22
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      The Borderline of ‘Empire’: Japanese Maritime Quarantine in Busan c.1876–1910

      research-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          This paper seeks to balance the regional and thematic focus of cholera historiography by examining maritime quarantine in Busan, as it was devised and implemented by Japanese officials and doctors during the pre-colonial period. It also places the relationship between Korea and Japan in the context of relations with China, Russia and Britain. This paper shows that quarantine measures in Busan and other Korean ports reflected the rise of Japanese imperial power and the increasing desire on the part of the Japanese to establish an effective borderline for their regional empire.

          From 1879 Japan began to impose maritime quarantine in Busan, where Japanese influence was very strong even before the colonial period, though at that time Japan was unable to perform quarantine in its own ports independently due to the objections of Western powers, particularly Britain. Victories in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars established Japan as a regional power on equal terms with the West, and as the dominant power in Korea and Eastern Asia. With the acquisition of the right to impose quarantine in its homeland, Japan strengthened and extended the range of quarantine from Japan to Korea, China and Russia. Now quarantine screened Japan from potentially harmful agents – pathogenic and political – and its functions diversified further as modernisation and imperial expansion gathered pace. The reliance which Japan placed upon quarantine in maintaining its empire explains why it was increasingly out of step with other powers regarding international sanitary precautions. The Japanese maritime quarantine in Busan during this period therefore shows many aspects of Japan’s ‘national empire’.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Med Hist
          Med Hist
          MDH
          Medical History
          Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, UK )
          0025-7273
          2048-8343
          April 2013
          : 57
          : 2
          : 226-248
          Affiliations
          University of Oxford, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, 45-47 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PE, UK
          Author notes
          [ * ]Email address for correspondence: jeong-ran.kim@ 123456wuhmo.ox.ac.uk

          This article would not have been possible without the assistance of Professor Mark Harrison who offered guidance at every stage. I also wish to express my deep gratitude to other colleagues, who have supported me in many respects, and to my family for their support.

          Article
          00104 S0025727312001044
          10.1017/mdh.2012.104
          3867849
          24070347
          ce1d3faf-3923-481d-a862-68eb885731a4
          © The Author(s) 2013
          History
          Page count
          References: 104, Pages: 23
          Categories
          Articles

          History
          busan,maritime quarantine,the japanese settlement,cholera,borderline,port cities
          History
          busan, maritime quarantine, the japanese settlement, cholera, borderline, port cities

          Comments

          Comment on this article