Sport in Syonan (Singapore) 1942-1945: Centralisation and Nipponisation

When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese, it was ironic that they promoted the British culture of sport. Sport became centralised and the political priority placed on sport by the Japanese government provided it with greater resources to develop than other cultural institutions. The direction and form of its development became more and more dictated by the state. Political function became the predetermining social force compared with such functions as class orcultural distinction. The increase in bureaucracy and complexity in the organisation of the institution of sport widened the network of interdependencies between the state and its subjects but, more significantly, the Japanese government also demonstrated the emotional quality of sport in facilitating political aggrandisement. Paradoxically, during this period of oppression the Japanese embraced the affective quality of sport in nationalising disparate social groups in Singapore. This article, embracing an Eliasian approach, investigates this critical phase in the development of sport in Singapore and reflects upon the notion the shifts in the governmental view of sport, physical education and physical fitness that emerged during the Japanese occupation were major preconditions and influences in the later development of the more centralised control of sport that emerged in independent Singapore