Japanese products travelling around the world (1934)

This map, published by Kabushiki-gaisha Chūōkōron-sha, shows Japan's trade relations in 1934.

Kabushiki-gaisha Chūōkōron-sha was a publishing house that focused on producing manga since its founding in the late 19th century. This map is part of its collaboration with the Japanese imperial government to produce propaganda material that extolled Japan's position in the world.

From 1868 onwards, Japan began its industrialisation. By the early 1930s, as this map shows, Japan had become a regional industrial power with connections throughout the world. In addition, it had already begun its expansionist period, having forcibly incorporated Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria.

The map shows all of Japan's exports to the rest of the world with red arrows, with different thicknesses for countries with which there was more trade. In addition, the map also shows Japan's imports from the rest of the world with pink lines.

The main propaganda point of the map itself is in the box at the bottom left. In it, the authors show the relationship between the Japanese production system and that of its trading partners. By selecting the products in which Japan was a leader, the graph attempts to convey, in a biased way, that Japan has much more industrial power than all its partners.

Sources

• Japanese products soaring across the world