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Japanese colonial empire

The territorial conquests of the Empire of Japan in the Western Pacific Ocean and East Asia began in 1895 with its victory over Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War.[1] Subsequent victories over the Russian Empire (Russo-Japanese War) and German Empire (World War I) expanded Japanese rule to Taiwan, Korea, Micronesia, southern Sakhalin, several concessions in China, and the South Manchuria Railway. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, resulting in the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo the following year; thereafter, Japan adopted a policy of founding and supporting puppet states in conquered regions. These conquered territories became the basis for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1940.

Japanese colonial empire
1895–1945
The Empire of Japan in 1942
  •   Japan
StatusColonial empire
CapitalTokyo City (1895–1943)
Tokyo (1943–)
Common languagesJapanese
Local:
Korean (Korea), Taiwanese Hokkien (Taiwan), Formosan languages (Taiwan)
History 
• Established
1855
• Disestablished
1945[1]
CurrencyJapanese yen,
Japanese military yen,
Korean yen,
Taiwanese yen
Japan and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere at its peak in 1942. Japan and its allies Thailand and Free India in dark red; occupied territories and client states in lighter red. Chōsen (Korea), Taiwan (Formosa), and Karafuto (South Sakhalin) were integral parts of Japan.

Including Mainland Japan, colonies, occupied territories, and puppet states, the Empire of Japan at its apex was one of the largest empires in history. The total amount of land under Japanese sovereignty reached 8,510,000 km2 (3,300,000 sq mi) in 1942.[2] By 1943, it accounted for more than 20% of the world's population at the time with 463 million people in its occupied regions and territories.[3][4]

After Japan was defeated by the Allies in 1945, colonial control from Tokyo over the far-flung territories ended. The extent of Japanese governance was restricted to the naichi (excepting Karafuto Prefecture, which was annexed by the Soviet Union); the Nanpō and Ryūkyū Islands were returned to Japan by the US in 1968 and 1972 respectively.

Maximum extent of the Japanese Empire

Pre-1895 edit

The first overseas territories that Japan acquired were the islands of its surrounding seas. During the early Meiji era, Japan established control over the Nanpō, Ryukyu, and Kuril Islands; it also strengthened control of the naichi. But this effort was less an initial step toward colonial expansion than it was a reassertion of national authority over territories traditionally within the Japanese cultural sphere.[5]

Acquisition of colonies edit

At the start of the twentieth century the rate of population increase in Japan was seen as a potential problem for the Japanese government, and colonial expansion into Korea and Manchuria was seen as a possible solution.[6]

Taiwan edit

Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan, including the Pescadores, was a colony of the Empire of Japan; following the defeat of Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War, it ceded Taiwan to Japan under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The short-lived Republic of Formosa resistance movement was quickly suppressed by the Japanese military. The fall of Tainan ended organized resistance to Japanese occupation and inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule.

Since Taiwan was Japan's first overseas colony, the central and colonial governments turned their efforts into making the island a "model colony".[7] These resulted in the modernization of the island's economy, infrastructure, industry, public works, and assimilation of its population.

In 1945, after the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, Taiwan was placed under the control of the Republic of China with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.[8] The experience of Japanese rule, Kuomintang rule, and the February 28 Incident (1947) continues to affect issues such as Retrocession Day, national and ethnic identity, and the Taiwan independence movement.

Korea edit

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various Western countries competed for influence, trade, and territory in East Asia, and Japan sought to join these modern colonial powers. The newly modernized Meiji government of Japan turned to Korea, then in the sphere of influence of China's Qing dynasty. The Japanese government initially sought to separate Korea from Qing and make Korea a Japanese satellite to further their security and national interests.[9]

In January 1876, Japan employed gunboat diplomacy to pressure Korea, under the Joseon Dynasty, to sign the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, which granted extraterritorial rights to Japanese citizens and opened three Korean ports to Japanese trade. The rights granted to Japan under this unequal treaty,[10] were similar to those granted to western powers in Japan following the visit of Commodore Perry.[10] Japanese involvement in Korea increased during the 1890s, a period of political upheaval.

Korea was occupied and declared a Japanese protectorate following the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905; it was annexed in 1910 through the annexation treaty. Korea was renamed Chōsen and remained a part of the Empire of Japan for 35 years; from August 22, 1910, until August 15, 1945, upon the surrender of Japan in the Pacific War. The 1905 and 1910 treaties were officially declared "null and void" by both Japan and South Korea in 1965.

South Sakhalin edit

During the 19th century, Russia and Japan vied for control of Sakhalin Island. Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japanese settlers were sent to southern Sakhalin to exploit its resources.[11] Japan ceded southern Sakhalin to Russia in 1875 in exchange for the Kuril Islands under the Treaty of Saint Petersburg. After achieving victory in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was ceded southern Sakhalin under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth. Japan established its colonial government in 1907, whereupon South Sakhalin was renamed Karafuto Prefecture.

Japanese and Korean migrants to the colony developed the fishing, forestry and mining industries. Taking advantage of the Russian Civil War, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied northern Sakhalin between 1920 and 1925;[12] afterwards Japan retained favorable coal and oil concessions therein until 1944. In 1943, Karafuto was elevated to naichi status.

