The Opium Empire: Japanese Imperialism and Drug Trafficking in Asia, 1895-1945
Madancy, Joyce A. Pacific Affairs; Vancouver Vol. 71, Iss. 3, (Fall 1998): 425-426. DOI:10.2307/2761435
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Abstract
"The Opium Empire: Japanese Imperialism and Drug Trafficking in Asia, 1895-1945" by John M. Jennings is reviewed.
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THE OPIUM EMPIRE: Japanese Imperialism and Drug Trafficking in Asia, 18951945. By John M. Jennings. Westport (Connecticut): Greenwood Publishing. 1997. x, 161 pp. (Tables.) US$55.00, cloth. ISBN 0-275-95759-4.
THE STORY OF OPIUM IN EAST ASIA, long the bailiwick of diplomatic historians, has only recently been recognized as a rewarding field of enquiry for a variety of disciplinary approaches. Closer examination of the complex interaction of economic, social and political circumstances within individual Asian societies is allowing researchers to gain a more in-depth understanding of the peculiar combination of elements that determined which countries were more susceptible to widespread opium abuse or cultivation, more amenable (or permeable) to smugglers and more likely to adopt particular strategies for narcotics control. These dynamics become particularly convoluted when set within a framework of aggressive colonial rule, and this volume illustrates both the rewards and frustrations of academic attempts to fully document this still sensitive topic.
Taking on a formidable challenge, Jennings sets out to test the validity of the theory that Japanese involvement in the East Asian opium trade constituted a deliberate and integral element of a conspiracy to advance Japan's imperialist goals by encouraging addiction among subjugated peoples and thus undermining their ability and will to resist. He counters that Japanese imperialism -- specifically contact with Chinese opium smokers and poppy fields through the acquisition of Taiwan, Korea and later Manchuria - was the cause of, but not the motivation for,Japan's subsequent involvement with opium.
Using an impressive range of published and unpublished Japanese sources gathered from a variety of archival collections, Jennings has pieced together a coherent and plausible historical trajectory that clearly explains the evolution of the government monopoly as Japan's preferred form of narcotics control, both within and outside its own borders from the late Tokugawa era through World War II. He also convincingly argues that Japanese narcotics policies are primarily concerned with the acquisition of revenue and the creation of economically self-sufficient colonies. But he concludes that the interpretation of Japanese motives must remain ambiguous. Jennings is admirably determined to highlight Japan's more pragmatic monetary and military motivations in order to keep the narrative out of the perilous morass of moral judgment. In doing so, however, he skirts the issue of how fine the line between economic exploitation and the deliberate encouragement of addiction may have been.Jennings may indeed be correct that Japan did not set out to enslave through addiction, and that certain Japanese officials at times argued vigorously for the prohibition of the drug, but opium sales to colonized peoples through governmentcontrolled monopolies, despite stringent prohibitions against smoking among the Japanese, were certainly compatible with the imperialist and often racist rhetoric of Japanese expansionism. The same can be said for the concern expressed by Japanese authorities that the sudden prohibition of opium smoking in the colonies would be inhumane for Chinese or Korean addicts or lead to popular resentment and uprisings.
In general, this reviewer's occasional frustration with the book, which was openly shared by the author in his introduction, stemmed not from any problems in content or style, but with what simply could not be included in the otherwise compelling story. The dearth of documentation available to historians of illicit activities robs the volume of depth in places, primarily in the first chapter, where the discussion of opium during the Tokugawa era is limited to three pages before the author turns his attention almost exclusively to opium monopolies in the Japanese colonies.
Jennings' work substantially expands our knowledge of the complexity of Japan's "Opium Empire," particularly with regards to the workings of Japan's opium monopolies in Taiwan, Korea and Manchukuo, and his concise and cogently written volume will be extremely useful for students and scholars interested in untangling the web of complicity in the East Asian opium trade.
AuthorAffiliation
JOYCE A. MADANCY
AuthorAffiliation
Union College, Schenectady, New York, U.S.A.
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