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The Japanese Fisheries Based in Singapore, 1892–1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Hiroshi Shimizu
Hiroshi Shimizu
Affiliation:
Aichi Shukutoku University
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Abstract

This paper examines the main factors behind the rise and decline of the Japanese fisheries based in Singapore before the Pacific War, and shows that, as the fisheries contributed greatly to the Singapore economy, they did not constitute a foreign economic enclave in the British colony. It also describes how the Japanese and local fishermen conducted fisheries during the period from 1942 to 1945, and argues that the legacy of the Japanese fisheries outlived the Japanese occupation.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , September 1997 , pp. 324 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1997

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References

1 Fish were marketed in three forms, namely boiled, dried and salted, and fresh. This paper concerns only the last as almost all Japanese-caught fish were sold fresh.

2 Firth, Raymond, Malay Fishermen: Their Peasant Economy (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1946), p. 11Google Scholar. One ton equals 2,240 lb throughout this paper.

3 Computed from Statistics Department of Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, Malayan Year Book 1937 (Singapore, 1937), p. 92Google Scholar, and Straits Settlements, Blue Book 1937 (Singapore, 1938), section 22, p. 761Google Scholar.

4 Japanese Foreign Ministry Archives (hereafter abbreviated as JFMA), K.3.7.0.5, 27 Nov. 1934. According to the information given by the colonial authorities, the number of Japanese fishermen was 1,050, not 971, in 1934. See Table 1.

5 Birtwistle, W., Annual Report on the Fisheries Department, Straits Settlements for the Year 1932 (Singapore, 1933), pp. 7–8Google Scholar. One kati is about 1.33 pounds.

6 Birtwistle, Annual Report 1932, p. 7. A koleh is a canoe-like boat used by local Malay fishermen which is sailed or paddled.

7 Muro ami fishing is also known in Japanese as oikomi ami (drive-in net) fishing.

8 Eric Robertson is wrong to argue that the drift netting was the most important Japanese fishing method, followed by the muro ami fishingbefore World War II. See The Japanese File (Singapore: Heinemann, 1979), p. 53Google Scholar.

9 Birtwistle, Annual Report 1932, p. 8.

10 Ibid., p. 6.

11 For further information about the muro ami fishing, see German, R.L., Handbook of British Malaya 1930 (London, 1930), p. 199Google Scholar; Siew, Kee Yeh, “The Japanese in Malaya before 1942”, Journal of the South Seas Society 20 (1965): 57Google Scholar; Hiroyoshi, Katsuji, “Oikomi-ami Gyogyo no Seisei to Hatten”, in Nihon ni okeru Kaiyomin no Sogo Kenkyu, ed. Nakadate, Ko (Fukuoka: Kyushu Daigaku Shuppankai, 1987)Google Scholar, Chap. 6.

12 Takumukyoku, Takumusho, Nanyo ni okeru Suisangyo Chosasho (Tokyo: Takumusho Takumukyoku, 1931), pp. 89–90Google Scholar; Green, C.F., Annual Report on the Fisheries Department for the year 1926 (Singapore, 1927), p. 11Google Scholar.

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14 Takayama, Itaro, Nanyo no Suisan (Tokyo: Dainihon Suisankai, 1914), p. 306Google Scholar.

15 Public Record Office London (hereafter PRO), Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 18 September 1924, F 3145/110/61, FO371/10299; Kataoka, Chikashi, Nanyo no Nihonjin Gyogyo (Tokyo: Dobunkan, 1991), pp. 49–50Google Scholar.

16 Shikenjo, Aichi-ken Suisan, Nanyo Gyogyo Chosa Hokoku (Gamagori: Aichi-ken Suisan Shikenjo, 1932), p. 32Google Scholar.

17 Ibid.

18 Kee, The Japanese in Malaya, p. 85; Kataoka, Nanyo, pp. 53, 58, 86.

19 Ibid., p. 58.

20 Ibid.

21 Suisan Iho 3 (Mar. 1931): 50.

22 Aichi-ken Suisan Shikenjo, Nanyo Gyogyo, pp. 36–37; Suisan Iho 5 (Nov. 1932): 188.

23 Azato, Minobu, Okinawa Kaiyo Hattenshi: Nippon Nampo Hatten-shi Josetsu (Naha: Okinawa-ken Kaigai Kyokai, 1941)Google Scholar, Appendix.

24 Iinkai, Okinawa-ken Kyoiku, Okinawa-ken-shi: Imin (Naha: Okinawa-ken Kyoiku Iinkai, 1974), pp. 26–29Google Scholar, Appendix Table 15.