The Soviet Union invaded and annexed Karafuto at the end of World War II.[13]

South Seas Mandate edit

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the Empire of Japan declared war on the German Empire and quickly seized the possessions of the German colonial empire in the Pacific Ocean (the Northern Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands and the Marshall Islands) with virtually no resistance. After the end of the war the Treaty of Versailles formally recognized the Japanese occupation of former German colonies in Micronesia north of the equator. A League of Nations mandate put them under the Japanese administration known as the Nan'yō Agency or South Seas Agency (南洋廳, Nan'yō Chō) and the post of Governor of the South Seas Mandate was created.[14]

The main significance of the South Seas Mandate to Japan was its strategic location, which dominated the sea lanes across the Pacific Ocean and provided convenient provisioning locations for ships. During the 1930s, the Imperial Japanese Navy began construction of airfields, fortifications, ports, and other military projects on the South Seas Mandate islands, viewing them as "unsinkable aircraft carriers" with a critical role to play in the defense of the Japanese home islands against potential invasion by the United States. The islands became important staging grounds for Japanese air and naval offensives during the Pacific War but were lost to American military action between 1943 and 1945. The League of Nations mandate was formally revoked by the United Nations on July 18, 1947, according to Security Council Resolution 21, making the United States responsible for administration of the islands under the terms of a United Nations trusteeship agreement which established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Manchuria edit

After emerging victorious against Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan was ceded the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Diplomatic pressure from Russia, Germany, and France forced Japan to quickly relinquish the territory, which allowed Russia to lease it from China in 1898. In 1905, Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War; under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia returned the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, whereupon it was renamed the Kwantung Leased Territory. A governor and an Imperial Japanese Army garrison were established, the latter becoming the Kwantung Army in 1919.

As a result of Russia's defeat, it also lost influence in Manchuria, which allowed Japan to take its place. In 1906, Japan laid the South Manchuria Railway to Ryojun. Japan temporarily occupied Russian Manchuria in 1918, but returned it to in Soviet Union in 1922. Manchuria came under the control of the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin during the warlord period in China. He initially had Japanese backing, but the Kwantung Army found him too independent; he was assassinated in 1928.

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria took place in 1931 following the Mukden Incident, a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel from the Kwantung Army as a pretext for invasion.[15][16][17] The region was subsequently separated from Chinese control and the Japanese-aligned puppet state of Manchukuo was created.[18] The last Emperor of China, Puyi, was installed as head of state in 1932, and two years later he was declared Emperor of Manchukuo. The city of Changchun was renamed Xinjing and became the capital of Manchukuo. An imperial palace was specially built for the emperor. He was, however, nothing more than a figurehead and real authority rested in the hands of the Japanese military officials. The Manchu ministers all served as front-men for their Japanese vice-ministers, who made all decisions. Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies were organized by the Chinese in Manchuria and the pacification of Manchukuo required a war lasting several years.

During the 1930s the Japanese colonized Manchukuo. With Japanese investment and rich natural resources, the economy of Manchukuo experienced rapid economic growth. Manchukuo's industrial system became one of the most advanced, making it one of the industrial powerhouses in the region.[19] Manchukuo's steel production exceeded Japan's in the late 1930s. The Japanese Army initially sponsored a policy of forced industrialization modeled after the Five Year Plan in the Soviet Union[20] but subsequently private capital was used in a very strongly state-directed economy. There was progress in the area's social systems and many Manchurian cities were modernized. Manchukuo issued banknotes and postal stamps, and several independent banks were founded. The Chinese Eastern Railway was bought from the Soviet Union In 1935. Traditional lands were taken and redistributed to Japanese farmers with local farmers relocated and forced into collective farming units over smaller areas of land.

During this period Manchukuo was used as a base from which to invade China. In the summer of 1939, a border dispute between Manchukuo and the Mongolian People's Republic resulted in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. During this battle, a combined Soviet Army and Mongolian force defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army (Kantōgun) supported by limited Manchukuoan forces. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945 under the agreement at the Yalta Conference and invaded Manchukuo from Russian Manchuria and Mongolia. This was called Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. The Army of Manchukuo was defeated and the Emperor was captured by Soviet forces. Most of the 1.5  million Japanese who had been left in Manchukuo at the end of World War II were sent back to their homeland in 1946-1948 by U.S. Navy ships in the operation now known as the Japanese repatriation from Huludao.

