Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy
In the mold of Ronald Toby's seminal work on early modern Japanese statecraft, Michael Auslin offers a superb study of Japanese diplomacy, 1858-1872. There can no longer be any excuse for viewing the Japanese as passive victims of the unequal treaties. Auslin demonstrates their success at manipulating the Western powers and achieving their principal goal--protecting Japan's territorial sovereignty. (Warren I. Cohen, University of Maryland, Baltimore County)In the first major reexamination of the 'opening of Japan' in decades, Auslin describes the changing diplomatic culture of Japan as the country's leaders sought to understand a world dominated by Western power, wealth, and ideas. Reflecting the latest scholarship on imperialism, the book treats Japan not as a passive victim of the West's coercive diplomacy but as a nation with its own agendas, strategies, and negotiating tactics. In addition, Auslin shows how Western powers were often willing to cooperate with Japan and help it incorporate itself into the globalizing world. Students of comparative imperialism, globalization, and Japanese foreign affairs will find this an indispensable work. (Akira Iriye, Harvard University)Besides the merit of its specific subject, Auslin's succinct book in a more general sense provides a significant dismantling of historical and historiographical boundaries on a number of levels...Auslin is a capable writer; his analysis is astute, engaging and carefully crafted. (Robert G. KanePacific Affairs)Negotiating with Imperialismbreaks new ground in the study of modern Japanese diplomatic history. In it, Michael R. Auslin presents a wealth of detail on Japanese foreign interactions between 1858 and 1872 when Japanese and Western diplomats carried out a series of hard-fought negotiations that defined Japan's place in a new global environment. Following the long tradition of diplomatic historians, Auslin grounds his work on a thorough reading of British, American, and Japanese archival materials, but he also offers a compelling interpretive framework based on the premise of an evolving Japanese "culture of diplomacy." (M. William SteeleMonumenta Nipponica)Many studies have been published on thebothumatsuperiod, making it no longer easy for one scholar to discuss this entire span of time within a single conceptual framework.Negotiating with Imperialismblows some fresh air on to what had become the rather stagnant atmosphere of this intensely studied subject...It is the very clarity and persuasiveness of the book's perspectives on the issues and history that stimulate us to present such alternative interpretations. Without doubt, it will contribute to further enlivening the study of the opening of Japan. (Iokibe KaoruSocial Service Japan Journal2007-04-01)