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A Micro-History of Trade at Treaty Port Hakodate in the Bakumatsu and Meiji Eras

Research Project

Project/Area Number 20K13540
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Basic Section 07070:Economic history-related
Research InstitutionKyoto University

Principal Investigator

Ivings Steven  京都大学, 経済学研究科, 准教授 (70817957)

Project Period (FY) 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
KeywordsEconomic History / Japanese History / Business History / Trade / Merchants / Hakodate / Hokkaido / Merchant
Outline of Research at the Start

This project employs the documents produced by consuls, local government and merchants to trace the connections/networks of foreign merchants. By collecting their papers available in Japan and abroad this project elucidates Hakodate’s trade and gives a micro-history of foreign merchants activities.

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project has been based on the materials gathered via several archival research trips at former Japanese treaty ports. Several results have already been published as papers in academic journals and in the coming years will be published as a book. Findings have also been presented at several prominent international conferences both online and in person. Though I was unable to gather as many historical source materials from overseas as planned, work done in domestic archives was more extensive than planned and has benefited the project. The project has confirmed the validity of the approach of a micro-history of Japan's trade and in future I hope (whilst completing a book from this project) to extend this study to other ports, tracing the roots of European and American firms to their home countries and other overseas locations as well as the links between activities in different Japanese treaty ports.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This project has looked into the activities of foreign merchants at Hakodate in the bakumatsu and Meiji eras from the perspective of micro/global history. It has produced a number of case studies that show how trade was conducted in the early phase of Japan's integration into the global economy.

Report

(4 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (15 results)

All 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020

All Journal Article (8 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 7 results,  Peer Reviewed: 6 results,  Open Access: 5 results) Presentation (7 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 6 results)

  • [Journal Article] In the Black Ships’ Wake: Early American Enterprise at Treaty Port Hakodate2024

    • Author(s)
      Ivings, Steven & Eshack, Rasaad
    • Journal Title

      Pacific Historical Review

      Volume: n/a

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Marketing the Semi-Colonial as Cosmopolitan: Treaty Port Heritage and the Remaking of Hakodate2023

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Journal Title

      Heritage, Contested Sites, and Borders of Memory in the Asia Pacific (Brill book)

      Volume: n/a

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Western Merchants and the Meiji Transition: John Henry Duus at Treaty Port Hakodate2022

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Journal Title

      Shashi: The Journal Of Japanese Business And Company History

      Volume: 7/1 Issue: 1 Pages: 3-20

    • DOI

      10.5195/shashi.2022.60

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] British Trade at Hakodate during the Boshin War2022

    • Author(s)
      Ivings Steven
    • Journal Title

      Asian Studies, The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12)

      Volume: 1 Pages: 232-237

    • DOI

      10.5117/9789048557820/icas.2022.028

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] American Pacific Whaling at Hakodate before the Meiji Restoration2022

    • Author(s)
      Ivings, Steven
    • Journal Title

      Journal of Liberal Arts

      Volume: 150 Pages: 1-23

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
  • [Journal Article] British Trade at Hakodate during the Boshin War2022

    • Author(s)
      Ivings, Steven
    • Journal Title

      ICAS 2021 Conference Proceedings

      Volume: n/a

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Western Merchants and Intra-Asian Trade: John Henry Duus at Treaty port Hakodate (Part One 1861-68)2021

    • Author(s)
      Ivings, Steven
    • Journal Title

      Shashi: The Journal Of Japanese Business And Company History

      Volume: 6/1 Issue: 1 Pages: 9-21

    • DOI

      10.5195/shashi.2021.51

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Fostering a Trade in Japan’s Northeast: The West Pacific Company at Hakodate in the 1860s2020

    • Author(s)
      Ivings, Steven
    • Journal Title

      Commodities of Empire Working Paper

      Volume: 33 Pages: 2-21

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Western Business at Japan’s Far North: The Failure of the West Pacific Company at Treaty Port Hakodate2023

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      Association of Asian Studies (AAS)
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Western Merchants and the Meiji Transition: John Henry Duus at Treaty Port Hakodate2022

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      Business History Conference (BHC)
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Contract Enforcement in Treaty Port Japan during the Tokugawa-Meiji Transition: Evidence from Hakodate, 1859-18752022

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      World Economic History Congress (WEHC)
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Western Merchants and the Meiji Restoration: The Case of John H. Duus, an Anglo- Danish Merchant at Treaty Port Hakodate, 1868-18892022

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ)
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Britain and the Boshin War: British Observations and Trade during the Northern Campaigns2021

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      Internaional Convention of Asia Scholars
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] After the Black Ships: Early American Enterprise at Treaty Port Hakodate2021

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      World Business History Congress
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Western Merchants and Intra-Asian Trade: An Anglo-Danish Merchant at Treaty Port Hakodate, 1861-18892021

    • Author(s)
      Steven Ivings
    • Organizer
      Sixth European Congress on World and Global History
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research

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Published: 2020-04-28   Modified: 2024-01-30  

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