[LARGE JAPANESE PICTORIAL MAP OF EAST ASIA IN THE 1930S].

最近の東亜形勢圖解. [Saikin no Toa keisei zukai].
[Illustrated Map of the Most Recent Situation in East Asia].

大阪. [Osaka]. 大阪毎日新聞社. [Osaka Mainichi Shimbunsha]. Showa 12 [ 1937]. Stock ID #194318

Large colourful folding map of East Asia, measuring 79 x 109cm. Small holes at folding points and closed tears on the verso, now neatly repaired with Japanese washi. Some light general wear but overall a bright and clean copy of this interesting map.

Published in late 1937, this colourful pictorial map shows the dynamic military situation in East Asia from the Japanese point of view. Showing somewhat inaccurate information with incomplete conclusions, this map provides a better understanding of why Japan made the ill-informed decision to escalate its invasion of China following the Marco Polo Bridge incident. The area covered includes Japan, Taiwan, China, and the Soviet Union, and attempts to show tensions along real and imagined zones of control. Information about Soviet and Chinese military power is also included on the map.

These propaganda maps conveyed the extent of the Japanese government's ambition to the Japanese population, with the charming cartoon-style images of wildlife and other natural resources, industries and historical landmarks indicating the anticipated gains of Japanese foreign policy. Interestingly, positions of military forces, transport routes, defence structures, and radio transmission stations are also marked on the map, though many of these appear phantasmic and out of step with reality. An inset world map at lower left shows the area within a global context.

Offering a glimpse into the incomplete information at the hands of the Japanese authorities, and perhaps in part understood by the mapmakers in the context of Chinese Communist and Soviet successes in Yan'an and Xinjiang, large sections of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia are marked as under Soviet influence. At this stage, this region was largely under the control of Kuomintang-aligned warlords, and although the region was implicitly threatened by underground Communist insurgents, so too was the rest of China. The focussed attention given to Communist influence and China's internal political divisions is indicative of the failure of Japanese planners to anticipate the cooperation of Communist and Nationalist forces in the face of Japanese aggression.

The text box at right translated reads "Current State of Affairs in East Asia." In the legend, the coloured boxes indicate the following areas: reading right to left:
Dark yellow: Japan
Pale yellow: Manchukuo
Red: Soviet Union (Russia)
Pink: Sovietised area
Purple: Republic of China (China)
Grey: China (North China Buffer State, where a special relationship with Japan is emerging)
Green: East Hebei Autonomous Government

When referring to this item please quote stockid 194318.

Price: $750.00 AU

other currencies