Operations of the Imperial Japanese Naval Fleet and local societies in East Asia during the Taisho period

The spirit of international cooperation and ideas concerning world peace that followed the conclusion of the First World War exerted a great amount of influence on the Imperial Japanese Navy, the most telling example probably being the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922. The issue of how the Japanese Navy conducted its public relations program during that time in modern history in building relations with communities in East Asia is now being discussed in an ever growing body of research drawing attention to propaganda efforts, focusing in particular on the space occupied by naval ports in the region and utilizing the methodology of social and regional history to investigate the interrelationships formed between the Navy, the region’s local societies and their residents. Continuing in that vein, the present article concentrates on Fleet missions to the garrison city of Guandongzhou 関東州, a territory in the vicinity of present day Dalian, Hebei Province, leased by Japan from the Qin Dynasty in 1906, enabling the author to examine the conditions surrounding Naval operations at sea and the ports of call visited on the way, while at the same time describing the Navy’s connection to the garrison city, all in the hope of showing a novel aspect of the Navy’s relations with East Asian regional society during the time in question.<br> The author begins by describing overall peacetime Naval operations, including maritime exercises and training missions, in order to analyze the process of planning voyages and the conditions surrounding ports of call. Next he presents an overview of the situation on the ground in Guandongzhou, comparing Fleet visits there with visits to domestic ports in Japan and discovering that the characteristic feature of the former was a large-scale system of tours and inspections of the Fleet in action. Finally, the discussion turns to the sentiment expressed towards the Fleet by the Japanese residents of Guandongzhou and their Chinese counterparts, based on an analysis of articles published in local Chinese language newspapers.<br> The author concludes from his investigation that the kind of Fleet missions to Guandongzhou described were the result of changes taking place in the Fleet’s operations during peacetime, in light of the Navy’s need to respond to changing conditions both at home and abroad, implying the Navy’s intent to deal with local Chinese residents in a more “diplomatic” fashion.