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For more than half a century, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) possessed an independent police force that operated within the space of Japan's informal empire on the Asian continent. Charged with "protecting and controlling" local Japanese communities first in Korea and later in China, these consular police played a critical role in facilitating Japanese imperial expansion during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Remarkably, however, this police force remains largely unknown. Crossing Empire's Edge is the first book in English to reveal its complex history.

Based on extensive analysis of both archival and recently published Japanese sources, Erik Esselstrom describes how the Gaimusho police became deeply involved in the surveillance and suppression of the Korean independence movement in exile throughout Chinese treaty ports and the Manchurian frontier during the 1920s and 1930s. It had in fact evolved over the years from a relatively benign public security organization into a full-fledged political intelligence apparatus devoted to apprehending purveyors of "dangerous thought" throughout the empire. Furthermore, the history of consular police operations indicates that ideological crime was a borderless security problem; Gaimusho police worked closely with colonial and metropolitan Japanese police forces to target Chinese, Korean, and Japanese suspects alike from Shanghai to Seoul to Tokyo. Esselstrom thus offers a nuanced interpretation of Japanese expansionism by highlighting the transnational links between consular, colonial, and metropolitan policing of subversive political movements during the prewar and wartime eras. In addition, by illuminating the fervor with which consular police often pressed for unilateral solutions to Japan's political security crises on the continent, he challenges orthodox understandings of the relationship between civil and military institutions within the imperial Japanese state.

While historians often still depict the Gaimusho as an inhibitor of unilateral military expansionism during the first half of the twentieth century, Esselstrom's exposé on the activities and ideology of the consular police dramatically challenges this narrative. Revealing a far greater complexity of motivation behind the Japanese colonial mission, Crossing Empire's Edge boldly illustrates how the imperial Japanese state viewed political security at home as inextricably connected to political security abroad from as early as 1919—nearly a decade before overt military aggression began—and approaches northeast Asia as a region of intricate and dynamic social, economic, and political forces. In doing so, Crossing Empire's Edge inspires new ways of thinking about both modern Japanese history and the modern history of Japan in East Asia.

The history of Japan's road to war in China during the 1930s and 1940s is well known, as are the legacies of that disastrous conflict in the diplomatic disputes, territorial rows, and educational policy battles between Japan and China since the 1980s. Less understood, however, is the nature of Japan-China relations during the intervening decades. How did a popular Japanese perception of China that facilitated imperial aggression during the early 1940s become one that embraced both the restoration of friendly diplomatic ties and the cultivation of mutually beneficial economic and cultural interactions by the early 1970s? Exploring everyday Japanese impressions of the People's Republic of China from the end of the U.S. Occupation in 1952 to the normalization of Japan-China relations in 1972, this book analyzes representations of the PRC in Japanese print media and visual culture in connection with four main topics: the 1954 visit to Japan by PRC Minister of Health Li Dequan, China's atomic weapons testing in 1964-1967, the Red Guard movement of the early Cultural Revolution years, and the culture of continental "rediscovery" in 1971-1972. Japanese views of the Chinese world under Chairman Mao were infused with elements of thematic and conceptual continuity linking the prewar, wartime, and postwar eras. In sketching out a portrait of these elements, as revealed in a wide variety of popular media sources of that time, author Erik Esselstrom explains how the reconstruction of Japan's relationship with China after the Second World War included far more than just the trials and tribulations of Cold War diplomacy. In so doing, the book reintegrates the history of postwar Japan-China relations within a much longer history of East Asian cultural interaction and engagement.Firmly grounded in rigorous primary source analysis, but also crafted with a highly accessible style and structure, That Distant Country Next Door offers new insights to scholars of modern East Asian history and provides a compelling and provocative story for readers seeking a more sophisticated understanding of modern Japanese society and the history of modern Japan-China relations

The history of Japan's road to war in China during the 1930s and 1940s is well known, as are the legacies of that disastrous conflict in the diplomatic disputes, territorial rows, and educational policy battles between Japan and China since the 1980s. Less understood, however, is the nature of Japan-China relations during the intervening decades. How did a popular Japanese perception of China that facilitated imperial aggression during the early 1940s become one that embraced both the restoration of friendly diplomatic ties and the cultivation of mutually beneficial economic and cultural interactions by the early 1970s? Exploring everyday Japanese impressions of the People's Republic of China from the end of the U.S. Occupation in 1952 to the normalization of Japan-China relations in 1972, this book analyzes representations of the PRC in Japanese print media and visual culture in connection with four main topics: the 1954 visit to Japan by PRC Minister of Health Li Dequan, China's atomic weapons testing in 1964-1967, the Red Guard movement of the early Cultural Revolution years, and the culture of continental "rediscovery" in 1971-1972. Japanese views of the Chinese world under Chairman Mao were infused with elements of thematic and conceptual continuity linking the prewar, wartime, and postwar eras. In sketching out a portrait of these elements, as revealed in a wide variety of popular media sources of that time, author Erik Esselstrom explains how the reconstruction of Japan's relationship with China after the Second World War included far more than just the trials and tribulations of Cold War diplomacy. In so doing, the book reintegrates the history of postwar Japan-China relations within a much longer history of East Asian cultural interaction and engagement. Firmly grounded in rigorous primary source analysis, but also crafted with a highly accessible style and structure, That Distant Country Next Door offers new insights to scholars of modern East Asian history and provides a compelling and provocative story for readers seeking a more sophisticated understanding of modern Japanese society and the history of modern Japan-China relations

