I was completely unaware of this story. Thank you for sharing! I have long been fascinated by Japanese contributions to sci-fi, particularly in manga, and also to real science and technology. Looking forward to your future posts!
Have you read Usurper of the Sun? Fantastic hard sci-fi story. It has a lot of similar themes/vibes to Three-body Problem, but if not mistaken, Usurper was written first. I'd also love Japanese sci-fi recommendations (preferably literature, but manga is fine too).
This is a comment on Kenneth's post, but I'm guessing it's a question for me? I have never read Usurper of the Sun.
Unfortunately, very little JSF literature has been translated. One novel I highly recommend for it's prescience is Kobo Abe's 1959 Inter Ice Age Four. It has a very 1950s sci-fi feel, so you have to be willing to put up with that, but he deals with AI, biotech, and sea levels rising.
A few years ago I watched a Japanese movie, Shin Ultraman. It made me think about the nature of Japanese science fiction. The movie is a re-imagining of a TV show from the 60s: Ultraman (“shin” in the title can mean genuine, new, and god).
The show and the movie share the same optimism for science. They both feature “Kagaku-tokusou tai” (Scientific Special Investigation Team) that combats monsters (Kaiju). However, they are usually not powerful enough to defeat the monsters. Hence, an alien giant called Ultraman shows up and kick their asses.
I realized Ultraman’s optimism for technology and science also coincides with defeatism. The Kagaku-Tokuso Tai members need Ultraman to ward off kaijus, even though they keep trying at developing better weapons.
This, in my opinion, symbolizes the absence of science fiction in Japan. We do think science is good, and rely on it. However, deep down in our collective mind, we somehow seem to know science is not enough. Thus, Japanese are unable to produce fictions that center around future technologies.
There's another way of looking at it, perhaps. The Japanese love of science fiction has led to a love of new technology and inventions. For example, without Tezuka's manga about Astroboy, I doubt that someone like Hiroshi Ishiguro would have been able to create lifelike humanoid robots. Japanese technology is truly advancing beyond even what sci-fi dreamers of decades past could ever have imagined!
There's certainly a case to be made that the origin of anime and manga in the lovable robot Astroboy helped give Japan a more positive impression of robotics, guiding R&D in the direction of automation and nursing. This is in contrast to the frequently negative perception of robots, due to franchises such as Terminator, common in the Anglophone world, resulting in more military applications such as those of Boston Dynamics.
This story sounds like incredible fodder for a Man in the High Castle style alternative history/Dimension hopping sci-fi tale.
Instead of the shop worn "Victorious Nazis from an Alternative Timeline" trope, give me agents of an alt universe, post Koka conquest British Shogunate invading our timeline.
Thank you, Kenneth! I'm not surprised that you were unaware of this story. I don't think anyone has ever written about it in this depth in the English language. I'm hoping to connect the pre-WWII history of Japanese science fiction to modern manga, anime, and tokusatsu. It will take us a while to get there but stay tuned!
I chose the title because the story is a sort of revenge fantasy against the dominant colonial power of the period. The country that represents Japan decides not to colonize Britain based on higher moral (Confucian) principles, so I don't think that "colonial fantasy" quite fits.
Thanks for your kind answer. And let me apologize for my rudeness.
1)I asked this, because from my point of view, there’s a contradiction that is usally not discussed, from my point of view.
For the indigenous ethnic groups in Japan like the Ainu people, who’s the « dominant colonial power » ?
So : « anti-colonial revenge » to describe the fantasy of someone part of a Nation-State that has colonized Japan is confusing for someone quite naïve as myself-please do not laugh.
From my point of view, I expect people that have suffered or are suffering from colonialism, and willing to get a « revenge », to become « Primitives », to do so… .
To abandon the Nation-State as an institution. Because I(not me in fact, I adhere to this view) define it as Violence AND Utopia. And… but that’s another story.
2)Are you aware of people in History who did have tried to « colonize » the British Empire or the UK ? I think I know two of them. And what did they use to do so ?
3)Also, if I am not mistaken, it is China who had the opportunity(opportunities?) to conquer the world but didn’t. Not because of higher morale principles, but because of… chauvinism. Something like : « What the heck do these « barbarians » can teach us that we do not know already »? « We CAN NOT BENEFIT FROM THEM ! No way ! ».
so this fantasy that wants to put Japan before China, says a lot.
« In this depiction of Japan as the heroic liberator of Asia, we can locate the seeds for later Japanese colonialism and fascism. The idea of Japan’s noblesse oblige to emancipate and protect weaker nations from the great powers of Europe would be coopted by right wing imperialists in the 20th century as justification for military expansion and to prop up the notion of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a utopian vision that bears comparison to the Nazi ideal of the Thousand Year Reich. »
I was completely unaware of this story. Thank you for sharing! I have long been fascinated by Japanese contributions to sci-fi, particularly in manga, and also to real science and technology. Looking forward to your future posts!
Have you read Usurper of the Sun? Fantastic hard sci-fi story. It has a lot of similar themes/vibes to Three-body Problem, but if not mistaken, Usurper was written first. I'd also love Japanese sci-fi recommendations (preferably literature, but manga is fine too).
