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in Meiji Japan. Yanagisawa Sakichi and Ōfuji Matsugorō, both returnees
from a study trip in the United States, were the first to can peaches and
tomatoes. Their canning tests were conducted at the Interior Ministry’s
Laboratory for the Promotion of Agriculture in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The
laboratory not only worked on the mastering of the canning process itself,
but also put effort in replicating canning machinery that the Japanese
bureaucrats had purchased in Europe and the United States. 13
The first commercial canneries began to operate in Hokkaido, the
northernmost of Japan’s four main islands. In 1877 a salmon cannery in
Ishikari was set up and a year later another one in Bekkai, both under the
supervision of Ulysses S. Treat, a prominent canner from Eastport, Maine.
Treat was included in the team of experts that Horace Capron (1804–1885)
brought with him upon his appointment in 1871 as the chief foreign advisor
to the Kaitakushi, a governmental agency responsible for developing
Japan’s northern frontier of Hokkaido. Russian demand for a delineation
of the northern boundary between the two countries compelled the new
government to embark quickly on the ‘civilizing mission’ of the island.
Although salmon prevailed, venison was also canned in Hokkaido, and
since 1880 the canneries began to function as training centres for prospective
canners. Apprentices from all over the country flocked to Hokkaido
eager to become acquainted with the new technology. 14
Two reasons lay behind governmental support for the canning
industry. First of all, the widespread use of canned food in the United
States convinced the Japanese policy makers that, along with telegraph,
rail and other technological innovations, canning was an attribute of
progress and modernity. 15 The second reason was related to the Japanese
trade imbalance. Since the investment required for setting up a canning
Canned salmon produced by commercial canneries in Hokkaido, c. 1880s.
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