Timeline

Leaders of the two countries (Shōwa period)

Leaders of the two countries (Heisei period)

Leaders of the two countries (Reiwa period)

First contacts

Entrance to the Japanese Cemetery Park

The tombstone of Yamoto Otokichi in Singapore

The Ryūkyū Kingdom held trade relations with Singapore when it was under the Malacca Sultanate in the 15th century. Its maritime trade with the kingdom included Japanese products—silver, swords, fans, lacquerware, folding screens—and Chinese products—medicinal herbs, minted coins, glazed ceramics, brocades, textiles—were traded for sappanwood, rhino horn, tin, sugar, iron, ambergris, ivory and frankincense. Altogether, 150 voyages between the two kingdoms on Ryūkyūan ships were recorded in the Rekidai Hōan, an official record of diplomatic documents compiled by the kingdom, as having taken place between 1424 and the 1630s, with 61 of them bound for Siam, 10 for Malacca, 10 for Pattani and 8 for Java, among others.^[5]

Colonial era

Singapore's first resident of Japanese origin is believed to be Yamamoto Otokichi, originally from Mihama, Aichi. In 1832, he was working as a crewman on a Japanese boat which was caught in a storm and drifted across the Pacific Ocean; after a failed attempt to return home, he began to work as an interpreter and he settled in Singapore in 1862. He died five years later and was buried at the Japanese Cemetery Park (Japanese: 日本人墓地公園 Nihonjin bochi kōen) in Singapore. It opened in 1891 and is the largest Japanese cemetery outside of Japan at 29,359 square metres, consisting of tombstones that contain the remains of members of the Japanese people in Singapore, including young Japanese prostitutes, civilians, soldiers and convicted war criminals executed in Changi Prison. It was gazetted as a memorial park by the Singapore government in 1987.^[6]

However, most early Japanese residents of Singapore consisted largely of prostitutes, who would later become known by the collective name of "karayuki-san". The earliest Japanese prostitutes are believed to have arrived 1870 or 1871; by 1889, there were 134 of them. From 1895 to 1918, Japanese authorities turned a blind eye to the emigration of Japanese women to work in brothels in other parts of Asia.^[7] According to the Japanese consul in Singapore, almost all of the 450 to 600 Japanese residents of Singapore in 1895 were prostitutes and their pimps, or concubines; fewer than 20 were engaged in "respectable trades".^[8] In 1895, there were no Japanese schools or public organisations, and the Japanese consulate maintained only minimal influence over their nationals; brothel owners were the dominating force in the community. Along with victory in the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese state's increasing assertiveness brought changes to the official status of Japanese nationals overseas; they attained formal legal equality with Europeans.^[9] That year, the Japanese community was also given official permission by the government to create their own cemetery, on twelve acres of land in Serangoon outside of the urbanised area; in reality, the site had already been used as a burial ground for Japanese as early as 1888.^[10]

However, even with these changes in their official status, the community itself remained prostitution-based.^[11] Prostitutes were the vanguard of what one pair of scholars describes as the "karayuki-led economic advance into Southeast Asia".^[12] It was specifically seen by the authorities as a way to develop a Japanese economic base in the region; profits extracted from the prostitution trade were used to accumulate capital and diversify Japanese economic interests.^[7] The prostitutes served as both creditors and customers to other Japanese: they loaned out their earnings to other Japanese residents trying to start businesses, and patronised Japanese tailors, doctors, and grocery stores.^[12] By the time of the Russo-Japanese War, the number of Japanese prostitutes in Singapore may have been as large as 700.^[7] They were concentrated around Middle Road).^[13] However, with Southeast Asia cut off from European imports due to World War I, Japanese products began making inroads as replacements, triggering the shift towards retailing and trade as the economic basis of the Japanese community.^[11]

