Short Abstract:

Drugs in modern Japan have often been very different from popular perceptions. We explore how, from the nineteenth century to today, Japanese attitudes towards drugs have been shaped by a complex interplay of domestic concerns, imperial agendas, and an awareness of emerging international norms.

Long Abstract:

This panel examines how the "politics of consumption" in Japan allow a reevaluation of the boundaries between accepted and deviant, licit and illicit in a global historical perspective. What political, economic, social, and cultural processes shaped particular perceptions of drugs in Japan? What policies and practices make Japan historically comparable or connect Japan to other countries and societies? Building on the growing body of scholarship that explores the role of drugs in the construction and management of empires and global trade networks, the contributions to this panel seek to shift the focus to the discourses on drugs in Japan. We show that views towards drugs in modern Japan have often been very different from popular perceptions. Before 1945, drugs were not only an issue in Japan's imperial possessions, but also the subject of serious concerns in the home islands. After the Second World War, drugs retained a prominent role in Japanese society, even as increasingly restrictive legislation was enacted. The moral panic around drugs at the turn of the twenty-first century shows, however, that Japanese attitudes and policies towards the consumption of drugs were the unique result of longer historical trends, and did not necessarily reflect the simplistic narratives that focus on the strict prohibition of drugs. Instead, from the nineteenth century to the present day, Japanese attitudes towards drugs have been shaped by a complex interplay of domestic concerns, imperial agendas, and an awareness of emerging international norms.