25 Hiroyoshi, “Oikomi-ami”, p. 140.

26 Fujio Ueda, “Itoman Gyomin no Hatten”, in Nihon ni okeru Kaiyomin, pp. 67–69, 145.

27 Shozo Masuda, “Itoman-shi Itoman-cho no Chiiki Tokusei”, in ibid., p. 28.

28 Hiroyoshi, “Oikomi-ami”, p. 145.

29 Masuda, “Itoman-shi”, pp. 28–29.

30 Okinawa-ken Kyoiku Iinkai, Okinawa-ken-shi, pp. 173–88.

31 Ueda, “Itoman Gyomin”, pp. 70–72.

32 Hiroyoshi,”Oikomi-ami”, pp. 143–44.

33 Yoshinori Ide, “Okinawa Sangyo no Hensen to Suisangyo no Ichi”, in Nihonn ni okeru Kaiyomin, pp. 47–48.

34 Gaijibu, Taiwan Sotokufu, Nanyo Nenkan (Taipei: Nampo Shiryokan, 1942), p. 943Google Scholar.

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36 Kon'ei Masukado, an Okinwan fisherman aged 20, committed suicide on a fishing boat in January 1933. Just before he died, he uttered some words in a dialect which was not understood by any of the other crew who were also Okinawans (Singapore Subordinate Courts, “Coroner's Certificate B, Coroners' Inquests and Inquiries”, AD-019, S/No. 20, 5 Jan. 1933).

37 Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 67.

38 For further information about the life of the Japanese divers in Dobo, see Shimizu, Hiroshi, “Rise and Fall of the Karayuki-san in the Netherlands Indies from the late Nineteenth Century to the 1930s”, Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 26 (Summer 1992): 30–31Google Scholar; Utako Okaro, “Nanyo no Koto ni Nanno Fujiyu mo nai Nihonjin-machi”, Kaigai no Nihon (Jun. 1911): 75–78.

39 Tsusho Iho 43 (Jul. 1906): 35–37.

40 Kunigami-mura Kaigai Imin-shi Hensan Iinkai, Kunigami-mura Kaigai Imin-shi: Honpen (Kunigami-mura: Kunigami Murayakuba, 1992), p. 506Google Scholar.

41 In 1907, for example, there were 93 Japanese brothels and 516 karayuki-san in Singapore (JFMA, 7.1.5.4, 31 May 1908). Detailed information on karayuki-san in pre-war Singapore can be found in Warren, J.F., Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore 1870–1940 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1993)Google Scholar; Shimizu, Hiroshi, “Karayuki-san and the Japanese Economic Advance into British Malaya, 1870–1920”, Asian Studies Review 20,3 (Apr. 1997): 107–132CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 JFMA, J1.2.0/J8–2, 12 Jun. 1928.

43 Singapore Subordinate Courts, “Coroner's Certificate B, Coroners’ Inquests and Inquiries”, AD-049, 399/1937, 3 Jul. 1937.

44 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 16 Nov. 1931.

45 Birtwistle, Annual Report 1932, p. 6.

46 Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 69.

47 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 16 Nov. 1931.

48 Ibid.

49 Birtwistle, Annual Report 1932, p. 6.

50 JMFA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 25 Jun. 1934.

51 Suisankai 407 (Aug. 1916): 70.

52 Nanyo Suisan 3,2 (Feb. 1937): 21–22.

53 Suisankai 614 (Jan. 1934): 83.

54 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 16 Nov. 1931.

55 Ibid.

56 Kataoka, Nanyo, pp. 69–70.

57 Ibid., p. 76.

58 Ibid., p. 75.

59 Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 56; Kataoka, Nanyo, pp. 75, 83–84.

60 Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 55.

61 Suisan Iho 3 (Mar. 1931): 46.

62 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 25 Jun. 1934.

63 Ibid., 17 Apr. 1935.

64 Nihonjinsha, Nanyo oyobi, Nanyo no Gojunen: Shingaporu wo Chushin ni Doho Katsuyaku (Tokyo: Shokasha, 1938), p. 414Google Scholar.

65 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 25 Jun. 1934.

66 Ibid., 7 Nov. 1936.

67 Kataoka, Nanyo, pp. 82–84.

68 Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 16.

69 Although Robertson says that the Kyodo Gyogyo was a subsidiary of the Oriental Development Company (Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 57), the fishery company was independent until 1934 when it came under the control of the Nippon Sangyo Co. (Nissan).

70 Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 79.

71 Takumusho Takumukyoku, Nanyo, pp. 64–66; Nanyo Suisan 2,19 (Dec. 1936): 22.

72 Aichi-ken Suisan Shikenjo, Nanyo, p. 35.

73 The Kyodo Gyogyo was not the first company to engage in trawling in the waters of Southeast Asia. In 1912, a certain Chinese conducted trawling, employing the Golden Crown, a 100-ton trawler, with a crew consisting of a captain and a mate, both British, as well as 10 Chinese and Malays in the waters of the Straits Settlements. However, he incurred huge losses due to the crew's inexperience in trawling and bad choice of fishing grounds, and was obliged to cease the operations after three months. Takayama, Itaro, Nanyo no Suisan (Tokyo: Dainihon Suisankai, 1914), p. 324Google Scholar.