Singapore abolished licensed Japanese prostitution in 1921.^[14] This was part of a larger governmental plan to entirely end legalised prostitution throughout the peninsula.^[15] In spite of the ban, many attempted to continue their profession clandestinely; however, both the Singaporean and Japanese governments made efforts to clamp down on the trade.^[16] By 1927, there remained roughly 126 independent Japanese prostitutes.^[17] Most eventually left Singapore or moved on to other trades. Their departure coincided with a significant shift in the composition of the Japanese population there: the businesses they patronised, such as tailors and hairdressers, run largely by Japanese men, also shut their doors, and their proprietors left as well, to be replaced by salaried employees working in Japanese trading firms. Only 14 Japanese men worked in such professions in 1914, but by 1921 there were 1,478.^[18] The shift would continue in the following decade: in 1919, 38.5% of Japanese in Singapore were commodity merchants and 28.0% company and bank employees, but by 1927, these proportions had shifted sharply, to 9.7% merchants and 62.9% employees.^[19]

The Japanese population would peak in 1929 and then decline until 1933, as a result of the world-wide Great Depression. However, it would recover somewhat after that, aided by devaluation of the yen and the consequent increase in competitiveness of Japanese products in Southeast Asian markets.^[20] Even as other Japanese businesses suffered declines, the number of fishermen grew, from a small base of about 200 individuals in 1920 to a peak of 1,752 in 1936, accounting for between one-quarter and one-third of the resident Japanese population throughout the 1930s.^[21]

Battle of Singapore

Japan's earliest notable interaction as a nation with Singapore occurred while Singapore was still a part of the Straits Settlements. Coinciding with the December 8th surprise attack on the US naval base Pearl Harbor and the same-day attack of the British colony of Hong Kong, the Japanese empire also launched an attack on the Straits Settlements.^[22] Japan, having taken control of French Indochina in 1940, was able to launch multiple attacks and, partly due to an alliance with Thailand, took control of large swathes of the Malay Archipelago over the next two months, concurrently bombing Singapore with increasing frequency. On 31 January 1942, Malaya fell to the Japanese, and the last of the retreating Allied forces destroyed the bridge between Malaya and Singapore and began to prepare for a full attack on Singapore.^[23]

While destroying the bridge created a slight delay, the Japanese reached Singapore on 8 February, launching into the Battle of Sarimbun Beach. After a successful victory, Japan then launched into their second stage of the attack, during which they sustained heavy casualties but was ultimately victorious due to a miscommunication between Allied officers.^[24] From here the Japanese continued to press east, ultimately taking the strategically important Bukit Timah and then moving south to take Pasir Panjang. By 15 February, food and water rations were low, weapon ammunition was almost exhausted, and a final meeting was held in which Allied officers agreed that no counterattack would be possible.^[23] At 17:15, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered to the Japanese forces, bringing an end to the seven-day battle. The defeat was described by Winston Churchill as the "worst disaster"^[25] in British military history, and is ultimately the largest surrender in British military history.^[26]

Japanese-occupied Singapore

Singapore became known as Syonan-to (昭南島 Shōnan-tō), which translates into English as "Light of the South". Throughout the three and a half years of occupation by the Empire of Japan, Singapore, as well as many of the empire's other colonies, were subjected to multiple war crimes.^[27] Shortly after arriving in Singapore, the Japanese Kempeitai secret police force began a purge of ethnically-Chinese Singaporeans that were deemed to be threatening to the Japanese Empire. Throughout this two week purge, referred to as Sook Ching, Singaporean men aged between 18 and 50 were subjected to a brief screening process and, if deemed anti-Japanese, were arrested and transported to one of several remote execution sites to be killed.^[28] The Japanese attempted to organize a similar purge throughout Malaya, but discarded the screening process and instead engaged in indiscriminate large-scale killings of the ethnically-Chinese residents of Malaya.^[29] While Japanese records indicate that the purge resulted in less than 5,000 deaths, Singapore's founder and first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had estimated a death toll of between 50,000 and 100,000 Singaporean-Chinese men.

