The regions of Asia, it was argued, were as essential to Japan as Latin America was to the U.S.[2] The Japanese Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka formally announced the idea of the Co-Prosperity Sphere on 1 August 1940, in a press interview,[3] but it had existed in other forms for many years.

The outbreak of World War II fighting in Europe had given the Japanese an opportunity to demand the withdrawal of support from China in the name of "Asia for Asiatics", with the European powers unable to effectively retaliate.

The Japanese considered that pulling out of China would result in a loss of face and decided instead to take military action against US, British and Dutch territories in South East Asia.

Japanese soldiers landing at Kota Bharu divided into two separate forces, with one moving down the east coast towards Kuantan, and the other southwards towards the Perak River.

On 7 January 1942, two brigades of the 11th Indian Infantry Division were defeated in the Battle of Slim River, giving the Japanese army easy passage to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaya.

They set out five principles: acquisition of vital materials for national defence, restoration of law and order, self-sufficiency for the troops in the occupied territories, respect for established local organisations and customs, and no hasty discussion of future status of sovereignty.

Wataru also believed that they must also be ready to give their lives if necessary to establish Hakkō ichiu (the whole world under one roof) and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

[10] When Wataru was replaced in March 1943 by Major-General Masuzo Fujimuro, the Japanese war position had deteriorated and they recognized that they needed the co-operation of the entire population.

[11] In March 1944 Colonel Hamada Hiroshi established a public reading room to engage in discussion with the Chinese community leaders and youth.

The Japanese news agency, Dōmei Tsushin, was granted a monopoly covering Malaya, Singapore, and British Borneo.

Prior to the invasion of Malaya, Japanese intelligence officer Major Iwaichi Fujiwara had formed links with Pritam Singh Dhillon of the Indian Independence League.

Already at a conference held in Bangkok during 15–23, June 1942, the Indian Independence League under the leadership of Rash Behari Bose, had appointed Singh its commander-in-chief.

With the return of Subhas Chandra Bose, from Germany in June 1943 the Indian National Army was revived in the form of Azad Hind Fauj.

Close to the time of the Japanese invasion Yaacob, Ishak Muhammad and a number of Kesatuan Melayu Muda leaders were arrested and imprisoned by the British.

The Japanese instead disbanded Kesatuan Melayu Muda and established the Pembela Tanah Ayer (also known as the Malai Giyu Gun or by its Malay acronym PETA) militia instead.

That same day 70 surviving soldiers of the Malay Regiment were taken out of the prisoner of war holding area at Farrer Park, Singapore by the Japanese to the battlefield at Pasir Panjang and shot.

With increased guerilla activity more massacres occurred, including Sungei Lui, a village of 400 in Jempol District, Negeri Sembilan, that was wiped out on 31 July 1942 by troops under a Corporal Hashimoto.

[47] Japanese soldiers gang raped Indian Tamil girls and women they forced to work on the Burma railway and made them dance naked.

Yeop Mahidin Bin Mohamed Shariff, a former Royal Malay Regiment officer, founded a Malay-based resistance group immediately after the fall of Singapore in February 1942.

Acting on information he provided the Japanese attacked a secret conference of more than 100 MCP and MPAJA leaders on 1 September 1942 at the Batu Caves, north of Kuala Lumpur, killing most of them.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and the American president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, met at the First Washington Conference.

In preparation for the landings, a British task force sailed through the Straits of Malacca in July 1945 clearing mines and attacking Japanese facilities.

On 15 August 1945, Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address to the Empire announcing acceptance the terms for ending the war that the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration.

One Mosquito bomber developed engine problems and was forced to land at the Japanese held Sungai Besi aerodrome near Kuala Lumpur.

[75] In the period between the Emperor's announcement and the arrival of Allied forces in Malaya sporadic fighting broke out between the Chinese and Malay communities, particularly in Perak.

This was followed by the signing of the Malaya surrender document at Kuala Lumpur by Lieutenant-General Teizo Ishiguro, commander of the 29th Army; with Major-General Naoichi Kawahara, chief of staff; and Colonel Oguri as witnesses.

Japanese troops who remained in Malaya, Java, Sumatra, and Burma at the end of the war were transferred to Rempang and Galang Islands from October 1945 on to await repatriation to Japan.

Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura, one of the five given life sentences, was later found guilty of the Parit Sulong Massacre by an Australian court and executed.

Higashikawa's actions were brutal enough for Captain S Hidaka, Penang Chief of Staff for the Imperial Japanese Navy, to raise the matter with Lieutenant-General Ishiguro.

[79] Sergeant Eiko Yoshimura, the head of Kempeitai in Ipoh, was sentenced to death by hanging for the torture and abuse of civilians, including Sybil Kathigasu.