JAPAN'S INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF A U.S. TERRITORY: GUAM, 1941-1944

Authors

Wakako Higuchi, The Australian National UniversityFollow

Abstract

Guam's long-unsettled wartime reparations act-now sitting in the U.S. House of Representatives-concerns, among other things, forced-labor mobilization by the Japanese military. This issue has not been systematically studied from written sources of the war years. Based on official documents, this article examines the Japanese Navy's .industrial development policies and activities on Guam during the Pacific War, which inevitably involved forced labor. This article substantiates the Japanese Navy's attempt at economic exploitation and its failure, considering Guam's two characteristic features: its status as a former U.S. territory and its location in Japan's Mariana Islands .. Under the so-called "organic integration" policy, the navy attempted to administer the Chamorros in a manner that would encourage their participation in Japan's war effort. Ironically, "organic integration'' came to symbolize Japanese hegemony rather than exemplify a Japanese desire for symbiosis.

Recommended Citation

Higuchi, Wakako (2008) "JAPAN'S INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF A U.S. TERRITORY: GUAM, 1941-1944," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 31: No. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol31/iss1/3