Trading Locomotives

In this book, I examined the history of Japan’s railroads, focusing on the locomotive trade and technological development from a global perspective. As railroads were a key industry of the Industrial Revolution, their worldwide proliferation proved integral to the emergence of a market-based global economy at the turn of the twentieth century. Japan’s railroads played an essential part in that story, and this book highlighted the international momentum that enabled the development of this industry by reconsidering the connections between the first global economy and the Industrial Revolution in Japan. In addition, I reevaluated the relationship between global and local events by examining how Japan, a relatively underdeveloped country during this time period, attempted to resist the forces of globalization through the localization of locomotive manufacturing. These processes also marked the beginning of Japan’s imperial expansion while advancing its national formation in response to globalization.

My book also examined the links between the nation-state and empire-building in terms of railroad development. The railroad—first introduced and developed as an essential tool for Japan’s nation-state building—was transformed into a tool for empire-building after the late 1890s. For locomotive manufacturers, it took Japan too long to acquire the technology required to build railroads throughout its empire. Thus, in the short term, Japan’s empire-building provided an expanded market for Western locomotive manufacturers. However, Japan succeeded in localizing and mass-producing large locomotives just before WWI and began transferring and exporting them to its colonies and spheres of influence. In this aspect, the government-led technology transfer and development promoted domestically educated engineers and rapidly grew Japan’s empire.