Management of and Experiments in a Colonial Industry: Japanese Government-run Fishermen Migration Project in Taiwan during the Late Meiji Period

Abstract

Between Meiji 41 and Meiji 44 (1908–1911), the Japanese colonial government implemented a fishermen migration project in five prefectures and six ports in Taiwan. This was set up earlier than the Japanese migration project for farmers. The latter was not formally kicked off until Meiji 43 (1910). Comparing these two Japanese government-run migration projects also shows the following differences: First, the fishermen migration project started at the time when detailed surveys and assessments of Japanese colonial migration to Taiwan had not yet been completed. Second, the later farmer migration project, unlike the fishermen migration project, was under the leadership of the Taiwan Sōtokufu (Office of the Governor-General, Taiwan). The fishermen migration project was basically an agenda set up by local prefectures. Third, it aimed at improving Taiwan’s coastal fisheries through recruiting Japanese fishermen to migrate to Taiwan. The idea was that these Japanese fishermen would be exemplary fishermen who would generate incentives for Taiwanese to compete with them. Therefore, in contrast to agrarian migrants, fishermen migration was more of an economic colonial project than a political one. Given that the fishermen migration project in Taiwan was initiated by inexperienced local prefectures while the Taiwan Sōtokufu played only a passive role, its limited achievements are not a surprise. The only successful case was in Donggang (東港), where the geographical location and personal cooperation among local and Japanese fishermen helped it become an ideal place for Japanese fishermen migrants. The migration project failed in all the other five ports. In this paper, I will analyze how the fishermen migration project operated. I will show the different governmental strategies implemented between local prefectures and the colonial government at the time when the implementation of fishing reforms was still in the trial-and-error stage of colonial experiments. At the same time, I will argue that the project failed because of the existence of unfavorable structural factors that worked against the development of the migrant industry. The Taiwan Sōtokufu might have been aware of these unfavorable factors in Taiwan, which did not support the promotion of fishermen migration policies focused on coastal fisheries in Taiwan. Out of concern for colonial rationality, the colonial government had to call off the project. Nonetheless, the Taiwan Sōtokufu then expanded spending on fisheries and related industries, and became active in promoting the fishing industry. The industry thus developed during the Japanese colonial era. (This article is in English.)