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Imperial Japan took control of what is now the Northern Mariana Islands in 1914. Germany controlled these islands before them. The Japanese military took over Guam later in 1941.[1]
Government
Northern Mariana Islands
The Japanese did what the Germans did which was choose prominent males as representatives for islanders. The position was alcalde. Japanese gave instructions to alcalde who provided these to district leaders.
Policemen were used to enforce laws as well as ordinances.
Guam
Japanese Navy
On Guam they were charged with running the island.[2] The Guam Minseibu was setup on Saipan to restore public order, achieve economic self-sufficiency through soldiers, and gain important resources critical to national security.
Economy
Lots of Japanese migrated to Northern Mariana Islands due to the teeming economy. Koreans were moved here for labor.[3]
Fishing
Immigrants from Okinawa worked as fishermen as well as farmers.
Agriculture
The Japanese leaders wanted to make a copra industry with a few populations on the island but went with Japanese from Japan.
Sugar production on Saipan started over a hundred years ago.[4] A lot of land was cleared for sugarcane production. Intensive growth in the sugarcane industry took place.[5]
History
Imperial Japan was allowed to hold on to the Mariana Islands because of the Treaty of Versailles.
Garapan in Saipan was made the regional capital. Populations on Northern Mariana Islands were moved to modern towns. They were moved into towns thousands of Japanese were moved into.[7]
After Japan took over Guam in December 1941 did a nationalization policy of this island and other lands they took over. When they took over this island they reunify the Mariana Islands.
United States defeated Japan in 1945.
People
Social Class
In this area there was different classes. Each group was not at the same level economically. You had different groups at the bottom.
Chamorros
Guam Chamorros were being moved into the Japanese way of living.[8] They were hired as policemen. Despite this they had issues. Many lands they owned were seized by the Japanese military. The Chamorros were enslaved by the Japanese from 1944-1945.[9]
Japanese
The Japanese population grew greatly from their take over of Saipan to 1937.[10] They were dominant in the islands. Most of the people from Japan consisted of mainly government officials, sugar company officials as well as tradespeople. The Japanese had ownership in fishing but they were not the majority of owners.
Okinawans
Okinawans were second class in Japanese society.[11] Many Okinawans went to Garapan.[12] They were employed in work concerning plantation(s). They were contract laborers.[13] They also were the majority of the owners in commercial fishing.
Refaluwasch
The Refaluwasch were largely stevedores. They were used by the Japanese as workers concerning mining. They dealt with phosphate ore. The Refaluwasch were treated badly under Imperial Japan. They were treated worse than Chamorros. The name tomin was used as a pejorative against them.[14]
^Ombrello, Mark A. Monstrous Projections and Paradisal Visions: Japanese Conceptualizations of the South Seas (Nan'Yo) as a Supernatural Space from Ancient Times to the Contemporary Period, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States -- Hawaii, 2014. ProQuest, http://libproxy.csudh.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/monstrous-projections-paradisal-visions-japanese/docview/1651935320/se-2.
^Ono, Keiko at. el. "A Study of Urban Morphology of Japanese Colonial Towns in Nan'Yo Gunto: Part 1 Garapan, Tinian and Chalan Kanoa in Northern Marianas" Academia. https://www.academia.edu/83884394/A_STUDY_OF_URBAN_MORPHOLOGY_OF_JAPANESE_COLONIAL_TOWNS_IN_NANYO_GUNTO_Part1_Garapan_Tinian_and_Chalan_Kanoa_in_Northern_Marianas Accessed 24 March 2024.
^Azusa, Ono (2013). Danver, Steven (ed.). Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures, and Contemporary Issues. Vol. 2. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe Inc. p. 229.
^Iitaka, Shingo. “Remembering Nan’yō from Okinawa: Deconstructing the Former Empire of Japan through Memorial Practices.” History and Memory, vol. 27, no. 2, 2015, pp. 126–51. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2979/histmemo.27.2.126. Accessed 24 Mar. 2024.
^Sudo, Naoto. "Nanyo Colonialism/Postcolonialism: A Comparative Literary and Cultural Study on Representations of the Pacific in Japanese and English language Fiction" University of Wollongong. 2003. Nanyo Colonialism/Postcolonialism: A Comparative Literary and Cultural Study on Representations of the Pacific in Japanese and English Language Fiction (uow.edu.au) Accessed 26 March 2024
