This is a list of regions occupied or annexed by the Empire of Japan until 1945, the year of the end of World War II in Asia, after the surrender of Japan. Control over all territories except most of the Japanese mainland (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and some 6,000 small surrounding islands) was renounced by Japan in the unconditional surrender after World War II and the Treaty of San Francisco. A number of territories occupied by the United States after 1945 were returned to Japan, but there are still a number of disputed territories between Japan and Russia (the Kuril Islands dispute), South Korea and North Korea (the Liancourt Rocks dispute), the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (the Senkaku Islands dispute).
Before World War I, Japan had gained several substantial colonial possessions in East Asia such as Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). Japan joined the allies in World War I, and after the war acquired the South Seas Mandate, the former German colony in Micronesia, as a League of Nations Mandate. Pursuing a colonial policy comparable to those of European powers, Japan settled significant populations of ethnic Japanese in its colonies while simultaneously suppressing Indigenous ethnic populations by enforcing the learning and use of the Japanese language in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate the use of Korean, Hokkien, and Hakka among the Indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. Japan also set up the Imperial Universities in Korea (Keijà  Imperial University) and Taiwan (Taihoku Imperial University) to compel education.
In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under Puyi, the last Manchu emperor of China. In 1933 Japan seized the Chinese province of Rehe, and incorporated it into its Manchurian possessions. The Second Sino-Japanese War started in 1937, and Japan occupied much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at Nanjing. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 1931âÂÂ1945 war with Japan.
In December 1941, the empire of Japan joined World War II by invading the European and U.S. colonies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including French Indochina, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia, Portuguese Timor, and others. Following its surrender to the Allies in 1945, Japan was deprived of all its colonies with a number of them being returned to the original colonizing Western powers. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945, and shortly after occupied and annexed the southern Kuril Islands, which Japan still claims.
<small>Disclaimer: Not all areas were considered part of Imperial Japan but rather part of puppet states & sphere of influence, allies, included separately for demographic purposes. Sources: POPULSTAT Asia Oceania</small>
The Empire of Japan had been creating puppet states in China since 1932 after the Mukden incident.
On February 16, 1932, the Imperial Army hosted the "Founding Conference" or the "Big Four Conference" with governor of Liaoning, Zang Shiyi, commander of the Kirin Provincial Army, Xi Qia, Heilongjiang governor, Zhang Jinghui, and general Ma Zhanshan to establish the Northeast Administrative Committee. On its second meeting, the committee appointed the previous four and Tang Yulin, Ling Sheng, and Qimote Semupilei as chairmen. On the 18th, the Council issued a statement announcing that "the Northeast provinces are completely independent", all territories of which were in the hands of the council.
Manchuria had long been a location of unrest, and the Mukden Incident was a perfect excuse for Japanese occupation. In the Mukden incident, the Kwantung Army set off a bomb along the South Manchuria Railway and used the explosion as an excuse to occupy Manchuria, blaming Chinese forces. Manchukuo was created in March 1932. Although the Japanese controlled the area, they could not annex Manchuria into Japan because they had signed the Nine-Power Treaty. Japan and Manchukuo signed several treaties allowing Japan to mobilize Manchuria's people and resources as it liked. It was disestablished after the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
The East Hebei Autonomous Council, also sometimes called the East Ji Autonomous Council or the East Hopei Autonomous Anti-Communist Council, was headed by Yin Ju-keng in 1935 to help protect economic interests in north China. East Hebei protected Japan's economic interests by prohibiting the export of silver and the circulation of the notes of the Central Bank of China. They also set up their own Central Bank and began to issue notes which were supported by several banks and were widely circulated in Tianjin, against the orders of the Chinese central government. Under Japan's control of East Hebei, the region broke into reported "lawlessness", with the puppet state purportedly selling drugs to raise money. On February 1, 1938, East Hebei was merged with the Provisional Government of the Republic of China.
On 22 December 1935, part of Inner Mongolia split from China, and became an independent state. The Mongol Military Government was formed on 12 May 1936. The military government operated under Chinese sovereignty, but Japanese control. In 1937, its name was changed to the Mongol United Autonomous Government. In 1939, the United Mongolian Autonomous Government, the Northern Shanxi Autonomous Government, and the South Chahar Autonomous Government merged to become Mengjiang. Mengjiang was later merged with other puppet states to create the Provisional Government of the Republic of China.
The Great Way Municipal Government (GWMG) was created to help administer the occupied suburbs of Shanghai in December 1937. The GWMG was very small, headquartered in an office building in Pudong. Because of its association with the Japanese government, the GWMG found it hard to attract any politicians of reputation. It had difficulty creating an administration for Shanghai, and after just under five months merged with a new occupation regime in Nanjing.
The Provisional Government was set up just over six months after the Marco Polo Bridge incident, on the day after the fall of Nanking. Before the country was even created, in October 1937, Japan created the to exploit China's resource-rich north. On 30 March 1940, the Provisional Government was merged with other puppet states to form the Reorganized National Government of China.
The Reformed Government of the Republic of China (RGRC) was created in Nanking, after the Battle of Nanking on 28 March 1938. The RGRC was intended to appear legitimate. Wang Jingwei was the first Chairman of the RGRC. Despite this, the government was filled with "nonentities who posed no threat to the Japanese exercise of real power." It was merged into the Reorganized National Government of China in 1940.
