Contradictory Impulses: Canada and Japan in the Twentieth Century (review)

This multi-authored book, mainly a product of a conference held in 2004 for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the establishment of Canada–Japan diplomatic relations, examines a wide range of topics concerning the two countries in the twentieth century. Its fourteen chapters, which are interwoven quite handsomely, are accompanied by the editors’ thoughtful introduction and conclusion and a helpful annotated reading list.

The first two chapters deal with Protestant and Catholic missionaries to Japan, showing that their ‘soft power’ approach produced few Japanese converts to Christianity but that the missionaries nevertheless contributed greatly in the fields of social work and education. It is delightful to read about both the differences and similarities in Protestant and Catholic activities in Japan, but one may be inclined to ask whether Canadian missionaries differed from other Westerners and how the French-Canadian Catholic mission’s presence in Japan changed after Quebec’s secularization in the 1960s.

This ‘soft power’ approach to bringing Canada and Japan closer together was a limited success. As the title suggests, Canada–Japan relations had been regulated by ‘contradictory impulses’ such as imperial links. At least until the outbreak of the Pacific War, the policies of Britain and the United States and their relations with Canada and Japan had greatly influenced this bilateral relationship. The next ten chapters effectively illustrate these themes more or less chronologically by examining immigration, trade and commerce, military and defence, and diplomacy. Some disclose unknown historical developments, such as the treatment of Japanese Canadians in French Canada, which amounted to ‘benign neglect’ (chapter 8). Others offer well-documented analysis on Canada–Japan relations in crucial periods and challenge conventional interpretations. For instance, chapter 4 depicts Canada’s increasing concern over Japan’s potential military threat long before its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, a view that contradicts what is said in chapter 5 about changing Canadian attitudes towards Japan after the crisis. And chapter 7 convincingly demonstrates the divergence between Canada and the United States over democratization and demilitarization of occupied Japan at the earliest stage, by revisiting Herbert Norman and Canadian diplomacy. As for postwar economic and political relations, three chapters (chapters 10 to 12), covering the King to the Harper eras, intriguingly show the authors’ different views in assessing Canadian awareness of Japan and the role of Canada and Japan in the ‘North Pacific triangle’ centred on the United States, as well as in the world order. This reflects differences in the way the three authors regard American influences when evaluating Canadian diplomacy.

The friendship between Canada and Japan was hindered by other ‘contradictory impulses,’ namely, racial prejudice, too. Although there existed a hiatus in racial discrimination during the short period just before the Vancouver riot of 1907, when Japanese labour immigrants aboard the Suian Maru were less harshly treated (chapter 3), it took a long time for Canada to reopen the door to Japanese Canadians (chapter 9). Unlike almost all the literature on Japanese Canadians, this book never deals directly with their wartime treatment in internment camps – treatment that rather effectively convinces us that the idea of ‘white Canada’ persisted for a long time. As to the Pacific War period, chapter 6 recounts decreasing Canadian interest in Japan, despite growing concerns arising from strategically vulnerable British Columbia.

The idea of ‘white Canada’ took shape in architecture as well. Chapter 13 is quite unusual in that it tries to follow changing (and partly unchanged) Canadian views towards Japan by considering what the two Canadian chanceries in Tokyo represent: the Euro-centric ‘Marler House’ erected by the first Canadian minister to Japan, and the new embassy building designed by Raymond Moriyama, which projects Canada’s multicultural personality.

Overall, Contradictory Impulses is well organized and succeeds in its attempt to improve scholarship on Canadian foreign relations, which has put too much emphasis on the Atlantic world. It helps to restore some balance by focusing on Asia and the Pacific...