African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1459 Diverting trouble to the south
Edo, Japan.

Edo in the early 20th century was undoubtedly the most developed modern city in Asia in terms of industry, technology and other comprehensive strengths. The total population of Edo city exceeded two million, and if the suburbs were included, the population would reach more than three million.

In terms of population data, Edo is slightly lower than Shanghai in the Far East. As for other aspects, Japan has an overall advantage. If the influence of foreign capital is excluded, Edo will crush any city in Asia.

After all, Japan is the only industrial country and great power in all of Asia.

But there is another important reason why Edo’s population is currently smaller than that of the largest city in the Far Eastern Empire, and that is the Great Kanto Earthquake that occurred in 1923.

This earthquake directly caused the deaths of more than 100,000 people in Edo and its surrounding areas, and millions of houses collapsed or were damaged. Of course, most Japanese houses are made of wood, so even if they were damaged, the impact was not too great, but it still caused a large number of people to flee Edo and other cities.

If it weren't for this earthquake, Edo might have developed even faster. This earthquake even affected the development of the entire Japanese economy.

Until now, Edo has not recovered and many areas have not been rebuilt. Therefore, if it had not been for the impact of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Edo would have been the undisputed largest city in Asia.

In 1927, Japan's total population reached more than million, almost the same as Germany. However, if the colonies are not taken into account, Germany's territory is much larger than Japan's, and Germany's arable land area and resources are much stronger than Japan's.

Therefore, although Japan has become one of the world's powerful countries, its overall economic level and industrial strength are far behind those of the top powers in Europe, America and Africa.

This can be seen from the streets of Edo. Even today, there are very few private cars on the streets of Edo, and the common means of transportation are rickshaws and bicycles.

In cities of other powerful countries, although not as exaggerated as those in East Africa and the United States, cars are not a rarity.

……

Edo, Kanda Ward (present-day Chiyoda Ward).

Newspapers are an important medium for Japanese people to understand the world. As early as 1870, the first newspaper company was established in Japan. Since then, the Japanese newspaper industry has experienced rapid development, reaching a scale of nearly a thousand companies by the end of the last century.

Earlier in the shogunate era, Dutch newspapers had become one of the important channels for the Japanese government to understand the world situation.

There are also many vendors selling newspapers in Kanda Ward. There are several newspaper shops with an annual circulation of more than 30 million copies in Japan, which shows the prosperity of the Japanese newspaper industry.

Sakata Grocery Store is a small grocery store located in Kanda District. Today, many people came here to buy newspapers. Newspapers are one of the side businesses of Sakata Grocery Store.

"Sakata-kun, give me a copy of the Toyo Evening News."

Yoshino Ai had just finished breakfast and walked out of the house. She staggered to her neighbor's house, which was Sakata's grocery store, to buy a newspaper.

"Mr. Yoshino, you are really interested in foreign geography."

Sakata Haraji was looking for today's "Toyo Evening News" while talking to Yoshino.

"Of course. Newspapers are a window for us Yamato people to understand the world. However, other newspapers on the market mostly describe Europe, America and Africa. However, the Toyo Evening News can find a different way to let us gain more understanding of other regions. This is very rare knowledge."

Since Japan's reforms in the last century, the mainstream of Japan's publishing industry has been to introduce the industrial civilization of Europe and the United States. Of course, now East Africa has to be added to the mix.

This is what is called Europe, America and Africa. However, there are more powerful countries in Europe, so Europe refers to the whole of Europe, and America refers only to the United States. Similarly, Africa only refers to Africa. After all, in the entire African continent, there is no other country that can be compared with East Africa.

As for America, although Canada has developed well, it is a British colony and is not worthy of reference.

As for Japanese newspapers' attention to East Africa, it actually started in the last century, but it was limited to major events such as the territorial disputes between the two countries or the South African War.

At that time, Japan did not pay much attention to East Africa, and its attention was limited to military and political fields, but East Africa was not the object of Japan's study at that time.

Because the East African economy was not much stronger than Japan's in the last century, especially before the 1990s.

The turning point occurred after the South African War. East Africa, which defeated the British Empire and Portugal, naturally became one of the "templates" for Japan to learn from. In the following twenty years, the East African economy took off rapidly like a wild horse, which further aroused Japan's interest in East Africa.

By now, East Africa has completely become a world power that Japan envies, but Japanese newspapers have become increasingly radical in their praise of this "rival."

