List of territories acquired by the Empire of Japan

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Members of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; territory controlled at maximum height. Japan and its allies in dark red; Thailand and Free India. Occupied territories/client states in lighter red. Korea, Taiwan, and Karafuto (South Sakhalin) were integral parts of Japan.
Maximum extent of the Japanese empire

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).

Pre-1945[edit]

Colonies[edit]

Occupied territories[edit]

World War II[edit]

Territory Japanese name Date Population est. (1943) Notes
South Sakhalin Karafuto Prefecture (樺太庁) 1905–1943 406,000 Elevated to naichi status in 1943.
Mainland China Chūgoku tairiku (中国大陸) 1931–1945 200,000,000 (est) Manchukuo 50 million (1940), Rehe, Kwantung Leased Territory, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, plus parts of : Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia
Japan proper naichi (内地) 1868-1945 76,200,000 Present day Japan, South Sakhalin (after 1943), and Kuril Islands
Korea Chōsen (朝鮮) 1910-1945 25,500,000
Taiwan Taiwan (臺灣) 1895-1945 6,586,000
Hong Kong Hon Kon (香港) December 12, 1941 – August 15, 1945 1,400,000 Hong Kong (UK)
:: East Asia (subtotal) Higashi Ajia (東アジア) 310,092,000
Vietnam Annan (安南) July 15, 1940 – August 29, 1945 22,122,000 As French Indochina (FR)
Cambodia Kanbojia (カンボジア) July 15, 1940 – August 29, 1945 3,100,000 As French Indochina, Japanese occupation of Cambodia
Laos Raosu (ラオス) July 15, 1940 – August 29, 1945 1,400,000 As French Indochina, Japanese occupation of Laos
Thailand Tai (タイ) December 8, 1941 – August 15, 1945 16,216,000 Independent State but Allied with Japan
Malaysia Maraya (マラヤ), Kita Boruneo (北ボルネオ), Marai (マライ) March 27, 1942 – September 6, 1945 (Malaya), March 29, 1942 – September 9, 1945 (Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, North Borneo) 4,938,000 plus 39,000 (Brunei) As Malaya (UK), British Borneo (UK), Brunei (UK)
Philippines Firipin (フィリピン) May 8, 1942 – July 5, 1945 17,419,000 Philippines (US)
Dutch East Indies Higashi Indo (東印度) January 18, 1942 – October 21, 1945 72,146,000 Dutch East Indies (NL)
Singapore Syōnan-tō (昭南島)  February 15, 1942 – September 9, 1945 795,000 Singapore (UK)
Burma (Myanmar) Biruma (ビルマ) 1942–1945 16,800,000 Burma (UK)
East Timor Higashi Chimōru (東チモール) February 19, 1942 – September 2, 1945 450,000 Portuguese Timor (PT)
:: Southeast Asia (subtotal) Tōnan Ajia (東南アジア) 155,452,000
New Guinea Nyū Ginia (ニューギニア) December 27, 1941 – September 15, 1945 1,400,000 As Papua and New Guinea (AU)
Guam Ōmiya-tō (大宮島) January 6, 1942 – October 24, 1945 from Guam (US)
South Seas Mandate Nan'yō Guntō (南洋群島) 1919–1945 129,000 from German Empire
Nauru Nauru (ナウル) August 26, 1942 – September 13, 1945 3,000 Occupied from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand
Wake Island, US Ōtori-shima, -jima (大鳥島) December 27, 1941 – September 4, 1945 nil US
Kiribati Kiribasu (キリバス) December 1941 – January 22, 1944 28,000 from Gilbert Islands (UK)
:: Pacific Islands (subtotal) 1,433,000
:: Total Population 465,544,000

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[2] Oceania[3]

Other occupied islands during World War II:

Areas attacked but not conquered[edit]

Raided without immediate intent of occupation[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Leonard A. Humphreys (1995). 'The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s. Stanford University Press. p. 26.
  2. ^ http://www.populstat.info/Asia/asia.html Archived 2020-02-23 at the Wayback Machine Populstat ASIA
  3. ^ http://www.populstat.info/Oceania/oceania.html Archived 2020-02-25 at the Wayback Machine Populstat OCEANIA