''Shotouka-Chiri'' (''Shotōka Chiri'', 初等科地理) is a geography book for

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

that was published in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 1943. It was the official geography text for obligatory use in the Kokumin Gakkou, or ''National School''. It complemented the Japanese history present in '' Shinmin no Michi'' and ''

Kokutai no Hongi is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as "system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constituti ...

'' official texts amongst the Imperial Rescripts on Education.

Introduction

This text book was divided in two parts: Chapter I "the Geography of Japan" and Chapter II "the Geography of the World". The content of the first chapter of part 1 the Japanese island are explained in relation with to the Asia-Pacific Region specially the Greater East Asia Region. The physical environments of Japan was explained in detail in Chapter 2. The geography of each region in Japan is presented from chapter three onwards and

Karafuto , was established by the Empire of Japan in 1907 to govern the southern part of Sakhalin. This territory became part of the Empire of Japan in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded by the R ...

, Chosen,

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

, Kantoshu in China, in addition to the Japan mainland. These were part of Japan at that time. The contents of each chapter from chapter two onwards are chronological, mainly relating to products from each region.

Contents of Shotouka-Chiri text

*Part I 1 Map of Japanese Empire *2-Honshū, Kyushu and Shikoku *3-Kanto Plains, in which the capital of Empire situated *4-From Tokyo to Kobe *5-From Kobe to Shimonoseki *6-Kyushu and small island surrounded *Part II 1 Greater East Asia Map *2-Syonan (Singapore) and Malay peninsula *3-The Islands of East India (Andaman and Nicobar) *4-The Philippines Archipielago *5-Manshokoku (Manchukuo) *6-Moukyo (Mengchiang) the northeast part of China

Patriotic and nationalist ideas in the text

Description in chapter one is as follows:

"The shape with which each of the islands, the Chisima-To in the north, the Main island Honshu in the center, and the Ryu-Kyu islands in the south, protrude into the Pacific Ocean like a bow, makes all of Japan's islands tighten much better. We can feel something of the strong powers from this shape. The shape of the Japan islands is not ordinary. We can imagine the shape of going forward to the Pacific Ocean bravely standing in front of the Asian continent. The Japan islands also may be considered as playing the role of defending the continent from the Pacific Ocean. In this way, we feel that God truly created our country, Japan, which is blessed with matchless territory in this location and its shapes".

And the last paragraph in the chapter described this: :"The high population density and high increasing rate of population in Japan is quite rare in the world. This indicate the plenitude of State Power and makes us feel reassured." In the second chapter is presented a world view centred on Asia. Its contents are restricted to Asia and Oceania. The Dai-Toa region is presented, and then each region is described in turn:

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

, Mengchiang, etc. In the final Chapter III, the book states the following:

"It is our country, Nihon, from which the sun rises up, that is located in the center of Dai-Toa (Greater East Asia), which includes the Pacific Ocean region and its islands from the Asian Continent to the Indian Ocean. According with the Emperor's will, a hundred million of our brethren who are born in Japan should accomplish the great task of building the Dai-Toa region, in which we should not be a disappointment to our ancestors. We should give and share with all people the pleasure of eternal world peace and Co-Prosperity to all countries in the world."

Notes

English Translation of first chapter.
/ref> {{Authority control 1943 non-fiction books Japan in World War II Geography textbooks Japanese nationalism Japanese non-fiction books

Introduction

Contents of Shotouka-Chiri text

Patriotic and nationalist ideas in the text

See also

Notes