Description
Book SynopsisIt is widely known that such Western institutions as the museum, the university, and the penitentiary shaped Japan's emergence as a modern nation-state. This title offers a study of Japan's first modern zoo, Tokyo's Ueno Imperial Zoological Gardens, opened in 1882.
Trade Review"A rich political and cultural history of modern Japan." -- Fa-ti Fan Cross-Currents "The Nature of Beasts is a critical intervention in global zoo, environmental and Japanese histories. It stands on its own as a fascinating and thoughtful history, but also provides opportunities for future scholarly exploration into patterns of human dominion over nature across the East Asian world." -- Noah Cincinnati Pacific Affairs "This is a path-breaking contribution to the history of science, environmental history, and Japanese history." -- James R. Bartholomew Journal of Japanese Studies 41, no. 1
Table of ContentsFigures Foreword by Harriet Ritvo Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration INTRODUCTION Japan's Ecological Modernity I. Animals in the Anthropocene II. Ecological Modernity in Japan III. The Natural World as Exhibition PART ONE The Nature of Civilization CHAPTER ONE: Japan's Animal Kingdom: The Origins of Ecological Modernity and the Birth of the Zoo I. Bringing Politics to Life II. Sorting Animals Out in Meiji Japan III. Animals in the Exhibitionary Complex IV. The Ueno Zoo V. Ishikawa Chiyomatsu and the Evolution of Exhibition VI. Bigot's Japan CHAPTER TWO: The Dreamlife of Imperialism: Commerce, Conquest, and the Naturalization of Ecological Modernity I. The Dreamlife of Empire II. The Nature of Empire III. Nature Behind Glass IV. Backstage at the Zoo V. The Illusion of Liberty VI. Imperial Trophies VII. Imperial Nature PART TWO The Culture of Total War CHAPTER THREE: Military Animals: The Zoological Gardens and the Culture of Total War I. Military Animals II. Mobilizing the Animal World III. The Eye of the Tiger IV. Animal Soldiers V. Horse Power CHAPTER FOUR: The Great Zoo Massacre I. Tokyo, 1943 II. A Strange Sort of Ceremony III. Mass-Mediated Sacrifice IV. The Taxonomy of a Massacre V. The Killing Floor VI. And Then There Were Two PART THREE After Empire CHAPTER FIVE: The Children's Zoo: Elephant Ambassadors and Other Creatures of the Allied Occupation I. Bambi Goes to Tokyo II. Empire After Empire III. Neo-Colonial Potlatch IV. "Animal Kindergarten" V. Occupied Japan's Elephant Mania VI. Elephant Ambassadors CHAPTER SIX: Pandas in the Anthropocene: Japan's "Panda Boom" and the Limits of Ecological Modernity I. The "Panda Boom" II. The Science of Charisma III. Panda Diplomacy IV. "Living Stuffed Animals" V. The Biotechnology of Cute EPILOGUE: The Sorrows of Ecological Modernity Notes Bibliography Indext
