Mark E. Caprio . Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea, 1910–1945 . (Korean Studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.) Seattle : University of Washington Press . 2009 . Pp. ix, 320. Cloth $75.00, paper $35.00.

Abstract

This meticulous investigation of imperial Japan's policy of assimilation in colonial Korea is a groundbreaking work of scholarship. The author examines the goals of the policy; its changing rationale over thirty five years (1910–1945); its political, social, cultural, and psychological dimensions; its articulation by politicians, administrators, and intellectuals who governed or dealt with Korea during different years; the evolving Japanese and Korean circumstances and the international context within which the policy took shape; the debates and discussions preceding and following the policy formation; and, of course, a cross-section of Korean responses within Korea, not among those abroad. The research is well grounded in both primary and secondary sources. In addition to depicting the salient features of the largely unsuccessful policy, the author puts the entire picture in a global comparative context involving British, French, German, and American practices. Precious little is offered on the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, and Belgian examples. One suspects that it is in part because the Japanese state as well as intellectuals were far more attuned to the more “advanced” British, French, German, and American stories and sought to draw lessons from them rather than from others, although the vast Dutch holdings could claim membership in the “advanced” group of empires; likewise the “advanced” Belgians had considerable possessions in Africa. Thus, it might have been even more interesting if the author had expanded the comparative context. Still, what is given is very enlightening if one has the patience to read through the sometimes intricate narrative of the first chapter, which discusses the global theories and patterns underlying various forms of colonialism. The rest of the book is quite lucid.