Making of a Japanese Periphery, 1750-1920

Contending that Japan's industrial and imperial revolutions were also geographical revolutions, Karen Wigen's interdisciplinary study analyzes the changing spatial order of the countryside in early modern Japan. Her focus, the Ina Valley, served as a gateway to the mountainous interior of central Japan. Using methods drawn from historical geography and economic development, Wigen maps the valley's changes--from a region of small settlements linked in an autonomous economic zone, to its transformation into a peripheral part of the global silk trade, dependent on the state. Yet the processes that brought these changes--industrial growth and political centralization--were crucial to Japan's rise to imperial power. Wigen's elucidation of this makes her book compelling reading for a broad audience.

About the author

Kären Wigen is Assistant Professor of History at Duke University.

Summary

Contending that Japan's industrial and imperial revolutions were also geographical revolutions, this interdisciplinary study analyzes the changing spatial order of the countryside in early modern Japan. Its focus is the Ina Valley, the gateway to Japan's mountainous interior.

Product details

• Authors: Kä Ren Wigen, K. Wigen, Kä Ren Wigen, Karen Wigen, Kären Wigen
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 16.03.1995
• EAN: 9780520084209
• ISBN: 978-0-520-08420-9
• No. of pages: 356
• Series: Twentieth-Century Japan: The E; Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; Japan, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, 20th Century, HISTORY / Historical Geography, HISTORY / Asia / Japan, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Economic Geography, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Economic history, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Asian History, Historical Geography, C 1700 To C 1800