ABSTRACT
The study of Japan’s colonial empire is part of Japan’s modern history, and thus one has to take into consideration major developments in Japan. Was it possible that the interrelations of Japanese and colonized, inner and outer, policies and implementations, formed a series of chain reactions that led to a shift of the mode of rule, and that the interactions overseas took place without turning to the mediating rule of Japan proper? Yamamuro Shin’ichi argues for a model of “talent flow” within the Japanese empire. If this model works, then the “Emperor’s servants” circulated in accordance with the expansion of Japanese empire (Yamamuro Shin’ichi 1998). The picture looks like this: In 1895, “talent” began to flow from Japan to Taiwan; after 1910, it rushed to Korea; after 1932, it found away intoManchukuo (Ch. Manzhouguo*; J. Manshu¯koku ); and from 1941 on, it drifted further to the “Co-prosperity Sphere of Greater East Asia” (Dai-To¯a kyo¯eikenn). If this observation is correct, much of Japan’s imperial growth rested on the bureaucratic experience of Taiwan, measures that the Government-General of Taiwan had followed with great success for half a century. This chapter critically examines Yamamuro’s thesis from the perspective of prewar Japan’s appointment system in bureaucracy.
