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Marshall Cavendish International - Naoko Shimazu

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194 pages

English

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This evocative collection of more than 200 picture postcards offers a fascinating insight into Singaporean society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. A means of conveying information, advertisements, personal correspondence, historical records and even propaganda, postcards have taken on many roles throughout Singapore's history, making them valuable and unique historical sources. This rare series of postcards is especially unique given that most are of Japanese origin. The authors' study of these cards illuminates for the first time new historical perspectives on tourism, war, empire and the Japanese community in pre-war Singapore. This book illustrates that a postcard is not merely a collector's item. The pictures and messages grant us access to bygone days and enliven a period of Singapore's social history that may otherwise have faded from public consciousness.

Sujets

Histoire

Singapore

History of Asia

Singapour

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Publié par	Marshall Cavendish International
Date de parution	20 mars 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789811427077
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	7 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0800€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Postcard Impressions of Early 20th-Century Singapore

Postcard Impressions of Early 20th-Century Singapore
Perspectives from the Japanese Community
From the Lim Shao Bin Collection, National Library Singapore
Regina Hong, Ling Xi Min and Naoko Shimazu
Writers: Regina Hong, Ling Xi Min and Naoko Shimazu Project Team: Stephanie Pee, Gracie Lee, Lim Shao Bin, Wong Siok Muoi Editorial Consultant: Francis Dorai Design and Production: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Printer: Times Printers
Published by: National Library Board, Singapore 100 Victoria Street #14-01 National Library Building Singapore 188064 email: ref@nlb.gov.sg www.nlb.gov.sg
All rights reserved. National Library Board, Singapore, 2020.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as expressly permitted by the law, without the prior written permission of the Publisher and copyright owner(s). Whilst reasonable care has been taken by the Publisher to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the Publisher accepts no legal liabilities whatsoever for the contents of this publication.
All images used in this book, unless otherwise stated, are from the Lim Shao Bin Collection. All rights reserved, Lim Shao Bin Collection, National Library Board, Singapore.
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing in Publication Data
Names: Hong, Regina, author. | Ling, Xi Min, author. | Shimazu, Naoko, author. Title: Postcard impressions of early 20th-century Singapore : perspectives from the Japanese community / Regina Hong, Ling Xi Min and Naoko Shimazu. Description: Singapore : National Library Board/Marshall Cavendish, [2020] | From the Lim Shao Bin Collection, National Library Singapore. Identifier(s): OCN 1141872843 | eISBN: 978 981 1427 07 7 Subject(s): LCSH: Postcards--Singapore--History--20th century. | Japanese--Singapore-- History--20th century. | Singapore--History--20th century. Classification: DDC 959.57--dc23
Front endpaper image (see page 65 ): Scene from a postcard showing a fishing village in the waters off Pulau Brani, a scene that travellers would have encountered as their ships pulled into Singapore s harbour. Accession no.: B32413807F_0001
Back endpaper image (see page 58 ): This postcard features the Central Police Station on South Bridge Road in Singapore (top left) as well as the vessel S.S. Sanuki Maru of the NYK (bottom right). Accession no.: B32413805D_0093
Contents
Foreword 07
Introduction: Postcard Views 09
Chapter 1: Mapping the World on Postcards 27
Chapter 2: Early Japanese Tourism in Singapore 55
Chapter 3: Early Japanese Community in Singapore 113
Chapter 4: Circulation of Japanese Postcards in Singapore 147
Acknowledgements 191

Foreword

T he picture postcard s heyday was in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. It was a quick
and easy way to communicate - whatever one wanted to write was confined to a
small blank space - that also doubled as a keepsake of one s travels. Compact in size and
convenient to post, old postcards have become collector s items today, valued for the rare
images, stamps and postmarks they contain, and oftentimes for the messages and identities
of the senders and addressees.
Postcards, such as the ones found in the Lim Shao Bin Collection at the National
Library, can also illuminate history, in this instance providing a rare glimpse into the
origins, practices and culture of the Japanese community in Singapore during the pre-war
period. While much has been written about the Japanese Occupation in Singapore, we
know a lot less about the Japanese who resided here prior to the Second World War.
The postcards showcased in this publication feature international shipping routes that
point to Singapore s place in the global trade network, as well as landmarks and scenes of
a bygone era. The writers - Regina Hong and Ling Xi Min, together with Professor Naoko
Shimazu from Yale-NUS College in Singapore - have put together a selection of postcards
from the collection that not only help us understand the lives of the early Japanese settlers
who sank their roots on this island, but also provide fascinating perspectives of early
Japanese travellers passing through Singapore.
This study would not have been possible without the postcards that Mr Lim Shao Bin,
an independent researcher who has been collecting Japanese historical materials for the
last 30 years, kindly donated to the National Library. Beyond postcards, the collection also
contains important Japanese maps and atlases, newspapers, books and documents, mostly
relating to the Second World War in Singapore and Southeast Asia. We are grateful to
Mr Lim, who shared his vast knowledge and expertise with the writers, often pointing to
the significance of specific elements on the postcards.
I hope that Postcard Impressions of Early 20th-Century Singapore will encourage
further research into our collections and enable people to discover little-known aspects of
Singapore s fascinating and multi-faceted history.
Tan Huism
Director, National Library, Singapore