This is a comment on Kenneth's post, but I'm guessing it's a question for me? I have never read Usurper of the Sun.
Unfortunately, very little JSF literature has been translated. One novel I highly recommend for it's prescience is Kobo Abe's 1959 Inter Ice Age Four. It has a very 1950s sci-fi feel, so you have to be willing to put up with that, but he deals with AI, biotech, and sea levels rising.
The question was for both of you all! Thanks for the rec.
A few years ago I watched a Japanese movie, Shin Ultraman. It made me think about the nature of Japanese science fiction. The movie is a re-imagining of a TV show from the 60s: Ultraman (“shin” in the title can mean genuine, new, and god).
The show and the movie share the same optimism for science. They both feature “Kagaku-tokusou tai” (Scientific Special Investigation Team) that combats monsters (Kaiju). However, they are usually not powerful enough to defeat the monsters. Hence, an alien giant called Ultraman shows up and kick their asses.
I realized Ultraman’s optimism for technology and science also coincides with defeatism. The Kagaku-Tokuso Tai members need Ultraman to ward off kaijus, even though they keep trying at developing better weapons.
This, in my opinion, symbolizes the absence of science fiction in Japan. We do think science is good, and rely on it. However, deep down in our collective mind, we somehow seem to know science is not enough. Thus, Japanese are unable to produce fictions that center around future technologies.
There's another way of looking at it, perhaps. The Japanese love of science fiction has led to a love of new technology and inventions. For example, without Tezuka's manga about Astroboy, I doubt that someone like Hiroshi Ishiguro would have been able to create lifelike humanoid robots. Japanese technology is truly advancing beyond even what sci-fi dreamers of decades past could ever have imagined!
There's certainly a case to be made that the origin of anime and manga in the lovable robot Astroboy helped give Japan a more positive impression of robotics, guiding R&D in the direction of automation and nursing. This is in contrast to the frequently negative perception of robots, due to franchises such as Terminator, common in the Anglophone world, resulting in more military applications such as those of Boston Dynamics.
It would definitely make a good film ..or a t.v. series ...
Thanks for taking this on. I know almost nothing about SF in Japan beyond manga / anime.
Thanks for reading. Very few people do. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve chosen this topic.
This story sounds like incredible fodder for a Man in the High Castle style alternative history/Dimension hopping sci-fi tale.
Instead of the shop worn "Victorious Nazis from an Alternative Timeline" trope, give me agents of an alt universe, post Koka conquest British Shogunate invading our timeline.
Sounds wild. Write it for us.
"If anyone has a line to Quentin Tarantino, tell him I’m dying to see Queen Victoria taste cold samurai steel on the big screen. "
Bro this line—more than anything else in the piece—helped me understand how much you love what you love. Never change EKPW!
Also, the original cover art for the novel is stunning. A great find. Thanks for sharing, excited for the next installment in the series.
Thanks, Bro! I'll try not to disappoint with the next instalment.
Thank you, Kenneth! I'm not surprised that you were unaware of this story. I don't think anyone has ever written about it in this depth in the English language. I'm hoping to connect the pre-WWII history of Japanese science fiction to modern manga, anime, and tokusatsu. It will take us a while to get there but stay tuned!
I must say that your essay is quite fascinating.
Because of the Historical context(and its possible discrepancies...), for me.
Thanks for sharing.
Regarding the title, can I ask why : « Anti-Colonial Revenge Fantasy » instead of : « Colonial Fantasy » , please ?
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I chose the title because the story is a sort of revenge fantasy against the dominant colonial power of the period. The country that represents Japan decides not to colonize Britain based on higher moral (Confucian) principles, so I don't think that "colonial fantasy" quite fits.
Thanks for your kind answer. And let me apologize for my rudeness.
1)I asked this, because from my point of view, there’s a contradiction that is usally not discussed, from my point of view.
For the indigenous ethnic groups in Japan like the Ainu people, who’s the « dominant colonial power » ?
So : « anti-colonial revenge » to describe the fantasy of someone part of a Nation-State that has colonized Japan is confusing for someone quite naïve as myself-please do not laugh.
From my point of view, I expect people that have suffered or are suffering from colonialism, and willing to get a « revenge », to become « Primitives », to do so… .
To abandon the Nation-State as an institution. Because I(not me in fact, I adhere to this view) define it as Violence AND Utopia. And… but that’s another story.
2)Are you aware of people in History who did have tried to « colonize » the British Empire or the UK ? I think I know two of them. And what did they use to do so ?
3)Also, if I am not mistaken, it is China who had the opportunity(opportunities?) to conquer the world but didn’t. Not because of higher morale principles, but because of… chauvinism. Something like : « What the heck do these « barbarians » can teach us that we do not know already »? « We CAN NOT BENEFIT FROM THEM ! No way ! ».
so this fantasy that wants to put Japan before China, says a lot.
« In this depiction of Japan as the heroic liberator of Asia, we can locate the seeds for later Japanese colonialism and fascism. The idea of Japan’s noblesse oblige to emancipate and protect weaker nations from the great powers of Europe would be coopted by right wing imperialists in the 20th century as justification for military expansion and to prop up the notion of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a utopian vision that bears comparison to the Nazi ideal of the Thousand Year Reich. »