Japan's Empire of Birds

Annika A. Culver is Associate Professor of East Asian History at Florida State University, USA. She is the author of Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo (2013) - winner of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SECAAS) 2015 Book Prize. She is also the co-editor, along with Norman Smith, of Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approaches to Literary Production (2019).

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroduction. Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Japanese Aristocrats and the Cosmopolitan Science of Empire1. The Practice of Ornithology: Birds, Hunting, and Social Class in Prewar Japan and the Anglo-American World2. Western Villas in Aristocratic Japanese Hands: Spaces of Imperial Mimesis and Informal Scientific Exchange3. Cambridge, UK (1925-1929)—From "Scandalous Marquis" to Explorer-Scientist: Japanese in Western Imperial Settings4. The Philippines (1929-1931)—A Japanese Ornithologist Encounters the American Empire5. Manchukuo and the Japanese Empire (1932-1940)— Deploying Avian Imperialism in the Media, Military, and Scientific Expeditions6. Wartime Tokyo and Defeat (1937-1945)—Mobilizing Imperial Japan’s Ornithologists and Birds for the War Effort7. Tokyo under the Allied Occupation (1945-1952)—Yankees with a Mission amongst Threadbare Aristocrats8. Tokyo and the US (1940s-1970s)—Cold War Ornithological Collaborations between Japanese and American ScientistsConclusion. Tokyo and Cambridge, UK (1950s-1970s)—Fledging Global Conservation PoliciesBibliographyIndex

This book is more than just a history of ornithology or a biography of Japanese scientists: it is a nuanced exploration of the complex interplay between science, politics and culture in the context of Empire. ... Will undoubtedly interest scholars of Japanese history, the history of science and cultural studies, as well as anyone interested in the fascinating world of ornithology.