Today, the wisdom commonly held throughout the world is that science does not have national borders, while real borders do exist between scientists. However, a well-known Korean biologist, Seok Joo-Myung (1908-1950), argued that biology might have a nationality unlike aspects of physical science because of the indigenous nature of animals and plants. This paper presents Seok's achievements in the taxonomy of Korean butterflies and his unique view of science.
In the relatively short period of his career that lasted from 1931 to 1950, Seok made a significant achievement in the taxonomy of Korean butterflies. By examining forewing length and the numbers and positions of eyespots, he attempted to apply a statistical methodology to the management of his specimens. During Seok's 20-year research career, he examined 750,000 specimens and removed over 800 synonyms of Korean butterflies. While he took advantage of his situation as a local biologist, foreign researchers were unable to adopt Seok's statistical methodology due to an insufficient number of specimens.
Seok dubbed his research into Korean butterflies as "the Korean biology." What he meant by "the Korean biology" was that the research would illustrate the real state of Korean flora and fauna through use of the methodologies most often employed by local biologists. Furthermore, he intended his research about butterflies to be included as part of the classical-traditional-national studies, specifically Korean studies. He sought out articles about butterflies from classical sources and traced their old names. This helped him coin indigenous names for the butterflies after Korea's liberation.
Seok's research was not merely representative of natural science. In fact, it was also part of his effort to understand more about Korea, including its cultures and traditions. His pursuit of "the Korean biology" was an expression of his approach to achieving an understanding of Korea as a whole.
This presentation aims to study how the technology of rice breeding related to the Japanese Empire. Since the re-discovery of Mendel's Law, research in plant breeding at the Agricultural Experiment Stations (農事試験場) in the core of the Japanese Empire (Korea, Taiwan, and Manchuria) created one after another new breeds of rice, which tolerated cold weather and disease, yielded well and had a good taste. No wonder these new breeds prevailed explosively and local breeds were driven out in response.
This dynamic process was then called "the conquest by science"(The Asahi Shimbun) and this "conquest" was accomplished in two ways. Firstly, this scientific "conquest" achieved an increase in the rice production of the Japanese Empire. Secondly, this technology also conquered the daily mentality of the local peasants. Some of them considered these new artificial breeds as "blessings", while some were rushed into the bubbly investments of chemical fertilizers (esp., ammonium sulfate) as the new hybrid breeds tended to need them more and more. In certain cases, over-fertilization resulted in new diseases.
These two aspects of the rice breeding played a very important role in the Empire's colonial government. They allowed not only the Japanese Nitrogen Combine (日窒コンツェルン) to gain huge profits from the mass production of ammonium sulfate, but they also allowed the Japanese Empire to claim that they had brought more income and vigor to the peasants in Korea and Taiwan. In those colonies, rice breeding supported the Empire by penetrating softly into the minds of the farmers.
The employment of foreign teachers and the travel of students and scholars abroad to Europe brought distinctive forms of knowledge production in the Japanese sciences during the Meiji period. In contrast to the processes of cultivating scientific and technological advancements within Japan, it is the significance of Japanese travel in the capacity of agricultural consultation that comes under question in this paper. An examination of the dispatch of Japanese silk experts to Thailand (then Siam) between 1902 and 1912 and particularly of the silkworm breeding and inheritance experiments of agricultural scientist Toyama Kametaro (1868-1918) makes it possible to turn the tables and outline a role for the extension of science to developing nations in Japan's course of staking a place upon the global stage, in the realms of both geo-political contests and international biological research.
The first Japanese resident ambassador to Thailand at the time viewed the stimulation of "modern" (i.e., Japanese-style) silk works as a necessity for the protection of Thailand's independence especially from the encroachment of the French in neighboring Vietnam. Benefitting from the acceptance of this concern by The importance of a silk industry to ward off colonization was made evinced King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and Prince Phenpattanaphong, who headed the Department of Silk Craftsmen in Thailand in 1903, Toyama led the assignment to teach, organize, and bolster silk production in the northeastern region between Bangkok and Korat. The creation of a model Japanese sericulture apparatus in Thailand not only highlighted Japanese interests in the country's sovereignty, but it also stood as a testing ground for the principles of inheritance, methods for improving Japanese silk, and, by extension, Japan's international standing.