Introduction

Abstract

In an article titled “The Illusion of ‘Greater Japan’” that appeared in the July and August 1921 issue of the renowned economic journal, Tōyō Keizai Shinpō (New Report on the Asian Economy), Tanzan Ishibashi explicated an idea of “Small Japan,” which insisted that Japan should dispense with colonies. However, contrary to Ishibashi’s claims, the economic relationships between the Japanese mainland and its colonies became closer over the interwar period with the increase of economic integration and division of labor within the empire.

Although the task of bridging the political and economic histories of the Japanese empire is a large challenge, this book is a first step toward doing so. Research on the economic history of the Japanese colonial empire should not simply encompass the dichotomic aspects of “exploitation and development” of colonial rule. Rather, it must also consider how the prewar period provided the foundational elements of postwar economic growth across East Asia. This is the underlying theme of this book, which comprises the latest studies on “Economic Activities under the Japanese Colonial Empire.”