Perspectives on the Nipponization of Singapore from 1942 to 1945 in areas of culture, language and education

Abstract

During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese had recognised the strategic importance of the island and immediately following the invasion, they began to incorporate Singapore into their Empire through the Nipponisation of the island and the people by the proselytisation of the ‘Nippon spirit’ (<i>Nippon Seishin</i>) through all major social institutions, particularly with education, culture, festivals, sports and language where propaganda and indoctrination were employed. This study will explore the perspectives and varying interpretations on the Nipponisation of Singapore and analyse how successful was the Nipponisation process by investigating sources and oral history accounts as evidence to determine factors that affected the effectiveness and success of Nipponisation. How people remembered the Japanese occupation and what they reveal would shed light on the effectiveness of Nipponisation. This would be done by making analytical interpretations on published sources such as <i>The Syonan Times</i>, oral history records, analysing arguments of key scholars and various documents produced and by doing so, establish conclusions on how successful the Japanese were in the Nipponisation of Singapore.