At the time, Japan had one of the largest merchant fleets in the world with a total of approximately 6 million tonnes of displacement before December 1941.
[1] Despite heavy naval losses during the Pacific War, Japan was still left with 4,700,000 tonnes.
Japan ran a trade deficit, selling a total of US$12.85 and buying US$15.25 per capita.
In 1897, the local monetary unit, the yen, was valued on the gold standard at a base level of 24.5 British Pence, which permits the use in the figures of the pound sterling or gold-backed US dollars.
[2] The expansion of this trade was in part due to European difficulties in supplying their colonies, allowing Japan to expand into new markets.