New Books from Japan #10: "Empire and Tourism: Modern Japanese Tourism in Manchuria"

Presenter: 高媛 (Ko En/Gao Yuan, Komazawa University))

Discussants: Ken Ruoff (Portland State University) and 蘭信三 (Araragi Shinzo, Sophia University)

Moderator: Tadashi Ishikawa (University of Central Florida)

Empire and Tourism explores the history of tourism in Manchuria over approximately a century, from 1906 to the mid-2000s. This study examines how desires, memories, and political intentions were embedded beneath the glamorous surfaces of tourism. Focusing on tourism as a modern practice, it investigates how imperial narratives were constructed in Manchuria and how nostalgia for a “lost empire” was fostered after the collapse of Manchukuo. By analyzing the complex interplay between individuals and the state—alongside intermediaries such as the South Manchuria Railway Company (Mantetsu), the Japan Tourist Bureau (JTB), and the zaiman kenjinkai (prefectural hometown associations of Japanese settlers in Manchuria)—the book sheds light on the layered and often contradictory forces that shaped imperial tourism in the region.

『帝国と観光――「満洲」ツーリズムの近代』は、1906年から2000年代半ばにかけて、約一世紀にわたる満洲観光の歴史をたどりながら、その華やかな表層の背後にひそむ欲望、記憶、そして政治的意図を読み解こうとする試みである。観光という近代的営為を通じて、満洲において「帝国の物語」はいかに構築され、また満洲国崩壊後に「失われた帝国」への郷愁がいかに醸成されたのかを問い直す。本書は、個人と国家、さらにそのあいだに介在する南満洲鉄道株式会社（満鉄）、JTB、在満県人会といった多様な主体の思惑が交錯する複雑な構造に光をあて、満洲観光をめぐる重層的でときに矛盾する力学を明らかにする。。