Dream Super-Express by Jessamyn Abel

Author:Jessamyn Abel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2021-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Asia Express was a star performer in Japan’s imperialist project in Manchuria, which rested in part on claims that Japanese control benefited Manchuria through development of technology and industry. Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka has categorized the energetic expansion of the entire rail system by the SMR as a version of the “railway imperialism” commonly exercised by the Western powers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.16 Japanese leaders used infrastructure and engineering expertise not only to strengthen their physical control of Manchuria but also to project images of success there to audiences in Manchuria, Japan, and Western nations. The steam locomotive had been a symbol of modern transformation in Japan from the late nineteenth century, and it similarly came to represent Japan’s imperial mission in Manchuria in the twentieth.17 Matsusaka argues that “conspicuous displays of engineering skill” in SMR’s railway and industrial facilities furthered the state’s “civilizing mission” and presented a positive view of Japanese control to both foreign and domestic observers. The SMR sought to cultivate this image through promotional materials depicting “late-model locomotives hauling sleek trains across the Manchurian plain, steel trestles spanning the Yalu River, and the towering smokestacks of the Anshan Ironworks.”18 Historians have called the Asia Express SMR’s “poster train” or “company mascot,” featured in pamphlets, posters, postcards, photo collections, guidebooks, travel literature, and even a postage stamp.19 Louise Young considers its significance for the imperialist project in Manchuria: “Surpassing records in Japan and matching the railway technology of the West, the Asia Express became the symbol of an ultramodern empire where technological feats opened up new vistas of possibility for Japan.”20

These scholars point toward a dynamic that might be explained in terms of the aesthetic function of infrastructure. The Asia Express was designed and built to move people rapidly from one city to another, but it also performed a kind of social display, conveying meanings and evoking emotions. So the train was both a symbol and a tool of empire, representing the accomplishments of the Japanese-controlled state of Manchukuo and at the same time contributing to its stability and control by bolstering support and undercutting opposition. The combination of technical achievements and aesthetics of the Asia Express made it powerful as a subject of propaganda in the 1930s and as an object of nostalgia in postwar Japan. The quantifiable and comparable measure of average and maximum speeds put the train squarely in the category of global leaders, while its streamlined locomotive and cars, the latest fashion in railway design at the time, gave it a cutting-edge, modern look. In addition, the technical problem solving that reduced noise and vibrations in order to provide a comfortable ride even at high speeds and in varied weather conditions, including climate control in all cars, constituted a bragging point that promoters never failed to mention. And while these technical aspects were deployed to show off the superior skills of Japanese engineers, the train’s elegant style and luxurious amenities contributed to the feeling of traveling in comfort and style, aspects that also formed a key part of its international reputation.

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