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Forced Labour in Imperial Japan's First Colony: Hokkaidō
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Abstract
This article examines the role of forced labour within the context of Ezo/Hokkaidō's colonization. I draw attention to how in this process, different groups of subaltern people – the indigenous Ainu, political convicts, indentured labourers and Korean workers – contributed to the making of imperial Japan's first colony and the building of the modern Japanese nation state. Yet, even with their shared conditions of working under a Japanese ruling class, these subaltern labourers were not united. My article highlights how their experiences were instead, largely shaped along ethnic, gendered and generational lines.
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