The East Asia Development Board, or , was a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

level agency in the Empire of Japan that operated between 1938 and 1942. It was created on 18 November 1938 under the first Konoe administration to coordinate the government's

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

policy. It was initially designed to sponsor industrial and commercial development in China to boost support for Japanese rule in occupied territories. However, the agency was quickly usurped by the Imperial Japanese Army and became a tool for forced labour and enslavement in mines and war industries. It was absorbed into the

Ministry of Greater East Asia The was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1942 to 1945, established to administer overseas territories obtained by Japan in the Pacific War and to coordinate the establishment and development of the Greater Eas ...

in 1942.

History

The Second Sino-Japanese War had not been quickly resolved as had been promised by the military, and Prime Minister

Fumimaro Konoe Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...

authorized the establishment of a central agency to coordinate all government activities and economic initiatives on the Chinese mainland, aside from the issue of formal diplomatic relations, which remained within the purview of the Foreign Ministry. It was intended that the Kōain would sponsor industrial and commercial development, creating jobs and infrastructure, and thus boost support for Japanese rule in the occupied territories. The Kōain established branch offices throughout Japanese-occupied China; however, its activities were quickly usurped by the Imperial Japanese Army, which hoped to limit all civilian involvement in China and afterwards appointed General Yanagawa Heisuke to oversee its operations. Per historian Timothy Brook, some military members of the Kōain spoke out against expansion of the conflict in China during 1939-1940, urging genuine independence for the Japanese-sponsored collaborationist states, and were consequently punished for their views by mainstream Army officials. According to Chinese historian Zhifen Ju, the Kōain implemented a system of forced labor. She notes that until 1942, at least five million Chinese civilians from

northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climate ...

and

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

were enslaved for work in mines and war industries. The Kōain was also directly involved in providing funds to

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

dealers in China for the benefit of collaborationist governments in Nanjing,

and Mengjiang. This document corroborates evidence analyzed earlier by the

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for crimes against peace, conven ...

which stated:

"Japan, having signed and ratified the opium conventions, was bound not to engage in drug traffic, but she found in the alleged but false independence of Manchukuo a convenient opportunity to carry on a worldwide drug traffic and cast the guilt upon that puppet state (...) In 1937, it was pointed out in the League of Nations that 90% of all illicit white drugs in the world were of Japanese origin...".HyperWar: International Military Tribunal for the Far East [Chapter 5]

The Kōain was absorbed into the

in November 1942.

References

* *

Notes

{{Authority control Politics of the Empire of Japan Former government ministries of Japan 1938 establishments in Japan 1942 disestablishments in Japan Ministries established in 1938 Ministries disestablished in 1942