Review of Felix Lüttge, “Auf den Spuren des Wals”, H-Soz-Kult (2020, in German).
Felix Lüttge’s “Auf den Spuren des Wals” (2020) is a history of maritime knowledge production by whalers and the whaling industry, and it traces how this knowledge was appropriated, abstracted and integrated into U.S. naval politics in the nineteenth century. It is well-written (in German) and full of interesting detail. I recommend the read especially […]
“Review of Tagliacozzo, Eric, In Asian Waters: Oceanic Worlds from Yemen to Yokohama.” H-Water, H-Net Reviews, no. 3 (2023).
Rüegg, Jonas. “Review of Tagliacozzo, Eric, In Asian Waters: Oceanic Worlds from Yemen to Yokohama.” H-Water, H-Net Reviews, no. 3 (2023). https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=58318. In Asian Waters is a big, fascinating, at times overwhelming book, with which the author Eric Tagliacozzo achieves a special feat, that of writing a global history of maritime commerce and exchange that functions largely independently of Eurocentric […]
Mapping the Forgotten Colony: the Ogasawara Islands and the Tokugawa Pivot to the Pacific
Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review 6, no. 2 (December 2, 2017): 440–90. In 1862, Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate claimed the Ogasawara Islands, a small archipelago between Honshu and Guam, as a part of Japan. In the manageable setting of the islands, the shogunate undertook a colonial experiment that revealed changing attitudes toward non-Japanese […]
Adventures on the Maritime Frontier: Minamoto no Tametomo on the Island of Women
Contribution to the Harvard-Yenching “Library Highlights” Series. A brief reflection on context and impact of 19th century frontier stories –– the flamboyant hero Minamoto no Tametomo’s adventures on the island of women, by Takizawa Bakin. Read full text: LINK
“Currents and Oceanic Geographies of Japan’s Unending Frontier” in: The Journal of Pacific History 3/2021.
Pacific islands such as Japan are often unduly represented as isolated places. Land-centric biases in fact obscure the ocean’s significance as an ecological connector and a catalyst of historical change. With prolific upwellings, seasonal winds, and fluctuating fishing grounds, the ocean consists of places and depths that attracted human interest at different times. An archipelago […]
小笠原諸島探検と近代科学 [The Exploration of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands and Modern Science]
Rüegg, Jonas: “小笠原諸島探検と近代科学 [The Exploration of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands and Modern Science],” in: 洋学史研究事典 [Research Encyclopedia on the History of Western Studies]. Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 2021. Order the full encyclopedia here: https://yogakushi.jpn.org/jiten.html
The Kuroshio Frontier: Business, State and Environment in the Making of Japan’s Pacific
Figure: The families of the Bonin Islanders John Bravo and Thomas Webb, portrayed by the Japanese photographer Matsuzaki Shinji in 1875. PhD Dissertation, Harvard University, 2022. Winner of the Modern Japan History Association’s 2024 dissertation prize Pacific islands such as Japan are often unduly represented as isolated places. Land-centric biases obscure the ocean’s significance as […]
Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan
Rüegg, Jonas. “Early Modern Japan and the Problem of ‘Drugs.’” In Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan, edited by Judith Vitale, Oleg Benesch, and Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, 21–46. Leiden: Brill, 2023. Legal distinctions of licit and illicit drugs are a construct of modern legislation, but humans have been using and regulating substances based on […]
What Japan’s Past Disasters Can Teach about the Age of Climate Change
Rüegg, Jonas: “What Japan’s Past Disasters Can Teach about the Age of Climate Change,” Wasshoi! Magazine 7 (2023), 70–85. On March 11, 2011, a giant tsunami overran the reactors of Fukushima Daiichi, a nuclear powerplant built on the shoreline of one of the most seismic zones on earth. With the triple disaster that ensued – […]
Uhren und Kanonen für ein Reich um Umbruch, in: NZZ Geschichte 51 (2024), 68–77.
in: NZZ Geschichte 51 (2024), 68–79. The Swiss journal NZZ Geschichte has published some new thoughts from my side on the surprising role of Swiss industrialists in Japan’s Meiji revolution. I’m excited to see new interest in this topic, perhaps due to the celebrated 160th anniversary of Swiss-Japanese diplomatic relations this year. What goes largely unnoticed is […]