World War II edit

Territory Japanese name Date Population est.(1943) Notes
Japan Naichi (內地) 1868-1945 72,000,000 Present day Japan, South Sakhalin, Kuril, and Ryukyu Islands
Karafuto/South Sakhalin Karafuto-chō (樺太廳) 1905-1943 406,000 Ceded by the Russian Empire to Japan
Korea Chōsen (朝鮮) 1910-1945 25,500,000
Taiwan Taiwan (臺灣) 1895-1945 6,586,000 Ceded by Qing China to Japan
Mainland China Shina (支那) 1931–1945 200,000,000 (est.) Manchukuo 50 million (1940), Rehe, Kwantung Leased Territory, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, plus parts of : Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia
Hong Kong Honkon (香港) December 12, 1941 – August 15, 1945 1,400,000 Hong Kong
East Asia (subtotal) Higashi ajia (東亞細亞) or Tō-a (東亞) 306,792,000
Vietnam An'nan (安南) July 15, 1940 – August 29, 1945 22,122,000 As French Indochina
Cambodia Kambojia (カンボジア) July 15, 1940 – August 29, 1945 3,100,000 As French Indochina, Japanese occupation of Cambodia
Laos Raosu (ラオス) July 15, 1940 – August 29, 1945 1,400,000 As French Indochina, Japanese occupation of Laos
Thailand Tai (泰/タイ) December 8, 1941 – August 15, 1945 16,216,000 Independent state, but allied with Japan
Malaysia Maraya (マラヤ) or Marē (マレー), Kita Boruneo (北ボルネオ) March 27, 1942 – September 6, 1945 (Malaya), March 29, 1942 – September 9, 1945 (Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, North Borneo) 4,938,000 plus 39,000 (Brunei) As Malaya, British Borneo, Brunei
The Philippines Firipin (比律賓/フィリピン) or Hitō (比島) May 8, 1942 – July 5, 1945 17,419,000 Philippines
Dutch East Indies Higashi indo (東印度) January 18, 1942 – October 21, 1945 72,146,000 Dutch East Indies
Singapore Shōnan-tō (昭南島)  February 15, 1942 – September 9, 1945 795,000 Singapore
Burma (Myanmar) Biruma (ビルマ) 1942–1945 16,800,000 Burma
East Timor Higashi chimōru (東チモール) February 19, 1942 – September 2, 1945 450,000 Portuguese Timor
:: Southeast Asia (subtotal) Tō-nan ajia (東南亞細亞) 155,452,000
New Guinea Nyūginea (ニューギニア) December 27, 1941 – September 15, 1945 1,400,000 As Papua and New Guinea
Guam Ōmiya Island (大宮島) January 6, 1942 – October 24, 1945 from Guam
South Seas Mandate Nan'yō guntō (南洋群島) 1919–1945 129,000 from German Empire
Nauru Nauru (ナウル) August 26, 1942 – September 13, 1945 3,000 from United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand
Wake Island, US Ōtori Island (大鳥島) December 27, 1941 – September 4, 1945 nil USA
Kiribati Kiribasu (キリバス) December 1941 – January 22, 1944 28,000 from Gilbert Islands
:: Pacific Islands (subtotal) 1,433,000
:: Total Population 463,677,000

Disclaimer: Not all areas were considered part of the Empire of Japan, but within its sphere of influence, included separately for demographic purposes. Sources: POPULSTAT Asia[3] Oceania[4]

Other islands occupied by Japan during World War II:

Areas attacked but not conquered edit

Raided without immediate intent of occupation edit

Administration edit

A shortage of Japanese administrators led to the establishment of colonial puppet states and the promotion of indigenous elites in the territories which came under Japanese control in the 1940s.[21]

Economic development edit

According to Atul Kohli, the David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton, "the Japanese made extensive use of state power for their own economic development and then used the same state power to pry open and transform Korea in a relatively short period of time".[22] Japan was "decisive in altering both the nature of the Korean state and the relationship of this state to various social classes."[23] How the Japanese centralized bureaucratic style of government was transferred to Korea; how they developed Korean human capital by a considerable expansion of education; how the Japanese invested heavily in infrastructure. Kohli's conclusion is that "the highly cohesive and disciplining state that the Japanese helped to construct in colonial Korea turned out to be an efficacious economic actor. The state utilized its bureaucratic capacities to undertake numerous economic tasks: collecting more taxes, building infrastructure, and undertaking production directly. More important, this highly purposive state made increasing production one of its priorities and incorporated property-owning classes into production-oriented alliances".[24] This sprawling bureaucratic state continued post-World War II and after the Korean War. Japan's early colonial industrialisation of Korea also made it easier to rebuild after the Korean War, because there was no need to begin industrialisation ab initio. Examining Korea's policies and achievements in the 1960s and 1970s, Kohli states that during this period the country was firmly heading towards "cohesive-capitalist development, mainly by re-creating an efficacious but brutal state that intervened extensively in the economy".[25] South Korean economic development was not market-driven—rather the "state intervened heavily to promote exports, using both market and non-market tools to achieve its goals".[26]

