World War II Singapore: The Chosabu Reports on Syonan

For forty-four months during World War II, the Japanese occupied Singapore, renaming it Syonan and setting out to drastically change life on the island. As part of the occupation, the Japanese created a research bureau, the Chōsabu, to study occupied Singapore. The bureau’s detailed reports on the economy covered prices, wages, currency, rationing, living standards, food production, and industrialization. Syonan’s military and civilian administrators drew on them when formulating social and...