ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 discusses the implementation of Western prison models in Japan in the wake of the Meiji Restoration. The important characteristic of the Western prison model is its attempt to combine arrest and forced labour with the aim to rehabilitate convicts. This form of punishment differs from earlier from Tokugawa forms of punishment discussed in Chapter 1. The chapter outlines the reasons why Japanese elites became interested in adopting Western prison models against the diplomatic backdrop of the “unequal treaties” which granted privileges to Western powers and thus infringed on Japanese sovereignty. Next, the chapter explains how as a reaction to political uprisings and rebellions, the Meiji government conceptualized Hokkaido as a prison island for political activists.