See also edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ a b Peattie 1988, p. 217.
  2. ^ James, David H. (2010-11-01). The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-92546-7. from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018. by 1942, this 'Empire' covered about 3,285,000 square miles
  3. ^ a b http://www.populstat.info/Asia/asia.html 2020-02-23 at the Wayback Machine Populstat ASIA
  4. ^ a b http://www.populstat.info/Oceania/oceania.html 2020-02-25 at the Wayback Machine Populstat OCEANIA
  5. ^ Peattie 1988, p. 224.
  6. ^ "The Nation, Volume 74". The Nation. Vol. LXXIV. New York: New York Evening Post Company. 1902. p. 187. Retrieved 20 December 2011. In all the ameliorating conditions every one must rejoice; but when these are coupled with the old-time lack of self-control leading to universal early marriages, a problem is rolling up before which Japanese statesmen are appalled. At the present rate of increase, there will, before the middle of this century, be a hundred million people to provide for. It is this prospect that is leading Japanese statesmen to make such frantic efforts to secure opportunity for colonization. Being practically shut off from going to other foreign countries, and Formosa being already largely occupied, Japan would naturally look to Korea and Manchuria; but of these places, Korea would afford only partial relief, both because of its limited area and of its present population. The northern region of Manchuria, however, is still almost as much in a state of nature as were the prairies of the Mississippi valley when the Indians roamed freely over them.
  7. ^ Pastreich, Emanuel. "Sovereignty, Wealth, Culture, and Technology: Mainland China and Taiwan Grapple with the Parameters of "Nation-State" in the 21st Century". ResearchGate.
  8. ^ Chen, C. Peter. "Japan's Surrender". World War II Database. Lava Development, LLC. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  9. ^ Duus, Peter (1995). The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895–1910. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21361-6.
  10. ^ a b A reckless adventure in Taiwan amid Meiji Restoration turmoil, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, Retrieved on July 22, 2007.
  11. ^ Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (1981). Illness, and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu: A Symbolic Interpretation. CUP Archive. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-521-23636-2.
  12. ^ Paichadze, Svetlana; Seaton, Philip A. (2015). Voices from the Shifting Russo-Japanese Border: Karafuto / Sakhalin. Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-317-61889-8.
  13. ^ Wurm, Stephen A.; Mühlhäusler, Peter; Tryon, Darrell T. (1996). Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas. Trends in Linguistics. Documentation. Vol. 13. Walter de Gruyter. p. 379. ISBN 978-3-11-081972-4.
  14. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1962). Sovereign and Subject. Ponsonby Memorial Society. pp. 346–353.
  15. ^ The Cambridge History of Japan: The twentieth century, p. 294, Peter Duus, John Whitney Hall, Cambridge University Press: 1989 ISBN 978-0-521-22357-7
  16. ^ An instinct for war: scenes from the battlefields of history, p. 315, Roger J. Spiller, ISBN 978-0-674-01941-6; Harvard University Press
  17. ^ Concise dictionary of modern Japanese history, p. 120, Janet Hunter, University of California Press: 1984, ISBN 978-0-520-04557-6
  18. ^ Yamamuro, Shin·ichi (2006). Manchuria under Japanese domination. Translated by Fogel, Joshua A. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-0-8122-3912-6.
  19. ^ Prasenjit Duara. "The New Imperialism and the Post-Colonial Developmental State: Manchukuo in comparative perspective". Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  20. ^ Maiolo, Joseph Cry Havoc How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941, New York: Basic Books, 2010 page 30
  21. ^ Plowright, John (2007). The causes, course and outcomes of World War Two. Histories and Controversies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-333-79345-9. Retrieved 2010-08-29. The success of the Japanese had other consequences for Britain's—and others'—former colonies. Lacking sufficient numbers of skilled personnel to administer their newly conquered lands, they sometimes either set up puppet governments or entrusted relatively high administrative responsibilities to the local native élites whom the former colonial powers had hitherto systematically kept in lower grade jobs[...]
  22. ^ Kohli 2004, p. 27.
  23. ^ Kohli 2004, p. 31.
  24. ^ Kohli 2004, p. 56.
  25. ^ Kohli 2004, p. 84.
  26. ^ Kohli 2004, p. 119.

Bibliography edit

  • " Fallacies in the Allied Nations' Historical Perception as Observed by a British Journalist " by Henry Scott Stokes
  • Chen, C. Peter. "Japan's Surrender". World War II Database. Lava Development, LLC.
  • Duus, Peter; Hall, John Whitney (1989). The Cambridge History of Japan: The twentieth century, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22357-7
  • Duus, Peter (1995). The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895–1910. Berkeley: University of California Press
  • Hunter, Janet (1984). Concise dictionary of modern Japanese history, University of California Press: 1984, ISBN 978-0-520-04557-6
  • Kohli, Atul (2004). State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54525-9.
  • Maiolo, Joseph (2010). Cry Havoc How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931–1941, New York: Basic Books.
  • Myers, Ramon Hawley; Peattie, Mark R. (1984). The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-521-22352-0.
  • Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (1981). Illness and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu: A Symbolic Interpretation. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-23636-2
  • Paichadze, Svetlana; Seaton, Philip A. (2015). Voices from the Shifting Russo-Japanese Border: Karafuto / Sakhalin. Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-61889-8
  • Pastreich, Emanuel (2003). "Sovereignty, Wealth, Culture, and Technology: Mainland China and Taiwan Grapple with the Parameters of "Nation State" in the 21st Century". Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Peattie, Mark R. (1988). "Chapter 5 - The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895-1945". The Cambridge History of Japan Vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22352-0.
  • Peattie, Mark (1992). Nan'Yo: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia, 1885-1945. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1480-0.
  • Plowright, John (2007). The causes, course and outcomes of World War Two. Histories and Controversies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-79345-9
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1962). Sovereign and Subject. Ponsonby Memorial Society.
  • Spiller, Roger J. (2007) An instinct for war: scenes from the battlefields of history, Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01941-6
  • Wurm, Stephen A.; Mühlhäusler, Peter; Tryon, Darrell T., ed. (1996). Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas. Trends in Linguistics. Documentation. Volume 13. Walter de Gruyter.
  • Yamamuro, Shin·ichi (2006). Manchuria under Japanese domination. Translated by Fogel, Joshua A. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania
  • Ziomek, Kirsten L. Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan's Colonial Peoples (Harvard University Asia Center, 2019) 406 pp. online review

