Journaling Asia
The Mitsukoshi journals of the late 1930s and early 1940s offered reportage that followed the empire’s actual and anticipated expansion. Pitched as providing readers with a sense of connection to these regions at the furthest edges of their Asian imaginary, these articles echoed the official Pan-Asianist critique of European colonialism in Asia even as local residents were portrayed as backwards. Both strands were, of course, geared toward legitimizing the expansive Japanese imperial sphere.
The July 1942 article on “Nan'yō no mise” (Retail in the South Seas) exemplifies this view. The author, Sakurai Shōki, began by pointing to the injustice of the economic dominance of Europeans in places such as Malaya and Indonesia. He then sought to rebut the apparently common assumption that commerce would collapse without the Europeans, as local residents were so “primitive” and “lazy” that they could never fill in such a gap. Not to worry, argued Sakurai. Japanese historical and spiritual connections with the region, coupled with Japanese capital and modern expertise, would more than fill in the supposed vacuum. (Mitsukoshi anyone?) Indeed, overseas Chinese and Indians, as well as Malaysians and Indonesians, should embrace this opportunity to enter a Japanese-led “co-prosperity sphere.” Of course, things didn’t quite work out that way.