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JS-14. Issuance of identity certificates to travelers to China. Dec 15, 1937

支那渡航者に対する身分証明書発給に関する件

JS-14. Issuance of identity certificates to travelers to China. Dec 15, 1937
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Author: Kotora Okamatsu, Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture
Recipients: Nobumasa Suetsugu, Minister of Home Affairs; Kōki Hirota, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ministers of each Administrative District
Date: December 15, 1937
File: Miscellaneous Matters Concerning the Limitation and Regulation of Japanese Citizens Traveling overseas to China at the Time of the Sino-Japanese Incident; Various Certificates; Identity Certificates, Vol. 2
Location: Shanghai (China), Fukuoka Prefecture (Japan)
Keywords: Mobilization

Annotation Source: Northeast Asian History Foundation

Click HERE to see the annotation in Korean  

Image link: http://wam-peace.org/ianfu-koubunsho/pdf/K-PDF/K_F_001.pdf

 

 ANNOTATION


This is a report from the Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture regarding the identity certificates issued by the authority through the end of November 1937 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs Classified Documents, no. 79).

The form includes the date of issuance, destination, reason and duration of the travel, address of applicant’s family register, occupation, name, and age. On November 30, 1937, the police office of Yahata town, Fukuoka Prefecture, issued identity certificates to 2 women leaving for comfort stations as prostitutes for the Japanese Navy in Shanghai, China, for the durations of 1 year and of 1 year and 9 months, respectively. The recruiting agent for those two women was named Kenji Magari.

*Kenji Magari was the owner of the comfort station for the Japanese Navy, located on North Sichuan Road, Shanghai, China.

Sources:
WAM Collection (Foreign Affairs_001)
Collection of the Asian Women’s Fund, Vol. 1, p. 113-115
Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol. 1, p. 73-74
Sourcebook by Yoshimi Yoshiaki, p. 100-101

#transportation #identity #identification #Fukuoka #Home_Affairs #Internal_Affairs

 

QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS

Explain the following words to your students before asking them to read the annotation:

  • prefecture: an administrative division or unit in Japan
  • prostitute: a person, in particular a woman, who engages in sexual activity for payment 

After reading the annotation, please answer the following questions:

1. What kind of document is this?
2. Who wrote it?
3. What year was it created?
4. What was the historical context in East Asia during the time?
5. Where was it created?
6. What's the title of the document? What does the title tell you?
7. Who's the audience of the document?
8. What's the main idea of this document?
9. Based on the annotation, what does the identity certificate include? 
10. Based on the annotation, what nationality could the two prostitutes be?
11. What does the document not tell us?
12. What other questions do you have for this document?
13. How/Where can you find the answers? 

 

*Questions for Students section was designed by Jing Williams, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at University of South Dakota.