japanese, colonial, empire, territorial, conquests, empire, japan, western, pacific, ocean, east, asia, began, 1895, with, victory, over, qing, china, first, sino, japanese, subsequent, victories, over, russian, empire, russo, japanese, german, empire, world, . The territorial conquests of the Empire of Japan in the Western Pacific Ocean and East Asia began in 1895 with its victory over Qing China in the First Sino Japanese War 1 Subsequent victories over the Russian Empire Russo Japanese War and German Empire World War I expanded Japanese rule to Taiwan Korea Micronesia southern Sakhalin several concessions in China and the South Manchuria Railway In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria resulting in the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo the following year thereafter Japan adopted a policy of founding and supporting puppet states in conquered regions These conquered territories became the basis for the Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere in 1940 Japanese colonial empire1895 1945FlagThe Empire of Japan in 1942 Japan Colonies Mandates Puppet states Protectorates Occupied territoriesStatusColonial empireCapitalTokyo City 1895 1943 Tokyo 1943 Common languagesJapanese Local Korean Korea Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwan Formosan languages Taiwan History Established1855 Disestablished1945 1 CurrencyJapanese yen Japanese military yen Korean yen Taiwanese yenJapan and the Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere at its peak in 1942 Japan and its allies Thailand and Free India in dark red occupied territories and client states in lighter red Chōsen Korea Taiwan Formosa and Karafuto South Sakhalin were integral parts of Japan Including Mainland Japan colonies occupied territories and puppet states the Empire of Japan at its apex was one of the largest empires in history The total amount of land under Japanese sovereignty reached 8 510 000 km2 3 300 000 sq mi in 1942 2 By 1943 it accounted for more than 20 of the world s population at the time with 463 million people in its occupied regions and territories 3 4 After Japan was defeated by the Allies in 1945 colonial control from Tokyo over the far flung territories ended The extent of Japanese governance was restricted to the naichi excepting Karafuto Prefecture which was annexed by the Soviet Union the Nanpō and Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan by the US in 1968 and 1972 respectively Maximum extent of the Japanese EmpireContents 1 Pre 1895 2 Acquisition of colonies 2 1 Taiwan 2 2 Korea 2 3 South Sakhalin 2 4 South Seas Mandate 2 5 Manchuria 3 World War II 3 1 Areas attacked but not conquered 3 2 Raided without immediate intent of occupation 4 Administration 5 Economic development 6 See also 7 Footnotes 8 BibliographyPre 1895 editThe first overseas territories that Japan acquired were the islands of its surrounding seas During the early Meiji era Japan established control over the Nanpō Ryukyu and Kuril Islands it also strengthened control of the naichi But this effort was less an initial step toward colonial expansion than it was a reassertion of national authority over territories traditionally within the Japanese cultural sphere 5 Acquisition of colonies editAt the start of the twentieth century the rate of population increase in Japan was seen as a potential problem for the Japanese government and colonial expansion into Korea and Manchuria was seen as a possible solution 6 Taiwan edit Main article Taiwan under Japanese rule Between 1895 and 1945 Taiwan including the Pescadores was a colony of the Empire of Japan following the defeat of Qing China in the First Sino Japanese War it ceded Taiwan to Japan under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki The short lived Republic of Formosa resistance movement was quickly suppressed by the Japanese military The fall of Tainan ended organized resistance to Japanese occupation and inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule Since Taiwan was Japan s first overseas colony the central and colonial governments turned their efforts into making the island a model colony 7 These resulted in the modernization of the island s economy infrastructure industry public works and assimilation of its population In 1945 after the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II Taiwan was placed under the control of the Republic of China with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender 8 The experience of Japanese rule Kuomintang rule and the February 28 Incident 1947 continues to affect issues such as Retrocession Day national and ethnic identity and the Taiwan independence movement Korea edit Main article Korea under Japanese rule In the late 19th and early 20th centuries various Western countries competed for influence trade and territory in East Asia and Japan sought to join these modern colonial powers The newly modernized Meiji government of Japan turned to Korea then in the sphere of influence of China s Qing dynasty The Japanese government initially sought to separate Korea from Qing and make Korea a Japanese satellite to further their security and national interests 9 In January 1876 Japan employed gunboat diplomacy to pressure Korea under the Joseon Dynasty to sign the Japan Korea Treaty of 1876 which granted extraterritorial rights to Japanese citizens and opened three Korean ports to Japanese trade The rights granted to Japan under this unequal treaty 10 were similar to those granted to western powers in Japan following the visit of Commodore Perry 10 Japanese involvement in Korea increased during the 1890s a period of political upheaval Korea was occupied and declared a Japanese protectorate following the Japan Korea Treaty of 1905 it was annexed in 1910 through the annexation treaty Korea was renamed Chōsen and remained a part of the Empire of Japan for 35 years from August 22 1910 until August 15 1945 upon the surrender of Japan in the Pacific War The 1905 and 1910 treaties were officially declared null and void by both Japan and South Korea in 1965 South Sakhalin edit Main article Karafuto Prefecture During the 19th century Russia and Japan vied for control of Sakhalin Island Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868 Japanese settlers were sent to southern Sakhalin to exploit its resources 11 Japan ceded southern Sakhalin to Russia in 1875 in exchange for the Kuril Islands under the Treaty of Saint Petersburg After achieving victory in the Russo Japanese War Japan was ceded southern Sakhalin