This pioneering work examines Japan's economic activities in Singapore from 1870 to 1965. Drawing upon a wide range of published and unpublished sources, the authors shed new light on issues such as: * prostitution * foreign trade by Kobe's overseas Chinese * fishermen in the inter-war period * Japanese economic activities during the Pacific War * Japanese involvement in Singapore's post-war industrialisation plan * the Lee Kuan Yew regimes policy towards Japan * the 1960s Japanese investment boom This important work challenges commonly-held views on Japan's economic advance into Southeast Asia in general and Singapore in particular.