Sidney Xu Lu, "The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

Sidney Xu Lu examines how the discourse of overpopulation (Malthusianism) justified and shaped Japanese settler colonialism and migration across the Pacific between 1868 and 1961. He traces intellectual, social, institutional, and international dimensions linking internal colonization (like Hokkaido) and overseas settlement in places such as Hawaii, the U.S. , Brazil, and Manchuria. Lu shows how Japanese elites combined concerns about surplus population with celebration of population growth to legitimize emigration and territorial expansion. The book argues that settler colonialism must be understood by analyzing both sending- and receiving-side dynamics, including state policies that created a 'migration state. ' Lu's work connects Japanese migration history to broader settler-colonial theory and global debates about race, resources, and empire.

Shimazaki Toson's novel tells the story of a protagonist grappling with hereditary discrimination in Meiji Japan, highlighting social stigma and personal struggle. The work explores themes of social reform, identity, and the conflict between tradition and modernity, making it a key text in Meiji literary realism. In the podcast, the novel is referenced to show how Japan's marginalized characters imagined migration — particularly settling as farmers abroad — as an escape from prejudice. Its portrayal of the United States, and specifically Texas as a site of agricultural opportunity, reflects broader discourses that influenced early Japanese migrant decision-making. The book's social critique helps contextualize intellectual and cultural drivers behind migration and settler-colonial thought in modern Japan.