under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth Japan established its colonial government in 1907 whereupon South Sakhalin was renamed Karafuto Prefecture Japanese and Korean migrants to the colony developed the fishing forestry and mining industries Taking advantage of the Russian Civil War the Imperial Japanese Army occupied northern Sakhalin between 1920 and 1925 12 afterwards Japan retained favorable coal and oil concessions therein until 1944 In 1943 Karafuto was elevated to naichi status The Soviet Union invaded and annexed Karafuto at the end of World War II 13 South Seas Mandate edit Main article South Seas Mandate Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the Empire of Japan declared war on the German Empire and quickly seized the possessions of the German colonial empire in the Pacific Ocean the Northern Mariana Islands the Caroline Islands and the Marshall Islands with virtually no resistance After the end of the war the Treaty of Versailles formally recognized the Japanese occupation of former German colonies in Micronesia north of the equator A League of Nations mandate put them under the Japanese administration known as the Nan yō Agency or South Seas Agency 南洋廳 Nan yō Chō and the post of Governor of the South Seas Mandate was created 14 The main significance of the South Seas Mandate to Japan was its strategic location which dominated the sea lanes across the Pacific Ocean and provided convenient provisioning locations for ships During the 1930s the Imperial Japanese Navy began construction of airfields fortifications ports and other military projects on the South Seas Mandate islands viewing them as unsinkable aircraft carriers with a critical role to play in the defense of the Japanese home islands against potential invasion by the United States The islands became important staging grounds for Japanese air and naval offensives during the Pacific War but were lost to American military action between 1943 and 1945 The League of Nations mandate was formally revoked by the United Nations on July 18 1947 according to Security Council Resolution 21 making the United States responsible for administration of the islands under the terms of a United Nations trusteeship agreement which established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Manchuria edit Main article Manchukuo After emerging victorious against Qing China in the First Sino Japanese War Japan was ceded the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki Diplomatic pressure from Russia Germany and France forced Japan to quickly relinquish the territory which allowed Russia to lease it from China in 1898 In 1905 Russia was defeated in the Russo Japanese War under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth Russia returned the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan whereupon it was renamed the Kwantung Leased Territory A governor and an Imperial Japanese Army garrison were established the latter becoming the Kwantung Army in 1919 As a result of Russia s defeat it also lost influence in Manchuria which allowed Japan to take its place In 1906 Japan laid the South Manchuria Railway to Ryojun Japan temporarily occupied Russian Manchuria in 1918 but returned it to in Soviet Union in 1922 Manchuria came under the control of the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin during the warlord period in China He initially had Japanese backing but the Kwantung Army found him too independent he was assassinated in 1928 The Japanese invasion of Manchuria took place in 1931 following the Mukden Incident a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel from the Kwantung Army as a pretext for invasion 15 16 17 The region was subsequently separated from Chinese control and the Japanese aligned puppet state of Manchukuo was created 18 The last Emperor of China Puyi was installed as head of state in 1932 and two years later he was declared Emperor of Manchukuo The city of Changchun was renamed Xinjing and became the capital of Manchukuo An imperial palace was specially built for the emperor He was however nothing more than a figurehead and real authority rested in the hands of the Japanese military officials The Manchu ministers all served as front men for their Japanese vice ministers who made all decisions Anti Japanese Volunteer Armies were organized by the Chinese in Manchuria and the pacification of Manchukuo required a war lasting several years During the 1930s the Japanese colonized Manchukuo With Japanese investment and rich natural resources the economy of Manchukuo experienced rapid economic growth Manchukuo s industrial system became one of the most advanced making it one of the industrial powerhouses in the region 19 Manchukuo s steel production exceeded Japan s in the late 1930s The Japanese Army initially sponsored a policy of forced industrialization modeled after the Five Year Plan in the Soviet Union 20 but subsequently private capital was used in a very strongly state directed economy There was progress in the area s social systems and many Manchurian cities were modernized Manchukuo issued banknotes and postal stamps and several independent banks were founded The Chinese Eastern Railway was bought from the Soviet Union In 1935 Traditional lands were taken and redistributed to Japanese farmers with local farmers relocated and forced into collective farming units over smaller areas of land During this period Manchukuo was used as a base from which to invade China In the summer of 1939 a border dispute between Manchukuo and the Mongolian People s Republic resulted in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol During this battle a combined Soviet Army and Mongolian force defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army Kantōgun supported by limited Manchukuoan forces The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945 under the agreement at the Yalta Conference and invaded Manchukuo from Russian Manchuria and Mongolia This was called Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation The Army of Manchukuo was defeated and the Emperor was captured by Soviet forces Most of the 1 5 million Japanese who had been left in Manchukuo at the end of World War II were sent back to their homeland in 1946 1948 by U S Navy ships in the operation now known as the Japanese repatriation from Huludao World War II editTerritory Japanese name Date Population est 1943 NotesJapan Naichi 內地 1868 1945 72 000 000 Present day Japan South Sakhalin Kuril and Ryukyu IslandsKarafuto South