Co-ethnic Spatial Concentrations and Japan's 1930s Concord Project for Manchukuo

The formation of the Japanese colonial empire entailed major population movements and important socio-economic and territorial impacts in East Asia. These were particularly relevant in Manchuria, where important Japanese immigration also occurred, especially after the establishment of Japanese-sponsored Manchukuo in 1932. This paper focuses on the location of co-ethnic concentrations of the four major population groups of immigrant background in Manchukuo. The aim of the study is to re-examine the reality of Manchukuo’s inclusive ideology of ethnic harmony and the blurring of ethnic borders from a spatial viewpoint. The location of co-ethnic concentrations of Han Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Russians was identified by calculating the Location Quotients for each group at national and urban (Mukden’s railway town) scales. The results were mapped, showing uneven ethnic distributions and concentrations at both scales. This analysis confirmed the existence of clusters of affluent co-ethnic concentrations in Manchukuo, including some recent concentrations, such as the Japanese deliberate segregation in the North Manchuria countryside and in the Mukden railway town. Thus, the inclusive ideology of the new State coexisted, paradoxically, with high levels of co-ethnic spatial concentrations. This occurred not only because of group interest in achieving community cohesion, but also because of exclusions and restrictions resulting from official segregationist settlement policies. According to the results of the spatial analysis, the article concludes that Manchukuo’s utopian ideals of equal coexistence and concord among all ethnicities were not realized.