NEWS
2024.05.20
【Report】The 67th AJI Frontier Seminar was held! Dr. Marika TSUKAHARA: “Techno-Nationalism and the Military Affairs in Japan as a Technological Superpower: Discourses on the Construction of Japanese Battleships in the Interwar Period and the Postwar M
On May 14, the 67th AJI Frontier Seminar was held online. Dr. Marika Tsukahara (Senior Researcher, Asia-Japan Research Institute, Ritsumeikan University) gave a very interesting presentation titled “Techno-Nationalism and the Military Affairs in Japan as a Technological Superpower: Discourses on the Construction of Japanese Battleships in the Interwar Period and the Postwar Munitions Industry.”
Dr. Tsukahara has been researching the development of nationalism in warship-building technology in Japan as a discourse and its relationship to the formation of Japanese identity from the Imperial Japanese Navy to the post-war Maritime Self-Defense Force. Techno-nationalism denotes that science and technology have a massive impact on building national identity. Dr. Tsukahara emphasized that “techno-nationalism” operates on two levels, state and cultural, requiring a historical analysis of their interconnection.
She also pointed out that the continuity between techno-nationalism from the prewar and postwar periods has been obscured by existing research on techno-nationalism in Japan that has focused mainly on the context of technology for peaceful uses in the post-war period. In fact, since the Meiji period, Japan has been striving to become a technological superpower by independently developing and producing battleships. This effort continued both before and after the war, with the goal of not being subordinate to the technological superiority of Europe and the United States. Thus, it is essential to note that the close ties between the construction of battleships and techno-nationalism in Japan had already been formed in the prewar period. Also, we need to highlight the historical context in which many Japanese people could project their national pride into the Battleship Yamato in the historical transformation of Japan from a technologically less advanced country to a major technological power during the war.
The Yamato represents a privileged symbol in the postwar discourse on techno-nationalism. On the one hand, there has indeed been deep remorse and criticism of World War II in postwar Japanese society. On the other hand, the technology of the battleship Yamato served as a metaphor for national pride and healing the wounds of defeat. Quite interestingly, in her presentation, in the 1950s, the battleship Yamato faced criticism for its tactical failures, leading people to interpret Yamato as less effective in battle. This interpretive twist enabled some people to recognize the advanced technology of Yamato and remain unshaken in their attachments to this symbolic battleship. In a sense, this twist is closely bound up with the peaceful use of science and technology in the post-war period.
From the above discussion, she revealed that the “techno-nationalism” entwined with the construction of battleships had permeated the plane of Japanese civil society in various ways through a historical process of intensifying and suppressing techno-nationalism in international and domestic situations. By analyzing the development and production of battleships and the related discourses, we can better grasp the transition of Japanese society’s orientation.
In the Q&A session, participants shared several important issues, such as: How was Japan’s techno-nationalism influenced by the naval disarmament treaties in Washington and London? What were the specific countries “Western” countries which Japan sought to break away from in the area of battleship construction before and after the war? and What characteristics were inherent in Japan’s “techno-nationalism” compared to other countries? Dr. Tsukahara responded clearly to each question, and we had a lively discussion.
Dr. Tsukahara delivering her presentation
Please visit the following link for previous AJI Frontier Seminars:
https://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/research/aji/young_researcher/seminar/archive/