Hisamatsu Yoshinori Clip

Stepping off the boat into Hokkaido for first time in 1892, Hisamatsu Yoshinori lamented the inattention the Japanese government paid to its northern colony. Seeing the island’s vast resources squandered and fields and valleys left unpeopled, Hisamatsu argued that Hokkaido needed a grand vision of development in opening up its mining and forestry industries, in building infrastructure, and in opening ports. In this, Hokkaido-based officials would need to be handed the reins, like the Kaitakushi a decade before. Standing in the way of this ‘progress’ were Tokyo-based officials dispatched to the north, clueless to the conditions of the colony like “lone boats on a vast ocean”. Investment in Hokkaido would bring back immense revenue to the national government. And, paramount to the development of the island would be the railroads which would not only integrate Hokkaido, but connect the island to the mainland, like a spinal cord running the length of the empire.

Pointing to the Russian Empire’s development of eastern Siberia, with railroads and telegraph wires crisscrossing Eurasia, this both provided a model for Japan, but also, he stressed, positioned Hokkaido between Japan and Russia, connecting Tokyo to the capitals of Europe. Telegraph cables then being laid out across the Bering Strait would likewise, through Hokkaido, connect Tokyo to the great metropolises of America through Vancouver. Through Hokkaido, the Japanese Empire was connected to both Europe and America. And with entrepots like Otaru and Hakodate, the island’s cities grew rich through international trade. All of this would help Japan expand its influence – both economic and political – across Asia.

Should the Japanese government fail to do this, Hisamatsu suggested, Hokkaido would be better off succeeding from Japan and forming an independent nation. There – able to support a population of five or six million people – Japanese settlers from the mainland and foreign settlers from overseas would live and work side-by-side, maximizing the economic potential of the island.