1943 GREATER EAST ASIA PARTIAL MAP, HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO

ORIGINAL

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This detailed map of Hawaii was originally published April 1, 1943, republished June 20, 1943.  The insets show the Hawaiian archipelago and environs (Sandwich Archipelago), the eight major islands in the chain and a close up of Pearl Harbor and Honolulu environs.  This is one of the last large scale maps of Hawaii ever to be printed by the Japanese Empire. 

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (大東亞共榮圏 Dai-tō-a Kyōeiken) was an imperial propaganda concept created and promulgated for occupied Asian populations during the first third of the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It extended greater than East Asia and promoted the cultural and economic unity of Northeast Asians, Southeast Asians, and Oceanians. It also declared the intention to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers". It was announced in a radio address entitled "The International Situation and Japan's Position" by Foreign Minister Hachirō Arita on June 29, 1940. As planned, The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity sphere would include Hawaii, Howland Island, Baker Island the , Phoenix Islands,  Rain Islands, Marquesas, Tuamotu Islands, Society Islands, Cook Islands , Austral Islands, all of the Samoan Islands, and Tonga.

The possibility of re-establishing the defunct Kingdom of Hawaii was also considered, based on the model of Manchukuo. Those favoring annexation of Hawaii (on the model of Karafuto) intended to use the local Japanese community, which had constituted 43% (c. 160,000) of Hawaii's population in the 1920s, as a leverage.  Hawaii was to become self-sufficient in food production, while the Big Five corporations of sugar and pineapple processing were to be broken up. No decision was ever reached regarding whether Hawaii would be annexed to Japan, become a puppet kingdom, or be used as a bargaining chip for leverage against the U.S.