While many British and Australian POWs were held in Changi Prison, a number of them were also forced into slavery by the Empire of Japan, sent to work on a number of infrastructure projects throughout Southeast Asia.^[30] The Japanese empire also established several comfort women houses in Singapore.^[31] The education system emulated those found in other Japanese colonies, in which all students were forced to learn Japanese and discouraged from using their native language.

A new currency was introduced, popularly referred to as banana money. This currency was quickly subjected to major inflation, as Japanese officials would print more whenever they needed it and it was also easily counterfeited.^[32] All Singaporeans were subject to food rations, and ration cards were distributed for citizens to redeem on a monthly basis.^[33] As food availability decreased, Singaporeans were encouraged to grow their own food in their gardens.

While there were a number of guerrilla attacks on the Japanese, and the United States periodically bombed Japanese bases, the occupation did not end until Japan's military surrender at the end of World War II. The interim period between Japanese occupation and re-establishment of British occupation was marked by major criminal activity and revenge-killings against the Japanese.

Music

Japanese artists such as Perfume, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Official Hige Dandism, Sakura Gakuin, Babymetal, AKB48 and Aimyon, are popular in Singapore. Many Japanese artists tend to tour Singapore due to their highly enthusiastic market for J-pop. Singaporean artists such as Olivia Ong have achieved much success in the large Japanese market, having moved to Tokyo at an early age and forming J-pop group Mirai while being signed to Japanese–Singaporean recording company S2S Pte Ltd.^[58][59][60]

Amuse, Inc., a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services to many J-pop artists in Japan, has a subsidiary office in Singapore.

Anime

One of the many annual conventions featuring Japanese pop culture is Anime Festival Asia (Japanese: アニメフェスティバルアジア Anime Fesutibaru Ajia), which is held annually at Singapore's Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Air

There are dozens of direct flights daily between Japan and Singapore with the following airlines: Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Jetstar, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. Singapore Changi Airport is also a focus city for All Nippon Airways. Singapore Airlines and All Nippon Airways have a codeshare agreement with each other.^[61] Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines are rated as 5-star airlines by Skytrax. As of 2019, Singapore Changi Airport was ranked the best airport in the world by Skytrax, with Tokyo Haneda Airport, Chubu Centrair International Airport, and Narita International Airport coming in second, sixth and ninth respectively.^[62]

Rail

Both the Singapore LRT C810A (left) and the Yurikamome 7300 series (right) are built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and use the same guideway technology.

The initial Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network in Singapore had heavy Japanese involvement in its construction, with 11 out of 30 civil contracts in the initial MRT construction being awarded local joint ventures with the Japanese firms.^[63] Many Japanese construction firms have since played a key role in the construction of subsequent MRT lines with examples including Taisei Corporation,^[64] Penta-Ocean,^[65] Nishimatsu^[66] and Tekken Corporation.^[67]

Japanese rolling stock companies such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have also been involved in supplying trains for the Singapore MRT. In particular, Kawasaki supplied 66 six-car MRT trains^[68] together with Nippon Sharyo, Tokyu Car Corp and Kinki Sharyo as part from 1986 to 1989 for the initial MRT network and later on, 21 additional trains with Nippon Sharyo from 1999 to 2001 to add capacity to the network.^[69] The New Transportation System, a medium-capacity rubber-tyred automated guideway transit solution that has seen applications in systems such as Tokyo's Yurikamome and Kobe's Port Island Line, has also seen use in Singapore on both urban applications such as the Sengkang and Punggol LRT and airport people mover systems such as the Changi Airport Skytrain as the Mitsubishi Crystal Mover.

In 2013, JR East, a major railway operator in eastern Japan and Greater Tokyo, opened an office in Singapore to establish its presence in Asia for future railway projects in the region and as part of a bid for the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail project.^[70] In 2016, JR East also opened the first Japan Rail Cafe outside of Japan at Tanjong Pagar Centre (Guoco Tower) to promote rail travel in Japan in the region.^[71]

Sources