The Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore, 1941-45 : a social and economic history /
For three-and-a-half bleak years during World War II, Japan occupied Malaya and Singapore, transforming a once prosperous and vibrant region into a desolate place rife with unemployment, corruption, inflation and shortages of essential supplies. As Japan's promised Greater East Asia crumbled, m...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Corporate Authors: | , |
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Singapore :
NUS Press,
[2018]
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| Edition: | Second edition |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | For three-and-a-half bleak years during World War II, Japan occupied Malaya and Singapore, transforming a once prosperous and vibrant region into a desolate place rife with unemployment, corruption, inflation and shortages of essential supplies. As Japan's promised Greater East Asia crumbled, malnourished residents increasingly faced a struggle to survive, with little prospect of better times ahead. Originally published in 1998, The Japanese Occupation of Malaya and Singapore is fully updated with material from newly discovered and recently translated documents and as well as new archival evidence. Kratoska's work offers a clear depiction of wartime life under foreign occupation, and explains how the legacies of war and occupation shaped the post-war recovery in Malaya and Singapore Japanese forces invaded Malaya on 8 December 1941 and British forces surrendered in Singapore 70 days later. Japan ruled the territory for 3½ years. During this time, early efforts to maintain pre-war standards gave way to a grim struggle for survival as the once-vibrant economy ground to a halt, and residents struggled to deal with unemployment, shortages of consumer goods, sharp price rises, a thriving black market and widespread corruption. People were hungry, dressed in rags, and falling victim to treatable diseases for which medicines were unavailable, and had little reason to hope for better in the future. Drawing on surviving wartime administrative papers, oral sources, intelligence reports and post-war accounts by Japanese officers, this book presents a picture of life in occupied Malaya and Singapore. It shows the impact of war and occupation on a non-belligerent population, and creates a new understanding of the changes and the continuities that underlay the post-war economy and society. The book was first published in 1998 and is now re-issued in a new edition that incorporates information from newly translated Japanese documents and other recent discoveries. -- |
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| Item Description: | First published in 1998 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd (London) and Allen & Unwin (Australia) Originally published in 1998 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd (London) and Allen & Unwin (Australia) "First published in 1998 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd (London), The University of Hawaii Press (Honolulu) and Allen & Unwin (St. Leonards, NSW).--Title page verso |
| Physical Description: | xxvii, 407 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm xxvii, 446 pages ; 22 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-390) and index Includes bibliographical references and index |
| ISBN: | 9789971696382 997169638X |