Table of Contents

Introduction Robert Hellyer and Harald Fuess; Part I. Global Connections: 1. Japan and the world conjuncture of 1866 Mark Metzler; 2. Western whalers in 1860s Hakodate: how the Nantucket of the North Pacific connected Restoration-era Japan to global flows Noell H. Wilson; 3. Small town, big dreams: a Yokohama merchant and the transformation of Japan Simon Partner; 4. The global weapons trade and the Meiji Restoration: dispersion of means of violence in a world of emerging nation-states Harald Fuess; Part II. Internal Conflicts: 5. Mountain demons from Mito – the arrival of civil war in Echizen in 1864 Maren Ehlers; 6. 'Farmer-soldiers' and local leadership in late Edo period Japan Brian Platt; 7. A military history of the Boshin War Hōya Tōru; 8. Imai Nobuo: a Tokugawa stalwart's path from the Boshin War to personal reinvention in the Meiji nation-state Robert Hellyer; Part III. Domestic Resolutions: 9. Settling the frontier and defending the North: the 'farmer-soldiers' in Hokkaido's colonial development and national reconciliation Steven Ivings; 10. Locally ancient and globally modern: Restoration discourse and the tensions of modernity Mark Ravina; 11. Ornamental diplomacy: Emperor Meiji and the monarchs of the modern world John Breen; 12. The restoration of the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto and international cultural legitimacy in Meiji Japan Takagi Hiroshi.

Promotional Information

This volume examines the Meiji Restoration through a global history lens to re-interpret the formation of a globally-cast, Japanese nation-state.

About the Author

Robert Hellyer is Associate Professor of History at Wake Forest University and has published widely on topics related to Japanese foreign relations and trade as well as Pacific history. His publications include Defining Engagement: Japan and Global Contexts, 1640-1868 (2010). Harald Fuess is Professor of History at the Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University, and Project Professor at Kyoto University. He also served as elected President of the European Association of Japanese Studies. His publications include Japanese Imperialism and Its Postwar Legacy (1998) and Divorce in Japan: Gender, Family, and the State (2004).

Reviews

'A timely intervention: this book portrays the Meiji Restoration as being at the crossroads of international trade and the world economy, and as part of the violent 1860s that remade the world. As a result, we are beginning to understand the Restoration on a truly global stage.' Sebastian Conrad, Freie Universität Berlin

'Viewing the Meiji Restoration through the prism of 'global intersections', these arresting essays illuminate the interfusion of transnational and national elements in the creation – and stabilization – of the modern Japanese nation-state and the society on which it depended. A varied collection that provides new perspectives on old questions.' Carol Gluck, Colombia University, New York

'To widen the lens is to alter the picture. By refocusing the Restoration within a global frame, the sharp-eyed historians featured here manage to disclose both temporal rhythms and spatial patterns that have largely eluded us until now. The early Meiji landscape will never look quite the same.' Kären Wigen, Stanford University, California

'… this is a significant contribution to the understanding of the Restoration through its connection to international and global events, as articulated in Mark Metzler's opening essay, and to regional histories outside of the shogunate, imperial house, or Sat-Chō alliance.' M. Chaiklin, Choice

'scholars with a research interest in the nineteenth century will find a great deal of value in the chapters of this volume, as will those seeking to spruce up their survey lectures on modern Japanese history with new insights and discoveries, … the chapters offer ample evidence of the value of foregrounding the global forces that helped shape Japan's emergence as a modern nation/empire.' Daniel Botsman, Monumenta Nipponica

'The book … displays the fruits of scholarly work done in the years leading up to the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration in 2018 … Every chapter in the volume is written by a well-known expert on Meiji Japan, is of outstanding quality, based on in-depth analysis and with meticulous attention to primary sources, and presents unique conclusions.' Sven Saaler, The Journal of Japanese Studies