Arthur Richard Weber. Ein norddeutscher Kaufmann in Japan zur Zeit der Meiji-Restauration by Peter Janocha and Masatoshi Aoyagi (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Arthur Richard Weber. Ein norddeutscher Kaufmann in Japan zur Zeit der Meiji-Restauration by Peter Janocha and Masatoshi Aoyagi Aaron D. Horton Arthur Richard Weber. Ein norddeutscher Kaufmann in Japan zur Zeit der Meiji-Restauration. By Peter Janocha and Masatoshi Aoyagi. Munich: Iudicium, 2014. Pp. 123. Paper €18.00. ISBN 978-3862053926. The Meiji Restoration was a transformative period in Japanese history during which the country modernized quickly on the Western model. Japan invited an increasing number of foreign businessmen to the country in hopes of accelerating its economic development, and numerous German businesses sent representatives to Japanese cities to establish and maintain import and export operations. This book explores the life of Arthur Richard Weber, an entrepreneur from Hamburg who spent fourteen years in Japan and was the first European to reside in Niigata, a port city on the west coast of Honshu, the archipelago’s largest island. Unlike other cities, which had segregated areas for foreign residents, Weber and other Westerners were scattered throughout Niigata, leading to frequent interaction with Japanese citizens. Peter Janocha, an economist with decades of experience in German-Asian economic interactions, and Masatoshi Aoyagi, deputy director of the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History, utilize a broad array of sources to reconstruct a fascinating narrative of Weber’s life. They [End Page 673] frame it not only in the broader contexts of German-Japanese relations and the Meiji Restoration but also in the history of antisemitism in Germany. This volume does not offer any dramatically new interpretations; its value derives rather from filling a significant gap in our knowledge of early German interactions with Japan through its exploration of one individual’s experiences. Weber arrived in Nagasaki in March 1863 as a representative of L. Kniffler & Co., one of the earliest and most important German commercial interests in Japan. The authors argue convincingly that German businesses and individuals played vital roles in Japan’s rapid industrialization. After five years spent moving between Nagasaki, Yokohama, and Kobe, Weber was sent to Niigata in early 1869, near the end of the civil war between imperial troops and soldiers loyal to the recently deposed shogunate, to establish a base of operations for the company. Weber, who had become fluent in Japanese, reached Niigata before the city’s official opening to Western trade on April 1 of that year and was, alongside British consul Frederic Lowder, among the first Europeans to reside there. In his nearly eight years in Niigata, Weber built numerous profitable relationships with both Japanese and European businessmen and amassed a sizable personal fortune through the export of commodities such as rice and tea. As the first longterm European resident of Niigata, the authors argue that Weber contributed to the city’s emergence as one of Japan’s most important ports for Western trade. Upon his return to Germany in 1878, Weber squandered his wealth through a series of bad investments. He largely blamed the Jews for his financial troubles, a case of misdirected anger and frustration stemming from his own failures, according to the authors. In 1893, he became the editor of Deutsches Blatt, an antisemitic periodical in Hamburg. Weber’s frequent rants against capitalism and so-called secret Jewish conspiracies to manipulate the stock market were so outlandish that he was asked to resign for fear that he was damaging the paper’s reputation. He spent the rest of his life in poverty and obscurity until his death in 1920, remaining largely forgotten until Janocha and Aoyagi began work on their biography. The authors’ primary source for Weber’s experiences is his semifictional memoir, Kontorrock und Konsulatsmütze, published in 1886 under the pen name Arw Solano. The authors are careful to corroborate Weber’s claims, whenever possible, with archival evidence. Janocha performed extensive genealogical research, tracing Weber’s family history to his grandfather as well as to his grandchildren, whom the author interviewed for the study. Readers interested in genealogy will find this material particularly interesting, especially in light of the family’s wanderlust: two of Weber’s brothers and one of his sons moved to South America, and another son relocated to China. Aoyagi makes use of the Niigata prefecture...