Most Japanese were repatriated back to Japan after World War II
Sarawak was a key locale for Japanese settlers operating under the encouragement of the Brooke government (1841-1946). The Japanese in Sarawak arrived parallel to the Japanese migration into British Malaya shortly after the onset of the Meiji Restoration (1868).
A small but economically and socially active community, the Japanese mostly arrived during the period of the Brooke Rajahs where they made their mark by working and sustaining a livelihood till the day they died. Since the early Meiji period in the 1880s, in addition to arriving voluntarily to find new economic opportunities (dekasegi-nin), more often than not, unemployed individuals were cheated by agents or kidnapped and smuggled out of Japan without proper documents into various parts of Southeast Asia.
The earliest documentary reference to Japanese presence in Sarawak was in 1889. The first group hailed from Okinawa, followed subsequently by immigrants from Nagasaki, Fukuoka and other prefectures close to the sea coast, of whom, later became fishermen and farmers. As was the case in British Malaya, the majority of the early Japanese inhabitants in Sarawak were mostly prostitutes commonly referred to as karayuki-san.
The karayuki-san originated from economically marginalized families from the rural and poorer southwestern areas of Kyushu. This is evidenced by the existence of gravestones of these women in Sarawak’s Batu Lintang’s Japanese cemetery. Some of the gravestones which originated as early as the Meiji period provides evidence of the early origins of the Japanese in the state.
Accompanying Shozo Yorioka on his visit to Sarawak in 1910, Kiichi Hayashi was dismayed to find that his country was being represented largely by karayuki-san. He further added that:
There are about 60 Japanese here. About 20 of them are men and 40 women. I was surprised to find that most of them engage in the disreputable occupation of prostitution and other employment-related to it. It is unbearable to see these fellow countrymen selling their bodies and souls and thus bringing disgrace to our country, which has emerged as a rising nation creating attention from all over the world.
Apart from the Karayuki-san, Shozo Yorioka’s arrival indicated that there were many who came to Sarawak voluntarily to seek new opportunities. According to Ooi Keat Gin, between the 1800s and 1900s, many Japanese were petty traders, barbers, dentists, physicians, hairdressers, masseurs and rubber plantation owners. Later, others were involved in more commercial enterprises. Shozo Yorioka was the founder of Nissa Shokai, a trading company specializing in Japanese goods established in the early 20th century.
In the 1900s, Japan became a first-class imperial power, perceived to be at par with other Western powers like that of Britain, France and the United States. With World War One raging in the European continent, Southeast Asia faced a shortage of Western goods, making it easier for Japanese products to be exported to the region.
Seizing this opportunity many Japanese men disengaged themselves from prostitution and began legitimate businesses such as opening grocery stores that sold inexpensive Japanese-originated goods to local consumers. This was the case for men like Kiichi Hayashi who migrated to Sarawak merely to start a business. Some others settled in the vicinity of Kuching, being employed in commerce or on rubber estates. There were also Japanese professionals like Dr. Nakagawa, a dentist in Kuching. The Iwanaga sisters, whose dentist father had died some years earlier, were teachers at Kuching’s St. Mary’s School.
As K. H. Digby, the acting legal advisor to the government observed, the Brooke administration welcomed foreign investors in developing the state. Digby highlighted that the biggest number of Japanese in Sarawak lived on the Nissa Shokai estate, located on the banks of the Samarahan River.
A number of families involved in the estate lived there. It was reported that twelve persons held executive posts. A resident doctor was employed to live on the estate. The estate was made up of one hundred acres of wet padi and a large area for pineapple plantation, but most of the land remained a rubber plantation. The estate had a bazaar and police station, patrolled by one government lance corporal and four constables.
It was reported that between 1929-1932, Nissa Shokai conducted coal exploration in the Iran (Long Hills) area in Sarawak. An informal agent for Nissa Shokai, the most famous Japanese woman at that time in Kuching was Madam Nakako Ogawa who had married Edward Parnell in the early 1920s. Parnell was the Managing Director of the Sarawak Steamship Company.
Gradually, Japanese-led social clubs began to emerge so that the community could converge.
In Miri, the Japanese community included a dentist, prostitutes who ran small businesses and some washerwomen. All in all, in pre-war days, according to a 1935 census conducted by the Japanese government, it was estimated that a total of 136 Japanese nationals were living in Kuching and Miri.
Forty-nine Japanese families lived in the Kuching area and seven in the Miri. While many associations were established, approaching World War Two, two key associations were established which were the Japanese Association which was formed in 1937 and the Japanese social club in 1941 at Tabuan Road in Kuching. By 1939, with the Sarawak economy growing, there were 155 Japanese nationals in Sarawak.
Japanese Individuals
The growing Japanese maintained relatively good relations with the local community and government. In urban areas, it was common to see the Japanese court the Malays. Some even converted and married Muslim Malay women. It has to be noted that though there were many cases of intermarriages between Japanese immigrants and locals only selected cases will be examined in this research.
