Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (Japanese: 大東亞共榮圈, Hepburn: Dai Tōa Kyōeiken), also known as the GEACPS,[1] was a pan-Asian union that the Japanese Empire tried to establish. Initially, it covered Japan (including annexed Korea), Manchukuo, and China, but as the Pacific War progressed, it also included territories in Southeast Asia.[2] The term was first coined by Minister for Foreign Affairs Hachirō Arita on June 29, 1940.[3]
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
だいとうあきょうえいけん
大東亞共榮圈
大東亜共栄圏
Dai Tōa Kyōeiken
Dai Tōa Kyōeiken
The proposed objectives of this union were to ensure economic self-sufficiency and cooperation among the member states, along with resisting the influence of Western imperialism and Soviet communism.[4] In reality, militarists and nationalists saw it as an effective propaganda tool to enforce Japanese hegemony.[3] The latter approach was reflected in a document released by Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare, An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus, which promoted racial supremacist theories.[5] Japanese spokesmen openly described the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as a device for the "development of the Japanese race."[6] When World War II ended, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere became a source of criticism and scorn.[7]
Propaganda efforts[edit]
Pamphlets were dropped by airplane on the Philippines, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, Singapore, and Indonesia, urging them to join the movement.[39] Mutual cultural societies were founded in all conquered lands to ingratiate with the natives and try to supplant English with Japanese as the commonly used language.[40] Multi-lingual pamphlets depicted many Asians marching or working together in happy unity, with the flags of all the states and a map depicting the intended sphere.[41] Others proclaimed that they had given independent governments to the countries they occupied, a claim undermined by the lack of power given to these puppet governments.[42]
In Thailand, a street was built to demonstrate it, to be filled with modern buildings and shops, but 9⁄10 of it consisted of false fronts.[43] A network of Japanese-sponsored film production, distribution, and exhibition companies extended across the Japanese Empire and was collectively referred to as the Greater East Asian Film Sphere. These film centers mass-produced shorts, newsreels, and feature films to encourage Japanese language acquisition as well as cooperation with Japanese colonial authorities.[44]