ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the development of economic relations between Japan and South Africa before the Second World War. It considers the research on Japan’s trade relations with Africa in the inter-war period, mainly based on extensive examination of the pre-war Japanese consular reports regarding economic conditions in Africa. Japanese government and traders made concerted efforts to advance into the South African market during the war period. Japan’s economic survival as a latecomer imperialist nation depended on the development of an institutionalized system for the collection and dissemination of commercial information. The Japanese Consulate, Trade Correspondents, Trade Missions and Overseas Business Trainees played a vital role by collecting commercial information in the South African market and encouraging real development of trade with the region. Commercial information regarding South Africa collected through diverse channels appeared in various kinds of Trade Periodicals.