74 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 14 Sep. 1935.

75 Ibid., 7 Nov. 1936.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid., 10 Jan. 1938.

78 Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 57.

79 Nanyo Suisan 5, 5 (1938): 49–50.

80 Ibid.

81 PRO, Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 18 Sep. 1924, F 3145/110/61, FO371/10299.

82 Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 59.

83 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 14 May 1936.

84 JFMA, E.4.9.0/7–7, 10 Feb. 1939.

85 Watanabe, Haruo, Nampo Suisangyo (Tokyo: Chukokan, 1942), p. 211Google Scholar.

86 Kee, The Japanese in Malaya, p. 61.

87 JFMA, E.4.8.0/X4-B1, 3 Dec. 1938; idem, E.4.9.0/7–7, 10 Jul. 1939. At that time, beside the Nippon Kogyo Kaisha's mine, there were several Japanese-owned iron mines in the peninsula, including the Ishihara Sangyo Koshi's Sri Medan Mine in Johore and Taiyo Mine in Trengganu, and Shigeru Iizuka's Endau Mine in Johore.

88 Le Mare, D.W., Report of the Fisheries Department, Malaya, 1949 (Singapore, 1950), p. 98Google Scholar.

89 Birtwistle, W., Annual Report of the Fisheries Department, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States for the Year 1938 (Singapore, 1939), p. 3Google Scholar; Robertson, The Japanese File, p. 61.

90 Singapore was called Shonan (or Syonan) during the Japanese occupation.

91 Shiseikai, Shingaporu, Shonan Tokubetsushi-shi (Tokyo: Nihon Shingaporu Kyokai, 1986), p. 173Google Scholar; Malayan Year Book 1937, p. 92; Blue Book 1937, Section 22, p. 761. According to Sako, the volume of fresh fish landed in Singapore increased from some 100 tons per day in the preoccupation period to some 200 tons per day in the early occupation period, thanks to the system of control. However, since total landings amounted to 13,000 tons in the whole of 1937 — an average of 36.6 tons per day — the figures he quotes do not seem to be accurate.

92 Turnbull, C.M., A History of Singapore 1819–1975 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 210Google Scholar.

93 Shingaporu Shiseikai, Shonan, pp. 173–74.

94 Kikakuin Dairoku Iinkai, “Nampo Keizai Taisaku”, 1 (Tokyo, 1942): 193–94. The Teikoku Suisan Tosei Co., founded in 1942 as a national policy company, took over the Nippon Suisan's ice-manufacturing and cold-storage facilities in Japan and the Japan-occupied Asian territories including Singapore in 1943.

95 Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 85.

96 Ueda, Kiyoji, Waga Kokoro no Jijoden (Kobe, 1972), p. 54Google Scholar.

97 Ibid., p. 57.

98 Ibid., pp. 54–57.

99 Hashimoto, Tokuju, Sokei no Hana (Tokyo: Aogaki Hakkojo, 1964), p. 70Google Scholar.

100 Ibid., p. 590.

101 Ibid., p. 69.

102 Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 86.

103 The Shonan Times, 3 Dec. 1942.

104 Ibid.; Hashimoto, Sokei, p. 152.

105 Ibid., p. 208. As the military authorities purchased fresh fish at a very low price, some Japanese fishermen sold part of their catch in a black market (Kunigami-mura, Kunigami-mura Kaigai Iminshi: Honpen, p. 505). Besides, as a sideline, a certain Japanese officer purchased fresh fish from local fishermen and, using the employees and vehicles belonging to the Nam Poh Kaisha, a Japanese company, sold them in the black market, making a lot of money. (Soo Kim Seng, “Oral History Interview”, A000543/11, Singapore, 3 Apr. 1985.)

106 Hashimoto, Sokei, p. 152.

107 The Syonan Shimbun, 21 Jan. 1944.

108 Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 86.

109 Suisan Iho 3 (Jun. 1931): 51; Kataoka, Nanyo, p. 54.

110 Green, Annual Report, p. 11.

111 Ibid.; Suisan Iho 5 (Nov. 1932): 194–200.

112 The Syonan Shimbun, 27 Mar. 1944, 5 Mar. 1945.

113 Le Mare, Report of the Fisheries 1949, p. 98.

114 Blue Book 1946 (Singapore, 1949)Google Scholar, Section 22–3, p. 435.

115 Kow, Tham Ah, Report of the Fisheries Division Department of Commerce and Industry Singapore, 1953 (Singapore, 1954), p. 218Google Scholar.