Japan wanted to make Wang Jingwei, the former leader of the Provisional Government of China, the leader of a new puppet government. He set up a new Nationalist government and requested that the Three Principles be reinstated, among other things. The Japanese initially denied this request, viewing the Three Principles as "Western ideas," but eventually accepted, with some exceptions: the requested five-branch system was replaced with a one-party system. The Nationalist Government retained independence in financial matters and the economy, but Japan controlled its politics. Despite this, the country had no real power, and was mainly used as a propaganda tool. The country was disestablished in August 1945.
Initially, Burma was invaded with the sole objectives of cutting off the Burma Road, a route through which the United States and Great Britain supplied Chiang Kai-shek, and gaining the resources of Burma, mainly rice and gas. After Japan's successful conquest of Burma, which was completed in May 1942, they began driving the British out, using the Burmese Independence Army. Once the British were entirely out of Burma, Burma was granted nominal independence, which essentially meant that Burma was called independent, but was really under Japanese control, as part of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. After several years, growing dissent in the country led to growing popularity of Thakins and other anti-government groups like it. By 1944, they had organized an underground anti-fascist organization, and on 27 March 1945, Aung San led these and other forces to rise up against the Japanese. The uprising is remembered as a struggle against "imperialist British" and "fascist Japanese."
Following Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1941, the Japanese tried to present themselves as liberators of the Philippines from their "colonial repression." In 1942, a group of influential Filipino politicians tried to negotiate with the Japanese for the creation of a new national government, but this led to nothing more than the creation of the puppet state. A second factor in the creation of the puppet state was the turning tide of the war: the Japanese believed that the creation of a government that appeared free would boost civilian morale. On 20 October 1944, US forces began the liberation of the Philippines. The Philippines were effectively under United States control by July 1945, and the Philippines was granted full independence in July 1946.
The Provisional Government of India, sometimes also called the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, was created by Indian nationalists-in-exile in October 1943. According to Subhas Chandra Bose in a proclamation issued on 4 April 1944, the government was formed in Syonan-to (formerly Singapore) after an invasion of Singapore. This invasion was wanted "by the unanimous will of the three million Indians in East Asia." Additionally, he stated that the Provisional Government had but one mission: "to expel the Anglo-American armies from the sacred soil of India by armed force and then to bring about the establishment of a Permanent Government of Azad Hind, in accordance with the will of the Indian people." He also claimed that "the Indian people will co-operate wholeheartedly with our Ally, the Nippon Army, who are giving us unstinted and unconditional assistance in defeating our enemies." Bose was also "fully convinced [of] Nippon's sincerity towards India." He also claimed that, given the Government's rapid advance into India, "the circumstances have... rendered it necessary... to borrow from the Nipponese Government the currency... already in its possession and to use that money as a temporary measure." The Provisional Government ended shortly after Subhas Bose died in a plane crash on the way to Taiwan, in August 1945. With his death, much of the Indian National Army surrendered.
On 10 May 1940, Germany began its invasion of France. Following victory over France on 22 June 1940, Philippe Pétain was given control of Vichy France. Japan had been placing pressure for facilities and bases in Vietnam before France fell, and the fall of France made Japan even more eager. Japan occupied Vietnam for much of World War II, and this set up a climate favorable to more radical ideas and revolutionary nationalism. Starting in the spring of 1945, the Viet Minh began carving out a small "liberated zone" along the borderlands of Vietnam. In an effort to save downed American pilots lost in Vietnam, the US agreed to aid the Viet Minh army, and train their technicians. After the first revolution, on 9 March 1945, the French governor of Indochina Jean Decoux was arrested, and replaced (by the Japanese government) with Bảo ÃÂại. Despite its local backing, the government had no military power of its own. Bảo ÃÂại later wrote that, while working there, he "felt isolated in a dead capital city." In August 1945, the August Revolution brought freedom to Vietnam, just days before the Japanese surrendered.
In October 1940, the Franco-Thai War broke out between Vichy France and Thailand. The Japanese, using their power in the area (gained after the Japanese invasion of French Indochina), mediated the ceasefire, and got Vichy France to cede disputed territories to Thailand. On 8 December 1941, Japanese forces invaded Thailand, using bases in Cambodia. By July 1942, nationalists were growing more upset with the French rule in the area, and were planning a march against the French, when, on 17 July, their leader, Hem Chieu, was arrested after mentioning his ideas of a march to a Cambodian militiaman. This outraged the nationalists, and they staged a Japanese-backed rally on 20 July. The French reacted harshly, tracking down as many people as possible who attended the protest, then trying them. After the allied invasion of France, Japan began to grow fearful that the Free French Forces would align Cambodia with the allied cause. On 9 March 1945, Japan seized control of Cambodia in a coup d'état in French Indochina. On 13 March, Norodom Sihanouk agreed with Japanese wishes, and declared that Cambodia was now the independent Kingdom of Kampuchea, and nullified all Franco-Cambodian agreements. Within a day of the surrender of Japan, Cambodia was returned to French hands.
In March 1945, large numbers of French officials in Laos were then imprisoned or executed by the Japanese. The staunchly pro-French King Sisavang Vong was also imprisoned and forced by the Japanese, and at much urging from Prince Phetsarath, into declaring the French protectorate over his kingdom ended, while entering the nation into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere on 8 April 1945. Prince Phetsarath remained as Prime Minister in the newly independent puppet state.