Japan race colonized colony Korean hygiene imperialism korea ww2 japan history racism class discrimination

Rogaski's analysis of the discourse of hygienic modernity follows the same point-counter-point nature as the colonial discourse outlined above. In supranational terms, hygienic modernity came to separate Japan from its colonies by the same clean versus dichotomy present in Meiji Japan. For example, the Japanese citizens living in colonial Korea would use hygiene to separate themselves from the indigenous Korean population Rogaski writes: "The Japanese perpetually decried the unsanitary habits of their Korean neighbors and criticized the government for not doing enough to ensure the hygienic security of Japanese....this anxiety can be attributed to the relative lack of clear boundaries of class or race between colonizer and colonized in Korea...." Just as the Western powers had used race to elevate themselves above their colonial subjects, the Japanese people felt that their hygiene made the Japanese superior to their Asian neighbors and subjects.