From Muscle Power to Fossil Fuel? The Electrification of Horse-drawn Trams in Tokyo and the Birth of the Japanese Electricity Industry, 1882-1911

This paper examines the electrification of the horse-drawn tramway in Tokyo and the early stages of the electricity industry from 1882 to 1911, a period during which Japan emerged as an industrial and imperial power in Asia. Unlike the coal industry, which was closely tied to Japanese zaibatsu conglomerates, the electricity industry was primarily driven by independent engineers and unaffiliated regional entrepreneurs. Among these private capitalists were a group of Kōshū-based (today’s Yamanashi Prefecture) entrepreneurs and investors, who were also key developers of tramway networks across Japan and its empire. These networks were powered by a variety of energy sources, ranging from gasoline and electric cars to horses and human labor. This overlapping development of the electric and railroad industries complicates the linear narrative of the "energy transition" in Japan’s modernization trajectory. This paper presents a multi-species narrative that explores how energy was consumed and how infrastructure and technologies evolved accordingly. Against the backdrop of the People’s Rights Movement and the political issues surrounding the first electric and public transportation companies, it reveals the entanglement of the democratization of energy and technology and its lasting impact on society and the built environment. In doing so, this paper reimagines the intricate connections between energy, technology, and capitalism.