The case of Seiji Kuno
Seiji Kuno, a Japanese national was believed to have arrived in Sarawak around 1909 or 1910. Seiji Kuno who was known by several names – Mohd Tawfek Mohamed Towpik Kuno or Mohd Jepun, owned a shop on India Street in Kuching. Reportedly, he was an acupuncturist and herbalist. Kuno married Ejah binti Haji Rais when she was 18 years old, on 12 June 1917 and had 7 children. Prior to his marriage, Kuno had already converted to Islam. Having immersed himself in the local community, he eventually became the Tua Kampung (village head) of Senyawau, located in Samarahan, for about 17 years.
During the Japanese incursion, he acted as an interpreter between the locals and the Japanese. After the war, Kuno was incarcerated at Bau. On the instructions of his British superiors, Abang Openg as the Native Officer in Kuching at that time, was asked to obtain information and prepare a report on Kuno’s conduct and activities during the Japanese occupation as well as a report from the current Tua Kampung.
On 17 December 1945, Abang Openg passed a comprehensive report of Kuno to Captain Morris, CAO Detention BBCAU Kuching based on information from the Datus and Tua Kampung regarding Kuno’s conduct during the Japanese occupation. Overall, the interviewees’ idea of Kuno is largely related to his being well-assimilated in the local cultural ecosystem to the extent he was seen as a defender of Islam and the local community during the Japanese occupation period.
The Case of Sunao Miyaji
Sunao Miyaji was born in Kagoshima-ken in 1889 and he was the second son of Sumitaro Miyaji. Miyaji worked at the Yamashita Steamship Co. Ltd. in Japan. His last entrance to Sarawak printed in his passport was 10 October 1932. Although records are a little blur on Miyaji’s first entrance into Sarawak, it is believed he was engaged in trading.
Miyaji was married to a Malay Muslim woman by the name of Lamah binti Bakar in 1921. On 9 January 1946, Lamah binti Bakar from Haji Taha Road in Kuching sent a petition requesting the release of her Japanese husband, Sunao Miyaji who was detained in Bau internment camp.
Lamah pleaded to the authorities that her husband had nothing to do with the Japanese military during the occupation. He was working at the Dahan and Sungai Tengah rubber estates during the Japanese occupation of Sarawak. Lamah pointed to the fact that Miyaji had already lived in Sarawak for 30 years. She further concluded that Miyaji helped the Chinese and Malays when they were in trouble with the Japanese authorities.
From indirect sources, I understand that he is regarded by the public, as an old Sarawak resident. I am quite agreeable to his release.” A good friend of Sunao Miyaji, Tuanku Bujang bin Tuanku Othman, who later became the second governor of Sarawak, also tried to help by becoming a guarantor for Sunao Miyaji’s release. However, a second guarantor pulled out at the last minute resulting in Miyaji being deported to Japan.
The Case of Hidaka Jinosuke
Another inter-ethnic alliance recorded was the marriage between Dayang binti Abang Wahap and Hidaka Jinonosuke, a Japanese national whom she married during the war in 1941. On 5 February 1946, Dayang binti Abang Wahap sent a letter to the police station in Kuching asking for her husband to be released.
Dayang petitioned by stating that her husband was a good man and never engaged in any wrongdoings. In addition, she informed the authorities that there was no one to look after her family and thus needed her Japanese husband to stay and live in Sarawak. Dayang also informed the British authorities that she was not willing to move to Japan. However, a letter by the British sent to Abang Openg stated that as Hidaka Jinonosuke was a Japanese soldier, the authorities had no choice but to deport him to Japan. At the same time, Dayang was allowed to apply to move to Japan with her Japanese husband.
The Case of Maria Osaichi
There were also intermarriages between the Japanese and local Chinese in Sarawak. Like Kuno, it is believed that Osaichi was an intern in the 2nd division prison in Seratok. On 19 November 1945, Joseph Michael Chen on behalf of Luke Chen Sen Siong sent a letter to the Kuching Division BBCAU to inform the authorities about Maria Osaichi, an elderly Japanese woman aged 60 who has been a resident of Sarawak for 30 years. Reportedly, she had never returned to Japan since her arrival in Sarawak in 1915.
Maria Osaichi was the divorced wife of Francis Chen Ted Chong, a retired government dresser of the Medical Department in Sarawak. Joseph Michael Chen who was a clerk at the District Office in Seratok claimed that Maria Osaichi was his stepmother who had devoted herself to taking care of him since his infancy. Joseph Michael Chen requested the authorities to release Osaichi as well as grant her permission to remain a resident in Sarawak.
The result of her status is unclear but it was believed that most Japanese immigrants were deported back to Japan after the war.
From:
Akhir, MNM et al Japanese Immigrants in Sarawak before World War II: Assimilation through Inter-Ethnic Marriages in The International Journal of East Asian Studies, 2021
Tom McLaughlin for BorneoHistory.net
BorneoHistory.net