List of territories acquired by the Empire of Japan

Members of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; territory controlled at maximum height. Japan and its allies in dark red; Thailand and Free India. Occupied territories/client states in lighter red. Korea, Taiwan, and Karafuto (South Sakhalin) were integral parts of Japan.

Maximum extent of the Japanese empire

This is a list of regions occupied or annexed by the Empire of Japan until 1945, the year of the end of World War II in Asia, after the surrender of Japan. Control over all territories except most of the Japanese mainland (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and some 6,000 small surrounding islands) was renounced by Japan in the unconditional surrender after World War II and the Treaty of San Francisco. A number of territories occupied by the United States after 1945 were returned to Japan, but there are still a number of disputed territories between Japan and Russia (the Kuril Islands dispute), South Korea and North Korea (the Liancourt Rocks dispute), the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (the Senkaku Islands dispute).

Pre-WWI

Colonies

• Taiwan and the Penghu Islands – 1895–1945
• Karafuto – 1905–1943
• Kantō – 1905–1945
• Chōsen – 1910–1945

Occupied territories

• Japanese occupation of Gyeongbokgung 1894
• Occupation of Peking 1900

WWI

Colonies

• Nan’yō 1919–1945

Occupied territories

• Japanese Occupation of Tsingtao
• All ports and major towns in the Primorsky Krai and Siberia regions of Russia east of the city of Chita, from 1918 until gradually withdrawing in 1922. ^[1]
• North Sakhalin was occupied by Japan 1920–1925.
• Japanese occupation of German colonial possessions
  • Japanese occupation of Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau Islands, Caroline Islands
• Occupation of Istanbul 1918–1923.
• Allied occupation of German New Guinea

Siberian intervention

Occupied territories

• Japanese occupation of Vladivostok

World War II

Territory	Japanese name	Date	Population est. (1944)	Notes
South Sakhalin	Karafuto Prefecture (樺太庁)	1905–1943	406,000	Elevated to naichi status in 1943.
Mainland China	Chūgoku tairiku (中国大陸)	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
Japan proper	naichi (内地)	1868–1945	76,200,000	Present day Japan, South Sakhalin (after 1943), and Kuril Islands
Korea	Chōsen (朝鮮)	1910–1945	25,500,000
Taiwan	Taiwan (臺灣)	1895–1945	6,586,000
Hong Kong	Hon Kon (香港)	December 25, 1941 – August 30, 1945	1,400,000	Hong Kong (UK)
:: East Asia (subtotal)	Higashi Ajia (東アジア)	–	310,092,000
Vietnam	Annan (安南)	September 1940 – August 1945	22,122,000	As French Indochina (FR)
Cambodia	Kanbojia (カンボジア)	July 1941 - August 1945	3,100,000	As French Indochina, Japanese occupation of Cambodia
Laos	Raosu (ラオス)		1,400,000	As French Indochina, Japanese occupation of Laos
Thailand	Tai (タイ)	December 8, 1941 – August 15, 1945	16,216,000	Independent state but allied with Japan
Malaysia	Maraya (マラヤ), Kita Boruneo (北ボルネオ), Marai (マライ)	December 8, 1941 – September 12, 1945 (Malaya), December 16, 1941 – September 11, 1945 (Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, North Borneo)	4,938,000 plus 39,000 (Brunei)	As Malaya (UK), British Borneo (UK), Brunei (UK)
Philippines	Firipin (フィリピン)	May 8, 1942 – September 2, 1945	17,419,000	Philippines (US)
Dutch East Indies	Higashi Indo (東印度), Sumatora Nishikaigan (スマトラ西海岸)	1942 – 1945	72,146,000	Dutch East Indies (NL), West Coast Sumatra (NL)
Singapore	Syōnan-tō (昭南島)	February 15, 1942 – September 12, 1945	795,000	Singapore (UK)
Burma (Myanmar)	Biruma (ビルマ)	May 28, 1942–September 13, 1945	16,800,000	Burma (UK)
East Timor	Higashi Chimōru (東チモール)	February 19, 1942 – September 11, 1945	450,000	Portuguese Timor (PT)
:: Southeast Asia (subtotal)	Tōnan Ajia (東南アジア)	–	155,452,000
Manipur [2] [3]	Manipurū (マニプール)	October 21, 1943 – August 18, 1945	525,000 [4]	Azad Hind [5] [6] [7] (also independent but Japanese-allied)
:: South Asia (subtotal)	Minami ajia (南亞細亞)	-	525,000
New Guinea	Nyū Ginia (ニューギニア)	1941 - 1945	1,400,000	As Papua and New Guinea (AU)
Guam	Ōmiya-tō (大宮島)	December 10, 1941 – August 10, 1944		from Guam (US)
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	Occupied from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand
Wake Island, US	Ōtori-shima, -jima (大鳥島)	December 23, 1941 – September 4, 1945	nil	US
Kiribati	Kiribasu (キリバス)	December 1941 – 1945	28,000	from Gilbert Islands (UK)
:: Pacific Islands (subtotal)	–	–	1,433,000
:: Total Population	–	–	466,069,000

Disclaimer: Not all areas were considered part of Imperial Japan but rather part of puppet states & sphere of influence, allies, included separately for demographic purposes. Sources: POPULSTAT Asia ^[8] Oceania ^[9]

Other occupied islands during World War II:

• Andaman Islands (India) – March 1942 - October 7, 1945
• Christmas Island (Australia) – March 1942 – October 1945
• Attu and Kiska (Alaska, United States) – June 3, 1942 – August 15, 1943

Areas attacked but not conquered

• Kohima (India)
• Dornod (Khalkhin Gol, Mongolia)
• Midway Atoll (United States)

Raided without immediate intent of occupation

• Air raids
  • Pearl Harbor (Hawaii, United States)
  • Colombo and Trincomalee (Sri Lanka)
  • Calcutta (India)
  • Chittagong (Bangladesh)
  • 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)
  • Ellwood (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)

See also

• Japanese colonial empire
• Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
• Tanaka Memorial
• Jewish settlement in the Japanese Empire
• List of wars involving Japan
• Sangokujin – 'third country person'
• Japanese Occupation

References

1. Leonard A. Humphreys (1995). 'The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s. Stanford University Press. p. 26.
2. Meetei Kangjam, Y. (2019). Forgotten Voices of the Japan Laan: The Battle of Imphal and the Second World War in Manipur. India: INTACH.
3. Chongtham, Samarendra (2008). The Land of The Rising Sun: Numitna Thorakpham Japan Urubada. ISBN 978-81-8370-147-1.
4. "A-02: Decadal variation in population 1901-2011, Manipur" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
5. Cribb, R.; Li, N. (2020). Imperial Japan and National Identities in Asia, 1895–1945. Taylor & Francis. p. 242. ISBN   978-1-000-14401-7. Japanese postal authorities prepared stamps for use in the foreshadowed puppet state of Azad Hind
6. Dunphy, J. J. (2018). Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 116. ISBN   978-1-4766-3337-4. Imperial Japan in 1943 had established a puppet state known as the Provisional Government of Free India
7. Toye, Hugh (1959). The Springing Tiger: A Study of the Indian National Army and of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Allied Publishers. p. 187. ISBN   978-8184243925.
8. http://www.populstat.info/Asia/asia.html Archived 2020-02-23 at the Wayback Machine Populstat ASIA
9. http://www.populstat.info/Oceania/oceania.html Archived 2020-02-25 at the Wayback Machine Populstat OCEANIA