Always entreated by Japanese culture and how they turned out today, I sometimes wonder what if we were colonized and became somewhat Japanese.
For starters we would have great temples and shrines everywhere. In fact we have 2 prominent ones that were destroyed.
SYONAN JINJA
昭南神社
There was a grand bridge leading to the shrine that crosses over water that was built by Caucasian prisoner of war.
It looked like the best looking bridge Singapore ever had. Imagine a structure in solid timber made by so many white laborers as opposed to British colonial bridges built by Chinese and Indians. Imagine there would have been a Tori gateway somewhere made by white people !
what is left of the bridge now is just stumps in the water destroyed by the Japanese just before surrender.
Read more of it here and watch a video account here
This shrine resembles ISE JINGU in Mei Prefecture.
It pays respect to the same deity
Meiji era illustration of Ise Jingu shows similarities of the site with waterway and bridge.
KASHIMA JINJA
Located on Sentosa Island. Probably to honor Takemikazuchi-no-o no kami, a god of thunder and the first sumo wrestler. The authorities however, still cant find it. Depicted here, the Kami placed a stone on top of a large catfish which creates earthquakes.
Published in the Syonan Shimbun (Singapore News) during Japanese occupation was this article.
Sentosa Development Corporation however has this image of the place.
It is quite obvious Sentosa can have more of these scenic venues, just look at Tanjong Rimau which is at the tip of the island !
SYONAN CHUREITO
Just grand steps leading to single pole memorial for those who died at war. It was taken down by the Japanese when they surrendered for fear that the remains of the soldiers would be spiritually compromised by the British.(Note the site also observed Christian existence) The grand steps still remained.
The shrine observes the existence of Christianity
THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE GARDEN
If the Japanese didn't loose the war, then the original Japanese Garden developed by the Alkaf family would still be standing where Cedar School is. Check out more info here and here
SISTER TOWNS
Singapore would have Sister Cities can New Syonan (Erhau near Mersing) and Fuji-Go (Bahau in the hinterland of Negri Sembilan north of Melaka). Read about it here
Bahaau and Endau was supposed to be agricultural support for Singapore island.
A REALLY GOOD TRAIN NETWORK IN MALAYA
Railway use started sometime from 1872 in Japan.
Land full of mountains, is linked by rail over the years.
Perhaps because of the lower population and the age of culture, Malaya is not as linked as Japan.
The main railway was established by the British. Arguably maybe Japan would only be interested in developing coconuts and shipping hence, Malaya maybe not turn out that much developed.
OKINAWA BOAT BUILDING AND FISHERY
Out at the coast at Siglap where St. Patrick School was this Japanese boat and fishery industry.
Modern day traditional boat making would have looked like this
more of this information can be found here
This fishery ceased after the war.
TRISHAW
Rickshaw at the time of war was outlawed and back dated in Japan
Japanese government replace them with Trishaws.
COCONUT BIO FUEL ECONOMY
Coconuts were long researched by surprisingly the unassuming Germans in Marshall and Caroline Islands. They didn't quite venture to occupy South East Asia probably because of a pack between the Germans and Japanese way back in the first world war.The Japanese would have had a large area in the world to produce coconut as fuel.This means in that realm, it may not be using fossil fuel after 1945 had they not surrendered.
It was believed that the Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane used coconut oil mixed with Diesel to fly at the end of the war. This was part of the design of the airplane to handle Bio diesel. Bio Diesel is fast becoming a feasibility that Philippine company is trying to build an economy over it.
Cars from Japan would have been run on coconut which is more sustainable than fossil fuel natural gas or even dams simply because the by products on coconut need not be melted back to another state. With town planing in a Japanese style there would have been more street walking and public transport use than travel via private vehicles. Without fossil fuel, we might not have profuse usage of plastics as plastic chemicals are a residual material after refining crude oil.
There were older cultures that influenced similar areas.
The Dong Son drums were historically found in this region as well.
better off as a dining table, Dong Son Drum (made of brass),
bang it if you must, but very little sound comes out of it if you use your fist
Dong Son drums existed from Vietnam/Cambodia/ Thailand to Indonesia and India. It depicts a bronze age in the East Asian area suggesting the place to be high tech of its time.
EAST ASIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY
Bangawan Solo discovered by Japanese troops in Indonesia became an instant hit in Japan. Written in 1940 by Gesang Martohartono when he was just 23, seduced the eardrum of the Japanese troops during their occupation in 1942. It was so popular that the Japanese actually though the song belonged to them. It was regularize by the Japanese in 2014 that it was by Gesang Martohartono.
This United Nippon Kingdom industry would have a whooping reach:
Indonesia 273.5 million
Japan 125.8 million
Vietnam 97.34 million
South Korea 51.78 million
Malaysia 32.37 million
North Korea 25.78 million
Taiwan 23.57 million
Cambodia 16.72 million
Philippines 10.60 million
Singapore 2.4 million
That would have been a 636.29 million market reach not just Japan selling you cars but all those countries selling to 636.29 million market.
This would not just be the music industry, it would be the everything industry that comes in 3rd after India.
Imagine you only focus on 1% of this population and you already have 6 million people looking at your product.
CUTER GUYS AND GIRLS
Imagine your typical ah beng looks like this
Sato Takeru
and ah lian looks like this
Elaiza Ikeda (she is part filipina)
FOOD
no need to imagine, it has already merged
Which one is KL Hokkien Noodle and Yaki Udon? Rumors has it that Yaki Udon was inspired from colonization of South East Asia.
But what if Japan continued colonizing? Everything may have gone a different path.Without the World War 2 surrender, Japan might not had to resort to produce cheap electronic goods for reparation to the world making them into Electronic good giants. If they stayed on, Koreans would not have Samsung and Hyundai because these were estates that were apportioned to the Korean factions that had positive relationship the Japanese government during their rule. The United Nippon Kingdom might have become a military powerhouse dabbling Mongolia and China with constant spat with Russia. There would have been trouble managing Philippines and Indonesia. Japanese management has not shown high effectiveness with Islamic profile entity because they did not had to really deal with them owing to the outcome of World War 2. Handling United Nippon Kingdom might have many more hundred years of civil war in Indonesia and Philippines.
This blog would have been ranting badly about the Japanese government in Japanese text asking for the British to return. Never mind that, the internet being an American army proprietary might not be of common use.
Think about how the future would have been different and how you could be changing it.
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