1922 Kiome Nomura Map of the Philippines and the Pacific

An extremely rare and historically significant 1922 (Taishō 11) map of the Philippines and the Pacific. This map is divided into two sections, the right most sections covers the Pacific Basin form the Bering Straits to New Zealand and from Singapore to Panama. The left-hand map details the Philippine Islands (Philippines). Both maps are presented as 'historical' maps and bear chronologies detailing the history of the Pacific from a Japanese highly nationalistic perspective.

This map is a direct Japanese response to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament, a November 11, 1921, meeting that was part of the 1921-1922 Washington Naval Conference. The conference was held in response to post-World War I Japanese militarization and colonization in China. The goal of the convention was to protect the integrity of Chinese borders and keep the lucrative markets of China open to international trade. The conference resulted in several important treaties, the Five Power Treaty, The Four Power Treaty, and the Nine-Power Treaty, known collectively as the Limitation of Naval Armament. The Limitation of Naval Armament was wildly unpopular in Japan as it restricted Japanese military expansion and ran directly counter to national propaganda advocating for Japanese hegemony over East Asia and the Pacific.

This map responds to the Limitation of Naval Armament in the form of a quasi-historical chart that highlights injustices done against Japan and the Japanese diaspora by American and European powers. It also highlights Japan's dominant trade position throughout the region as far as Thailand, Malay, Singapore, and Vietnam. It further describes Japanese immigration to Hawaii and the abuses the Japanese suffered in Hawaii under both Hawaiian and American rule.

The addition of a large map of the Philippines is significant. After the Spanish-American War the 1898 Treaty of Paris ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States. The U.S. immediately established a military presence in the Philippines which Japan interpreted as invading its sphere of influence. During the American period, the Empire of Japan nonetheless continued to expand into the Philippines both through trade and extensive immigration, both of which were strongly supported. By 1940, nearly 40% of Philippine exports went to Japan and some 35% of Philippine trade was dominated by Japanese immigrants. As this map suggests, even here, 20 years prior to the outbreak of World War II, Japan recognized the importance of dominating the Philippines, both in terms of its strategic location and wealth of natural resources, as key to dominating the Pacific.

This map was issued by the Tokyo Communications Agency Investigation Department (Tōhō Tsūshinsha / 东京通信社调查部). It was printed on June 15, 1922 (Taishō 11) and released on June 20 of the same year. It was printed and distributed by Kiome Nomura (野村潔己).