Japanese involvement in Papua New Guinea dates back to the 1890s when an adventurous and energetic Japanese skipper, Komine Isokichi, began to explore the waters of New Guinea from his base on Thursday Island where Japanese shellers had settled. In 1901 Komine found employment with the German administration and established an amicable relationship with Germans who needed a greater labour force for developing their colony. Some years later Komine established a company that operated a copra plantation, shipbuilding, trade and fishing, and recruited about a hundred workers from Japan. Consequently a sizeable Japanese community emerged and enjoyed a brief golden age in the last years of German rule.
Until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Japanese migration to New Guinea had constantly increased and there were more than 1000 Japanese. But the war impeded further increase when Australia controlled New Guinea and restricted Japanese migration there. Komine died in 1934 and by 1940 the Japanese population had shrunk to about 40.. In the 1930s, however, Japanese interest in Papua and New Guinea became strong as nanshin-ron [southward advancement theory] rose among intellectuals. They exalted Komine as a national hero. Just before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the government and nanshin-ron advocates began to popularise the Japanese in New Guinea, who, while attracting little public attention in Japan previously, were suddenly and comprehensively integrated into the vast scheme of Japanese expansionism.
Japanese interest:
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Military interest