Diversification and Convergence: The Development of Locomotive Technology in Meiji Japan

Naofumi Nakamura ()
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Naofumi Nakamura: The University of Tokyo

Chapter Chapter 3 in The Development of Railway Technology in East Asia in Comparative Perspective, 2017, pp 41-65 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter offers a reconsideration of the process of Japan’s railway technology development during the Meiji period while focusing on the role of railway engineersRailway engineer and their technical imitation. It is true that underlying Japan’s advancement from imitation to original design were the formation of a cadre of Japanese engineers in both the government railway and private railway companies and the manufacturing know-how cultivated through the copying of a wide variety of model locomotivesLocomotive . In the context of the first wave of globalization occurring around the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, the ability to freely choose from among the most advanced railway materials offered by UK, US, and Germany contributed to the diversification of technology and concomitant accumulation of experience. It was the convergence of this technology and know-how that bore fruit in the development original technology.

Keywords: Railway engineers; Locomotive technology; Design skill; Japan; UK; US; Germany; First globalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:stechp:978-981-10-4904-0_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-4904-0_3

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