Historians have long argued that the sale of opium by the Japanese state to Asian subjects in the early twentieth century helped to fund the imperial takeover of the region of Manchuria and subsequent establishment of the notorious “puppet state” of Manchukuo in 1932. The relationship among non-state drug traffickers, the imperial government, and the expansionist agenda is less understood. Using one of the most comprehensive sets of statistics on drug trafficking available for any portion of the Japanese empire or world prior to 1945, I explore the political significance of the encounter between narcotics dealers and the imperial government, represented by the police, the courts, and the punitive apparatus. Referencing consular reports, eyewitness accounts, and print media, I show that illicit trading in narcotics involved a vast spectrum of the population of northeast Asia, including men and women; Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Westerners; and various occupational and age groups. As law-breakers with diverse political leanings, these individuals were hardly imperialist “collaborators” in any traditional sense. Moreover, their activities competed with those of dealers licensed by the state, thus compromising the Japanese government’s profits in the drug market. Nonetheless the data indicate that the policing, prosecution, and punishment of narcotics offenders were neither thorough nor severe. Lenient justice demonstrated “benevolent rule,” Japan’s ideological justification of imperialism. The extent of criminal activity also served Japan’s interests on pragmatic grounds, functioning as a pretext for increasing the numbers of judicial personnel and military troops in northeast China. The presence of these representatives of state power allowed Japan to extend its control over the region both covertly and through military action. Ultimately, both the construction and control of crime enabled the imperial regime to transform potential subversives into supporters of Japanese state-building.
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