Ministry of Colonial Affairs

The Ministry of Colonial Affairs (拓務省, Takumushō^?) was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1923-1942.

History

Poster encouraging Japanese emigration to South America

The original Ministry of Colonial Affairs was the short-lived Hokkaidō Colonization Office, established in the early Meiji period by Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka to protect Japan's sparely populated northern frontier against encroachment by Imperial Russia by encouraging the settlement of ex-soldiers as militia-farmers in Hokkaidō. This was followed by the even shorter-lived Colonial Administration Department within the office of the Governor-General of Taiwan. Established on 2 April 1896 by General Takashima Tomonosuke, it was intended to encourage Japanese investment and settlement in Taiwan, after the acquisition of that island by Japan as a result of the First Sino-Japanese War. The office was abolished in 2 September 1897.

The Japanese government continued to provide sporadic encouragement of overseas emigration to help relieve overpopulation of the Japanese home islands and to help spread Japanese influence overseas. During the late Meiji and early Taishō periods, large numbers of Japanese emigrated to Hawaii, California and the Philippines, and lesser numbers to China, South America and Southeast Asia. However, the emigration of Japanese to foreign countries did nothing to help secure the peripheral areas of the Japanese Empire itself.

After the acquisition of Korea, Karafuto, and the Kwantung Leased Territory as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, a Colonization Bureau (拓務局, Takumukyoku^?) was established within the Home Ministry on 22 June 1910. The bureau came under much criticism for its ineffectiveness, and on 10 June 1929, it was elevated into a separate cabinet-level ministry under Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka.

The new ministry was intended to coordinate emigration and settlement in all exterior territories of Japan, and had supervisory responsibility for:

• Chōsen Government-General (朝鮮総督府, Chōsen Sōtoku Fu^?)
• Taiwan Government-General (台湾総督府, Taiwan Sōtoku Fu^?)
• Karafuto Agency (樺太庁, Karafutochō^?)
• South Pacific Mandate (南洋庁, Nan'yochō^?)
• Kwantung Leased Territory (関東庁, Kantōchō^?)

However, the ministry did not actually sponsor emigration to those territories. It only provided advice and cooperated with private emigration sponsorship companies.

The ministry also oversaw operations of the South Manchuria Railway Company, but its authority did not extend to Manchuria due to strong resistance by the Ministry of War, who wanted to keep control over the future economic development of Manchuria to itself.

Likewise, the Governor-General of Korea, who was accustomed to virtual autonomy, rejected the new ministry's control and continued to administer Korea with little interference.

On 1 November 1942, the Ministry of Colonial Affairs was abolished, and its functions divided between the Foreign Ministry and the newly created Ministry of Greater East Asia.

Ministers of Colonial Affairs

	Name	Cabinet	From	To
1	Tanaka Giichi	Tanaka	10 June 1929	2 July 1929
2	Matsuda Genji	Hamaguchi	2 July 1929	14 April 1931
3	Hara Shūjirō	2nd Wakatsuki	14 April 1931	9 September 1931
4	Wakatsuki Reijirō	2nd Wakatsuki	9 September 1931	13 December 1931
5	Hata Toyosuke	Inukai	13 December 1931	26 May 1932
6	Nagai Ryūtarō	Saitō	26 May 1932	8 July 1934
7	Okada Keisuke	Okada	8 July 1934	9 October 1934
8	Kodama Hideo	Okada	9 October 1934	9 March 1936
9	Nagata Hidejirō	Kōki	9 March 1936	2 February 1937
10	Yūki Toyotarō	Hayashi	2 February 1937	4 June 1937
11	Ōtani Sonyu	1st Konoe	4 June 1937	26 May 1938
12	Ugaki Kazushige	1st Konoe	26 May 1938	30 September 1938
13	Konoe Fumimaro	1st Konoe	30 September 1938	29 October 1938
14	Hatta Yoshiaki	1st Konoe	29 October 1938	7 April 1939
15	Koiso Kuniaki	Hiranuma	7 April 1939	30 August 1939
16	Kanemitsu Tsuneo	Abe	30 August 1939	16 January 1940
17	Koiso Kuniaki	Yonai	16 January 1940	22 July 1940
18	Matsuoka Yōsuke	2nd Konoe	22 July 1940	28 September 1940
19	Akita Kiyoshi	2nd Konoe	28 September 1940	18 July 1941
20	Toyoda Teijirō	3rd Konoe	18 July 1941	18 October 1941
21	Tōgō Shigenori	Tōjō	18 October 1941	2 December 1941
22	Ino Hiroya	Tōjō	2 December 1941	2 November 1942

References

• Beasley, W.G. (1991). Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198221681. 
• Ching, Leo T.S. (2001). Becoming Japanese: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22553-8. 
• Myers, Raymond; Mark R Peattie (1987). The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691102228. 
• Townsend, Susan C. (2000). Yanihara Tadao and Japanese Colonial Policy: Redeeming Empire. RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0700712755.