Sakhalin Karafuto chō 樺太廳 1905 1943 406 000 Ceded by the Russian Empire to JapanKorea Chōsen 朝鮮 1910 1945 25 500 000Taiwan Taiwan 臺灣 1895 1945 6 586 000 Ceded by Qing China to JapanMainland China Shina 支那 1931 1945 200 000 000 est Manchukuo 50 million 1940 Rehe Kwantung Leased Territory Jiangsu Shanghai Shandong Hebei Beijing Tianjin plus parts of Guangdong Guangxi Hubei Hunan Fujian Guizhou Inner MongoliaHong Kong Honkon 香港 December 12 1941 August 15 1945 1 400 000 Hong KongEast Asia subtotal Higashi ajia 東亞細亞 or Tō a 東亞 306 792 000Vietnam An nan 安南 July 15 1940 August 29 1945 22 122 000 As French IndochinaCambodia Kambojia カンボジア July 15 1940 August 29 1945 3 100 000 As French Indochina Japanese occupation of CambodiaLaos Raosu ラオス July 15 1940 August 29 1945 1 400 000 As French Indochina Japanese occupation of LaosThailand Tai 泰 タイ December 8 1941 August 15 1945 16 216 000 Independent state but allied with JapanMalaysia Maraya マラヤ or Mare マレー Kita Boruneo 北ボルネオ March 27 1942 September 6 1945 Malaya March 29 1942 September 9 1945 Sarawak Brunei Labuan North Borneo 4 938 000 plus 39 000 Brunei As Malaya British Borneo BruneiThe Philippines Firipin 比律賓 フィリピン or Hitō 比島 May 8 1942 July 5 1945 17 419 000 PhilippinesDutch East Indies Higashi indo 東印度 January 18 1942 October 21 1945 72 146 000 Dutch East IndiesSingapore Shōnan tō 昭南島 February 15 1942 September 9 1945 795 000 SingaporeBurma Myanmar Biruma ビルマ 1942 1945 16 800 000 BurmaEast Timor Higashi chimōru 東チモール February 19 1942 September 2 1945 450 000 Portuguese Timor Southeast Asia subtotal Tō nan ajia 東南亞細亞 155 452 000New Guinea Nyuginea ニューギニア December 27 1941 September 15 1945 1 400 000 As Papua and New GuineaGuam Ōmiya Island 大宮島 January 6 1942 October 24 1945 from GuamSouth Seas Mandate Nan yō guntō 南洋群島 1919 1945 129 000 from German EmpireNauru Nauru ナウル August 26 1942 September 13 1945 3 000 from United Kingdom Australia and New ZealandWake Island US Ōtori Island 大鳥島 December 27 1941 September 4 1945 nil USAKiribati Kiribasu キリバス December 1941 January 22 1944 28 000 from Gilbert Islands Pacific Islands subtotal 1 433 000 Total Population 463 677 000Disclaimer Not all areas were considered part of the Empire of Japan but within its sphere of influence included separately for demographic purposes Sources POPULSTAT Asia 3 Oceania 4 Other islands occupied by Japan during World War II Andaman Islands India March 29 1942 September 9 1945 Christmas Island Australia March 1942 October 1945 Attu and Kiska Alaska United States June 3 1942 August 15 1943Areas attacked but not conquered edit Kohima and Manipur India Dornod Khalkhin Gol Mongolia Midway Atoll United States Raided without immediate intent of occupation edit Air raids Pearl Harbor Hawai i United States Colombo and Trincomalee Sri Lanka Kolkata India Air raids on Australia including Broome Western Australia Australia Darwin Northern Territory Australia Townsville Queensland Australia Dutch Harbor Alaska United States Lookout Air Raids Oregon United States Naval bombardment by submarine British Columbia Canada Santa Barbara California United States Fort Stevens Oregon United States Newcastle New South Wales Australia Gregory Western Australia Australia Midget sub attack Sydney New South Wales Australia Diego Suarez Madagascar Administration editThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it March 2010 A shortage of Japanese administrators led to the establishment of colonial puppet states and the promotion of indigenous elites in the territories which came under Japanese control in the 1940s 21 Economic development editThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it August 2012 According to Atul Kohli the David K E Bruce Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton the Japanese made extensive use of state power for their own economic development and then used the same state power to pry open and transform Korea in a relatively short period of time 22 Japan was decisive in altering both the nature of the Korean state and the relationship of this state to various social classes 23 How the Japanese centralized bureaucratic style of government was transferred to Korea how they developed Korean human capital by a considerable expansion of education how the Japanese invested heavily in infrastructure Kohli s conclusion is that the highly cohesive and disciplining state that the Japanese helped to construct in colonial Korea turned out to be an efficacious economic actor The state utilized its bureaucratic capacities to undertake numerous economic tasks collecting more taxes building infrastructure and undertaking production directly More important this highly purposive state made increasing production one of its priorities and incorporated property owning classes into production oriented alliances 24 This sprawling bureaucratic state continued post World War II and after the Korean War Japan s early colonial industrialisation of Korea also made it easier to rebuild after the Korean War because there was no need to begin industrialisation ab initio Examining Korea s policies and achievements in the 1960s and 1970s Kohli states that during this period the country was firmly heading towards cohesive capitalist development mainly by re creating an efficacious but brutal state that intervened extensively in the economy 25 South Korean economic development was not market driven rather the state intervened heavily to promote exports using both market and non market tools to achieve its goals 26 See also editList of territories acquired by the Empire of Japan Boxer Rebellion 1899 1901 Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China 1940 1945 Japanese occupation of Indonesia 1942 1945 Caroline Islands Japanese occupation of Cambodia Thailand in World War II Greater Germanic Reich Italian imperialism under fascismFootnotes edit a b Peattie 1988 p 217 James David H 2010 11 01 The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire Routledge ISBN 978 1 136 92546 7 Archived from the original on 6 July 2019 Retrieved 11 September 2018 by 1942 this Empire covered about 3 285 000 square miles a b http www populstat info Asia asia html Archived 2020 02 23 at the Wayback Machine Populstat ASIA a b http www populstat info Oceania oceania html Archived 2020 02 25 at the Wayback Machine Populstat OCEANIA Peattie 1988 p 224 The Nation Volume 74 The Nation Vol LXXIV New York New York Evening Post Company 1902 p 187 Retrieved 20 December 2011 In all the ameliorating conditions every one must rejoice but when these are coupled