Another gem from kinkonkid, about the railway line and maps of Malaya during the occupation:

This map was taken from an exhibition of old postcards, maps and magazines organized by the Society of Japanese Culture. It is currently held at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Hill Street. What drew my interest to this map was that it showed the name of my hometown in Japanese! Though it was a small town, it was clearly marked and written as – MENGUREMUBU – in katakana.

This map was part of a large map published around 1943, that showed the occupied territory of MARAYA & SHONAN （照南） – Malaya and Singapore . When Singapore fell to the Japanese, the name was officially changed to SHONAN, meaning – Beacon of the South. The name SHONAN were in kanji （汉字）or Chinese character but rendered a kun-yomi (训读), that is reading the Chinese characters in Japanese style. All other town names were in katakana, one of the two types of Japanese alphabets, the kana’s – that is the katakata and hiragana.

Read the full post here.
There’s one more post to feature, so stay tuned tomorrow on yesterday!