For more than half a century, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) possessed an independent police force that operated within the space of Japan's informal empire on the Asian continent. Charged with "protecting and controlling" local Japanese communities first in Korea and later in China, these consular police played a critical role in facilitating Japanese imperial expansion during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Remarkably, however, this police force remains largely unknown. Crossing Empire's Edge is the first book in English to reveal its complex history. Based on extensive analysis of both archival and recently published Japanese sources, Erik Esselstrom describes how the Gaimusho police became deeply involved in the surveillance and suppression of the Korean independence movement in exile throughout Chinese treaty ports and the Manchurian frontier during the 1920s and 1930s. It had in fact evolved over the years from a relatively benign public security organization into a full-fledged political intelligence apparatus devoted to apprehending purveyors of "dangerous thought" throughout the empire. Furthermore, the history of consular police operations indicates that ideological crime was a borderless security problem; Gaimusho police worked closely with colonial and metropolitan Japanese police forces to target Chinese, Korean, and Japanese suspects alike from Shanghai to Seoul to Tokyo. Esselstrom thus offers a nuanced interpretation of Japanese expansionism by highlighting the transnational links between consular, colonial, and metropolitan policing of subversive political movements during the prewar and wartime eras. In addition, by illuminating the fervor with which consular police often pressed for unilateral solutions to Japan's political security crises on the continent, he challenges orthodox understandings of the relationship between civil and military institutions within the imperial Japanese state. While historians often still depict the Gaimusho as an inhibitor of unilateral military expansionism during the first half of the twentieth century, Esselstrom's exposé on the activities and ideology of the consular police dramatically challenges this narrative. Revealing a far greater complexity of motivation behind the Japanese colonial mission, Crossing Empire's Edge boldly illustrates how the imperial Japanese state viewed political security at home as inextricably connected to political security abroad from as early as 1919—nearly a decade before overt military aggression began—and approaches northeast Asia as a region of intricate and dynamic social, economic, and political forces. In doing so, Crossing Empire's Edge inspires new ways of thinking about both modern Japanese history and the modern history of Japan in East Asia.

This article examines archival evidence related to the abduction and interrogation of the leftwing Japanese writer Kaji Wataru by U.S. military intelligence operatives in Tokyo in the early 1950s. The detention of Kaji became a cause célèbre in December 1952 when he publicly claimed that he had been seized in November 1951 and held against his will until late 1952, some seven months beyond the formal end of the U.S. occupation. Kaji said that U.S. officials had accused him of being a Soviet spy, but he denied those charges vehemently. As both sides presented vastly different versions of what had transpired during Kaji's captivity, the truth of the case became enshrouded within the politics of the early Cold War in East Asia. By exploring the Kaji affair through available archival sources, including two important documents released in 2013 in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition, this article casts new light on the incident and connects it to broader interpretive themes in early postwar U.S-Japan relations.

This article examines archival evidence related to the abduction and interrogation of the leftwing Japanese writer Kaji Wataru by U.S. military intelligence operatives in Tokyo in the early 1950s. The detention of Kaji became a cause celebre in December 1952 when he publicly claimed that he had been seized in November 1951 and held against his will until late 1952, some seven months beyond the formal end of the U.S. occupation. Kaji said that U.S. officials had accused him of being a Soviet spy, but he denied those charges vehemently. As both sides presented vastly different versions of what had transpired during Kaji's captivity, the truth of the case became enshrouded within the politics of the early Cold War in East Asia. By exploring the Kaji affair through available archival sources, including two important documents released in 2013 in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition, this article casts new light on the incident and connects it to broader interpretive themes in early postwar U.S-Japan relations. Adapted from the source document.

For more than half a century, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) possessed an independent police force that operated within the space of Japan's informal empire on the Asian continent. Charged with "protecting and controlling" local Japanese communities first in Korea and later in China, these consular police played a critical role in facilitating Japanese imperial expansion during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Remarkably, however, this police force remains largely unknown. Crossing Empire's Edge is the first book in English to reveal its complex history. Based on extensive analysis of both archival and recently published Japanese sources, Erik Esselstrom describes how the Gaimusho police became deeply involved in the surveillance and suppression of the Korean independence movement in exile throughout Chinese treaty ports and the Manchurian frontier during the 1920s and 1930s. It had in fact evolved over the years from a relatively benign public security organization into a full-fledged political intelligence apparatus devoted to apprehending purveyors of "dangerous thought" throughout the empire. Furthermore, the history of consular police operations indicates that ideological crime was a borderless security problem; Gaimusho police worked closely with colonial and metropolitan Japanese police forces to target Chinese, Korean, and Japanese suspects alike from Shanghai to Seoul to Tokyo. Esselstrom thus offers a nuanced interpretation of Japanese expansionism by highlighting the transnational links between consular, colonial, and metropolitan policing of subversive political movements during the prewar and wartime eras. In addition, by illuminating the fervor with which consular police often pressed for unilateral solutions to Japan's political security crises on the continent, he challenges orthodox understandings of the relationship between civil and military institutions within the imperial Japanese state. While historians often still depict the Gaimusho as an inhibitor of ...