs, financial reform, modern transport systems, statistical investigation, shipping infrastructure, migration policy and stock fluctuations in Taiwan, Korea and mainland Japan during the Japanese colonial period.