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Concept
Nanshin-ron
Summary
南進論 was a political doctrine in the Empire of Japan that stated that Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands were Japan's sphere of interest and that their potential value to the Empire for economic and territorial expansion was greater than elsewhere.
The opposing political doctrine was 北進論, largely supported by the Imperial Japanese Army, which stated the same but for Manchuria and Siberia. After military setbacks at Nomonhan, Mongolia; the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War tying down millions of Japanese troops in China; and negative Western attitudes towards Japanese expansionist tendencies, the Southern Expansion Doctrine became predominant. Its focus was to procure resources from European Southeast Asian colonies, eliminate supply routes to China, and neutralize the Allied military presence in the Pacific. The Army favored a "counterclockwise strike", while the Navy favored a "clockwise strike".
In Japanese historiography, the term nanshin-ron is used to describe Japanese writings on the importance to Japan of the South Seas region in the Pacific Ocean. Japanese interest in Southeast Asia can be observed in writings of the Edo period (17th–19th centuries).
During the final years of the Edo period, the leaders of the Meiji Restoration determined that Japan needed to pursue a course of imperialism in emulation of the European nations to attain equality in status with the West, as European powers were laying claim to territories ever closer to Japan.
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the nanshin-ron policy came to be advanced with the southern regions as a focus for trade and emigration. During the early Meiji period, Japan derived economic benefits from Japanese emigrants to Southeast Asia, among which there were prostitutes (Karayuki-san) who worked in brothels in British Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina. Nanshin-ron was advocated as a national policy by a group of Japanese ideologues during the 1880s and the 1890s.
Official source
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