The German Merchant in Late Nineteenth Century Japan : Nationalism, Colonialism, and Contentious Masculinity in A. R. Weber's Novel

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In this article, I reconstruct late nineteenth century discourses on race, gender and nation as they intersect in thenovel Kontorrack and Konsulatsmiitze [Office Coat and Consular Cap] (1886). The novel is set in Japan during theperiod of upheaval prior to and shortly after the Meiji Restoration (1868). It was written by Arthur Richard Weber, amerchant from the duchy of Schleswig, who had lived and worked in Japan during thst time. My analysis shows howcolonialism, stereotypes of gender and race, nationalist sentiment and anti-capitalism, as well as the anxieties of thenarrator-protagonist as a member of the "late-coming" German nation, an expatriate, and a member of the merchantclass - often stereotyped as greedy and egoistic - converge in this gendered construction of the expatriate Germanmerchant and his Others. My rereading Weber's novel from the viewpoint outlined above also implies reservationsregarding the way in which it has been treated by some previous commentators, namely, as a straightforward source onthe events surrounding the "opening" of Japan, on the history of Germans in Japan, and on life in the treaty ports. Suchan approach has tended to coincide with, on the one hand, laudation of the author as an early Japanophile and, on theother, a lack of sensitivity to the racism, colonialism and misogyny implicit in this text.