Of Civilization And Savagery: The Mimetic Imperialism Of Japan

Robert Eskildsen’s paper, “Of Civilization and Savagery: The Mimetic Imperialism of Japan’s 1874 Expedition to Taiwan,” provides a fresh turn in the historiography of Japanese imperialism by examining and revisiting imperialist aspects of Japan’s 1874 Taiwan Expedition and its connection with the process of Japan’s modernization from a cultural perspective in commercial representations of the event. This review paper gives a recapitulation of the article and an evaluation on its arguments and contributions. The article, divided into five parts, examines Japan’s military expedition to Taiwan in 1874 to punish the aborigines who killed the Ryukyu fishermen from shipwreck earlier in 1871. The first part provides the context in which the expedition took place. It happened under the circumstances in which Japan strategically adapted and appropriated certain aspects of Western imperialism as they saw fit for …show more content…
It is equivocal in the sense that the content of newspapers may not foster or reflect the reality but prescribe it; that is, there may exist a gap between the reaction and perception of Japan’s imperialist development in ideal and in reality. Therefore, it would be interesting to have a more diverse view of the local interpretations after moving away from the state-centered perspective, for example, the reader’s response to these cultural production and their roles in the process of Japan’s transforming modernity and its path to imperialism. The fresh perspective of this study by turning the scholarly attention from the government to the cultural production nevertheless is indeed a new starting point to further the research on the domestic reaction and participation/complicity in the formation of Japanese imperialism.