Nanshin: Japanese Settlers in Papua and New Guinea
Date
1999
Authors
Iwamoto, Hiromitsu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Canberra, ACT : Division of Pacific and Asian History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.
Abstract
Japanese emigration to Papua and New Guinea began around the tum of
the 1 9th century, as an offshoot from the settlement of Japanese pearl divers
on Thursday Island. An adventurous Japanese skipper, Komine Isokichi,
explored the waters of New Guinea in a schooner for new shell fishing
grounds. He reached Rabaul in New Britain in 1 90 1 where he met Governor
Hahl. Komine managed to develop a good relationship with the German
administration. In 1 9 1 0 he acquired leases in Manus Island and Rabaul and
began operating a copra plantation, and trochus shell fishing and
boatbuilding businesses. More importantly, he began to bring in Japanese
employees. However, after the outbreak of World War I, immigration policy
and trade restriction by the Australian military administration and later by
the civil administration blocked the expansion of the Japanese settlement.
The Japanese population declined from 1 1 9 in 1 9 1 4 to 36 in 1 939. At the
outbreak of the Pacific War, Japanese residents were all arrested and interned
in Australia just before the landing of Japanese troops. Most internees were
never allowed to return on security grounds. Thus the Japanese settlement
vanished.
The national policies of both Japan and Australia determined their fate.
Advocates of Japanese nanshin-ron (southward advancement theory) and
Australian officials created the image of the settlers as pawns of nanshin
(southward advancement) . However, their perceptions, based on the national
interest of each, are partial. In this book I aim to present a wider perception
of the settlers in order to construct a more comprehensive history. I set my
analysis in the contexts of Japanese social history and the colonial history of
Papua and New Guinea, attempting to conceptualise the position of these
migrants in a European colonial apparatus.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Type
Journal issue
Book
Book
Book Title
The Journal of Pacific History (JPH)
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
DOI
Restricted until
Downloads
File
Description