Germany, East Africa, the United States, Britain and France are the five industrial countries that Japan admires most today, and it wishes to replace them.

Japanese newspapers have also conducted increasingly in-depth research into the geography, history, economy, politics, military, and technology of these five countries.

The Far Eastern Empire also enjoyed the same treatment, but Japan's research on the Far Eastern Empire was clearly ill-intentioned.

Apart from this, Japanese newspapers have relatively little information about other countries and regions.

The Toyo Shimbun is a newspaper that focuses on introducing some atypical countries and regions, especially providing extensive information on the mineral resources, arable land, climate, etc. of some regions.

Sakata also knew that Yoshino liked to know these things, so he had this conversation.

"This is today's latest edition of the Toyo Evening News." Sakata quickly found a newspaper from the pile of newspapers and handed it to Yoshino.

Yoshino took the newspaper as if he was at home, sat on a chair in the Sakata grocery store, crossed his legs, and began to read.

"Today's National History section of the Dongyang Daily is about the Philippines, the colony of the United States and Spain."

In fact, the Philippines should be divided into three parts. From north to south, they are the American colonies, namely the Luzon Islands, then the central Visayas Islands, which are still in the hands of the Spaniards, and the southern part is the Mindanao colony in East Africa.

In the last Spanish-American War, Spain did not actually withdraw completely from the Philippines, and the reason for this result was the existence of East Africa. The remaining Spanish colonies in central Philippines were equivalent to a buffer zone between East Africa and the United States.

Yoshino, a geography enthusiast, was also quite familiar with this, so he knew very well that the area introduced by the "Toyo Evening News" today should be the American colony mainly based on Luzon Island, because the core of the Philippine colony in the past was on Luzon Island.

He went on to read: "The Luzon Islands, with an area of ​​more than 100,000 square kilometers and a population of 4 million, are located south of Japan and belong to the South Seas. They are now part of the United States..."

Because it only includes islands such as Luzon, the total population of the Philippines, or the American Philippines, is much smaller than in the previous life, with only more than four million. At this time in the previous life, the total population of the Philippines may have exceeded ten million.

Yoshino was obviously not interested in the previous content, because he was familiar with it, so he quickly skipped it.

"The Philippines is rich in resources. The abundance of gold, copper, manganese, zinc and coal is difficult to measure, especially the gold and copper associated minerals. During the Spanish period, this was used for profit."

Of course, the resources on Mindanao are actually richer than those on Luzon. For example, copper and gold mines account for about 70% of the entire Philippines, but the Oriental Evening News did not mention this.

"Baguio, Bicol and other places are rich in gold mines. Copper and coal are in the northern mountainous areas. Suligao has millions of tons of coal. There are many nickel mines on the island..."

The Dongyang Evening News not only described the distribution of these resources in detail, but also marked their approximate locations on simple maps.

Seeing the resource distribution map of Luzon Island, Yoshino was so excited that he almost drooled. Even the coal mine with a reserve of only one million tons and low quality could cause waves in his heart.

One million tons of coal may be the annual output of some industrial countries, but for Japan, it is a resource that cannot be underestimated. Moreover, this is only the proven resource, and coal is only a small resource in Luzon Island. Gold and copper mines are the real feast.

Yoshino couldn't help but sigh to Sakata: "If the Empire occupied the Philippines, how wonderful it would be! One hundred thousand square kilometers of land, rich resources, and excellent climatic conditions..."

Sakata broke his fantasy and said: "It's a good idea, but the Philippines is a colony of the United States, and the United States is not something we can challenge now."

Yoshino said: "That may not be the case. After all, the Philippines is thousands of miles away from the United States and is under colonial rule. We may have a chance. Going forward, the newspapers will surely have some general information about the US military in the Philippines..."

As an old customer of the Toyo Evening News, Yoshino was well aware of the comprehensiveness of the newspaper, and it was very likely to contain information about the situation of US troops in the Philippines.

Sure enough, Yoshino found the distribution of US military bases in the Philippines in the next line, including Manila, Subic Bay, Sternberg, etc., and even detailed the distribution of army and navy forces, as well as some infrastructure conditions. The size of the US military stationed in the Philippines is only about 10,000.

Therefore, Yoshino said confidently: "Ten thousand American troops, isolated overseas, will collapse on their own as long as their connection with the mainland can be cut off."

