This pioneering work examines Japan's economic activities in Singapore from 1870 to 1965. Drawing upon a wide range of published and unpublished sources, the authors shed new light on issues such as:
* prostitution
* foreign trade by Kobe's overseas Chinese
* fishermen in the inter-war period
* Japanese economic activities during the Pacific War
* Japanese involvement in Singapore's post-war industrialisation plan
* the Lee Kuan Yew regimes policy towards Japan
* the 1960s Japanese investment boom
This important work challenges commonly-held views on Japan's economic advance into Southeast Asia in general and Singapore in particular.