Strategies and Organizations for Managing “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”

During the World War II, Japan occupied a large part of East and South East Asia, called “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” (Daitoa Kyoei Ken). This paper overviews what the Japanese military authorities and the government did to develop the occupied areas in the 1930s and the early 1940s. It is remarkable that different development policies and organizations were applied across occupied areas. In Manchuria, which Japan occupied earlier, after trial and error, a system of planning and control was introduced. By this system, more or less systematic development of industries was undertaken. Meanwhile, in China Proper, the Japanese military authorities and the government prepared the statutory holding companies as channels for investment from Japan, but industrial development was basically entrusted to those holding companies and individual companies affiliated to them. Finally in South East Asia, development was almost totally entrusted to existing Japanese firms