INTRODUCTION
POSTCARD VIEWS
T he picture postcards in the Lim Shao Bin Collection at the National Library
offer fascinating insights into Singapore society in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Many of the postcards in this collection are Japanese in origin, providing
interesting historical perspectives on early Japanese connections to the island, as
recorded by Japanese travellers and overseas Japanese living in Singapore, as well as
Japanese photographers and publishers operating in Singapore before the Second
World War.
Used as a vehicle for advertisement, personal correspondence, souvenirs and
even propaganda, the picture postcard has taken on many roles throughout history.
Due to their popularity and accessibility, postcards can be important primary sources
of information. Unfortunately, there is precious little English-language scholarship on
Japanese postcards outside the contexts of war and empire, and even less research done
on the postcards used by the Japanese community in Singapore before 1941.
As a historical document, the picture postcard is an interesting format; it not only
provides visual clues (for example, one can draw insights from the scenes that are typically
represented on postcards), but also important textual information about its writer and
historical context.
Given the size of the postcards, however, the messages they contain tend to be
brief and fragmentary, making it a challenge to obtain detailed information about
their senders and recipients. Therefore, careful attention should be paid not only
to the written messages but also other clues, such as addresses, printed images and
POSTCARD VIEWS
11

illustrations, publisher details, as well as stamps and postmarks - all these can expand
our understanding beyond what is conveyed by the written text alone.
While there has been substantial research on Japan s involvement in Singapore
during the Second World War, much less is known about the social history of the Japanese
community residing on the island before the war. This book hopes to plug that gap by
examining the Japanese postcards in the Lim Shao Bin Collection along three thematic
angles: illustrated maps on postcards, tourism, and the lives of Japanese subjects residing
in early Singapore. It also hopes to shed light on how Japanese postcards were produced
and circulated in Singapore, a topic that has not been the subject of much study.
In this book, the term postcards refers to picture postcards, unless otherwise
stated. Japanese postcards are broadly defined as: postcards featuring Japanese subject
matter; postcards produced in Japan or by Japanese photographic studios, printers
and stationers in Singapore and Malaya; and/or postcards bearing Japanese-language
messages. Apart from these, a number of postcards from the Lim Shao Bin Collection
that do not fit these categories have been included to illustrate certain points. As a first
step, we shall explore briefly the use and production of postcards in Singapore during
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Postcards in Pre-World War II Singapore
The postcard was developed as a result of innovations in the global postal system during
the mid-19th century. The first official postcards in Singapore, which came printed
with the stamp, were issued by the Straits Settlements government (see PC1 ) in 1879
(see table overleaf for postal rates). 1 Privately issued postcards were not as popular as
they were charged at the same rate as a normal letter, meaning they could cost twice as
much as official postcards to send. 2 This changed 15 years later in 1894, when British
postal authorities amended their policies to allow private postcards to be posted at the
same rate as official ones. 3
By the 1900s, the sale of private picture postcards had become a profitable business,
prompting many international and local publishing firms to enter the market. 4 In his
1905 report, the Postmaster-General in Singapore, Noel Trotter, noted that the large
increase in the number of postcards handled were due to the rise in popularity of picture
postcards, attesting to the rapid growth of the postcard industry. 5
POSTCARD IMPRESSIONS OF EARLY 20TH-CENTURY SINGAPORE
12

PRICES OF GOVERNMENT-ISSUED POSTCARDS IN 1879

Stamp value

Route

Price

3 cents
4 cents
These postcards could be purchased at the General Post Office in Singapore or at the post offices of Penang and Melaka. Stamp vendors were also allowed to sell these cards individually and could charge for each a cent more than the value of the stamp indicated on the [c]ard .
Source: Government notification No. 360. [Microfilm: NL 1009]. (1879, September 26). Straits Settlements Government Gazette . Sin