"The total population of the American Philippines is more than four million. If it becomes an imperial colony, it can become a springboard for us to attack the Southeast Asian region, just like North Korea."

Korea was Japan's springboard for invading the Asian continent, while the Philippines was an important strategic location for Japan to enter Southeast Asia, provided that Luzon Island was taken from the Americans.

Otherwise, this place would in turn become a tool for the United States to clamp down on Japan's entry into the South Pacific. Therefore, Yoshino believed that in the future, when Japan was developing the South Pacific, it must give priority to occupying Danwan Island in the southeast of the Far East Empire. Otherwise, the only option would be the Philippines.

In the last century, Japan's attempt to annex the South Ryukyu Islands was thwarted by East Africa, which also meant that they had no chance to annex Danwan Island. It can be said that this is one of the reasons why Japan hates East Africa the most.

Of course, Japan also has a lot of malice towards the United States. After all, the "Black Ship Incident" that marked the beginning of Japan's modern history of humiliation was caused by the United States. In addition, in recent years, the United States and Japan have had more and more unpleasantness on Pacific issues, further exacerbating the contradictions between the two countries.

Therefore, Yoshino said: "East Africa, the United States, and the Soviet Union are the three countries that pose the greatest threat to the empire. They are also the future threats to the empire's hegemony in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. We will eventually have a war with these three countries. Danwan Island, the Philippines, and Sakhalin Island will definitely be the future battlefields."

"Among the three countries, the United States poses the greatest threat to the Empire, so the Imperial Government should prioritize the United States as a major threat, and make early preparations for strategic locations such as the Philippines, Hawaii, and Guam."

"First, dominate Northeast Asia, then advance into Southeast Asia, and finally occupy Australia, and then the empire will be complete."

"Especially according to the introduction of Australia by the Dongyang Evening News, if the Empire can obtain the benefits of its coal and iron ore, then no other country will restrict the Empire's resources as it does today."

Yoshino's ambition actually coincides with the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" proposed by Japan in its previous life, except that the importance of Australia is raised to more than one level.

According to newspapers such as the Toyo Evening News, the Japanese's greed for Australia is growing day by day.

According to the description of the Toyo Evening News, Australia's various resources, especially basic industrial resources, are simply beyond the imagination of Japan, a mineral-poor country.

Especially the large-scale iron ore and coal mines and other resources that are often measured in billions of tons. Of course, according to the description of the "Toyo Evening News", Australia is unworthy of the position, which is also widely recognized by the Japanese people and government.

The Dongyang Evening News mentioned in the past that Australia was nothing more than a place of exile for British prisoners. Its current population is only one million, but it has rich arable land and resources. If it were not a British colony, it would have the potential to become a great power.

The Japanese people feel the same way. We, more than 60 million people, are crowded on this small island country of Japan. Australia has a population of only a few million, but a land area of ​​more than 7 million. Is this fair and humane?
The actual situation is actually very clear. That is, newspapers led by the Toyo Evening News are inciting Japanese society's greedy desire for Southeast Asia and Oceania.

The reason for this is that the financial backer behind the "Toyo Evening News" is East African capital, and the purpose is to provoke relations between Japan and countries such as Britain and the United States. In the Far East, the British are the ones who benefit the most after all. Whether it is the Far East Empire, Southeast Asia, or Oceania, Britain occupies the best markets and lands, as well as various resources.

However, Britain's military strength has continued to decline over the years and is clearly no longer worthy of these regions. Whether it is East Africa, Japan or the United States, they have all become interested in it.

Of course, East Africa and the United States are not anxious, but Japan can hardly resist the temptation, and the East African government is only accelerating the process.

With the development and investment of East Africa in Japanese public opinion over the past decade, newspapers led by the Toyo Evening News have become quite influential in Japan.

The most important point is to instill in the Japanese people and government the idea that "the wealth of East Asia is still not as rich as that of Australia," thereby increasing Japan's attention to Australia.

As for some of the data provided by East Africa, they are completely true. For example, the iron ore and coal resources developed by East African countries and other countries in Australia in recent years have long made the Japanese jealous.

The resources of the Far Eastern Empire are simply insignificant compared to Australia, and Australia's military strength, population, etc. are obviously easier to conquer than the Far Eastern Empire. With a population of four million, even Japan can assimilate Australia through immigration.

(End of this chapter)