Power, social discipline and the control of urban space: a case study in Moji, western Japan, 1890-1930

This case study of Moji, western Japan considers several aspects of reproduction of labor power in a modern Japanese city from a local perspective. First of all it briefly considers a social and geographical position of Moji in the context of Japanese modernization. It discusses the effects of the representation upon the relationship between urban policy and the restructuring of laborers' living conditions, focusing attention on some components of urban policy: food supply, education, welfare, and surveillance. It points out two issues: firstly the intervention of the state in the reproduction of labor power raises or intensifies discrimination and this discrimination is a necessary condition in reproducing a social formation; secondly that the populace claim realization of individual desires from the state produces a strong national system and the intervention of the state into the realm of everyday life in more depth, and leads to a nationalistic consciousness or movements from 'underclass'.