Nanpo Shin Tokoho [New Southern Travel Initiative]

Tokyo: Nihon Rikkokai, 1942. Very good.. [1],[3],[7],26,[336]pp. Original pictorial wrappers printed in blue and brown. Moderate foxing and soiling, minor edge wear to wrappers, some scuffing and minor losses to front wrapper. Text somewhat foxed and evenly toned, reflecting wartime book production standards. A very rare work encouraging Japanese civilians "of all classes" to emigrate to the Pacific regions now controlled by the Empire of Japan after the outbreak of World War II, namely Thailand, Burma, and the Philippines. There is even one short chapter describing Hawaii, though that was certainly wishful thinking at the time. The book adopts contemporary imperial Japanese expansionist rhetoric, referring in the introduction to Japan's "great global mission...to guide and educate the world's 1.2 billion human beings." The work includes chapters on preparing for overseas travel, etiquette, immigrant hygiene, overseas child education, information on the military, and more. Following the main text is a twenty-six-page section of vocabulary translated from Japanese to Malay.

The author, Shigeshi Nagata was a former Issei (Japanese-born immigrant to the United States) who became disillusioned by the increasing anti-Japanese sentiment in California and started advocating for new Japanese colonies in Brazil (which would become the largest Japanese emigrant community in the New World. Nagata took over the Nihon Rikkokai, a Christian organization that promoted the idea of immigration to the poor in Japan, beginning in 1897. No copies in the United States, and just a single copy in OCLC, at the National Diet Library in Japan.