with the old time lack of self control leading to universal early marriages a problem is rolling up before which Japanese statesmen are appalled At the present rate of increase there will before the middle of this century be a hundred million people to provide for It is this prospect that is leading Japanese statesmen to make such frantic efforts to secure opportunity for colonization Being practically shut off from going to other foreign countries and Formosa being already largely occupied Japan would naturally look to Korea and Manchuria but of these places Korea would afford only partial relief both because of its limited area and of its present population The northern region of Manchuria however is still almost as much in a state of nature as were the prairies of the Mississippi valley when the Indians roamed freely over them Pastreich Emanuel Sovereignty Wealth Culture and Technology Mainland China and Taiwan Grapple with the Parameters of Nation State in the 21st Century ResearchGate Chen C Peter Japan s Surrender World War II Database Lava Development LLC Retrieved 22 December 2014 Duus Peter 1995 The Abacus and the Sword The Japanese Penetration of Korea 1895 1910 Berkeley University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 21361 6 a b A reckless adventure in Taiwan amid Meiji Restoration turmoil THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Retrieved on July 22 2007 Ohnuki Tierney Emiko 1981 Illness and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu A Symbolic Interpretation CUP Archive p 214 ISBN 978 0 521 23636 2 Paichadze Svetlana Seaton Philip A 2015 Voices from the Shifting Russo Japanese Border Karafuto Sakhalin Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia Routledge p 21 ISBN 978 1 317 61889 8 Wurm Stephen A Muhlhausler Peter Tryon Darrell T 1996 Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific Asia and the Americas Trends in Linguistics Documentation Vol 13 Walter de Gruyter p 379 ISBN 978 3 11 081972 4 Ponsonby Fane Richard 1962 Sovereign and Subject Ponsonby Memorial Society pp 346 353 The Cambridge History of Japan The twentieth century p 294 Peter Duus John Whitney Hall Cambridge University Press 1989 ISBN 978 0 521 22357 7 An instinct for war scenes from the battlefields of history p 315 Roger J Spiller ISBN 978 0 674 01941 6 Harvard University Press Concise dictionary of modern Japanese history p 120 Janet Hunter University of California Press 1984 ISBN 978 0 520 04557 6 Yamamuro Shin ichi 2006 Manchuria under Japanese domination Translated by Fogel Joshua A Philadelphia Pa University of Pennsylvania Press pp 116 117 ISBN 978 0 8122 3912 6 Prasenjit Duara The New Imperialism and the Post Colonial Developmental State Manchukuo in comparative perspective Retrieved 25 July 2010 Maiolo Joseph Cry Havoc How the Arms Race Drove the World to War 1931 1941 New York Basic Books 2010 page 30 Plowright John 2007 The causes course and outcomes of World War Two Histories and Controversies Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan p 167 ISBN 978 0 333 79345 9 Retrieved 2010 08 29 The success of the Japanese had other consequences for Britain s and others former colonies Lacking sufficient numbers of skilled personnel to administer their newly conquered lands they sometimes either set up puppet governments or entrusted relatively high administrative responsibilities to the local native elites whom the former colonial powers had hitherto systematically kept in lower grade jobs Kohli 2004 p 27 Kohli 2004 p 31 Kohli 2004 p 56 Kohli 2004 p 84 Kohli 2004 p 119 Bibliography edit Fallacies in the Allied Nations Historical Perception as Observed by a British Journalist by Henry Scott Stokes Chen C Peter Japan s Surrender World War II Database Lava Development LLC Duus Peter Hall John Whitney 1989 The Cambridge History of Japan The twentieth century Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 22357 7 Duus Peter 1995 The Abacus and the Sword The Japanese Penetration of Korea 1895 1910 Berkeley University of California Press Hunter Janet 1984 Concise dictionary of modern Japanese history University of California Press 1984 ISBN 978 0 520 04557 6 Kohli Atul 2004 State Directed Development Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 54525 9 Maiolo Joseph 2010 Cry Havoc How the Arms Race Drove the World to War 1931 1941 New York Basic Books Myers Ramon Hawley Peattie Mark R 1984 The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895 1945 Princeton Princeton University Press ISBN 0 521 22352 0 Ohnuki Tierney Emiko 1981 Illness and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu A Symbolic Interpretation CUP Archive ISBN 978 0 521 23636 2 Paichadze Svetlana Seaton Philip A 2015 Voices from the Shifting Russo Japanese Border Karafuto Sakhalin Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia Routledge ISBN 978 1 317 61889 8 Pastreich Emanuel 2003 Sovereignty Wealth Culture and Technology Mainland China and Taiwan Grapple with the Parameters of Nation State in the 21st Century Program in Arms Control Disarmament and International Security University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Peattie Mark R 1988 Chapter 5 The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895 1945 The Cambridge History of Japan Vol 6 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 22352 0 Peattie Mark 1992 Nan Yo The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia 1885 1945 University of Hawaii Press ISBN 0 8248 1480 0 Plowright John 2007 The causes course and outcomes of World War Two Histories and Controversies Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978 0 333 79345 9 Ponsonby Fane Richard 1962 Sovereign and Subject Ponsonby Memorial Society Spiller Roger J 2007 An instinct for war scenes from the battlefields of history Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0 674 01941 6 Wurm Stephen A Muhlhausler Peter Tryon Darrell T ed 1996 Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific Asia and the Americas Trends in Linguistics Documentation Volume 13 Walter de Gruyter Yamamuro Shin ichi 2006 Manchuria under Japanese domination Translated by Fogel Joshua A Philadelphia Pa University of Pennsylvania Ziomek Kirsten L Lost Histories Recovering the Lives of Japan s Colonial Peoples Harvard University Asia Center 2019 406 pp online review Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Japanese colonial empire amp oldid 1196667991, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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