page_title: South Seas Mandate
section_title: Administration
hierarchical_section_title: South Seas Mandate / Administration
caption_attribution_description: English: Jokyoin(native teacher) and Junkei(native constable)日本語: 南洋群島島民による助教員（左）と巡警（中央・右）
context_page_description: The South Seas Mandate, officially the Mandate for the German Possessions in the Pacific Ocean lying North of the Equator, was a League of Nations mandate in the "South Seas" given to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations following World War I. The mandate consisted of islands in the north Pacific Ocean that had been part of German New Guinea within the German colonial empire until they were occupied by Japan during World War I. Japan governed the islands under the mandate as part of the Japanese colonial empire until World War II, when the United States captured the islands. The islands then became the United Nations-established Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands governed by the United States. The islands are now part of Palau, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Marshall Islands.
  In Japan, the territory is known as "Japanese mandate for the South Seas Islands" and was governed by the Nan'yō Government.
context_section_description: Following the initial Japanese occupation of the islands, a policy of secrecy was adopted. Japan made it plain that it did not welcome the entry of foreign ships into Micronesian waters, even those of its wartime allies. During the first five years that Japan occupied the islands, it consolidated its presence and the islands became a virtual Japanese colony. The Imperial Japanese Navy divided the territory into five naval districts in Palau, Saipan, Truk, Ponape, and Jaluit Atoll, all reporting to a rear admiral at the naval headquarters at Truk.
  A proposal at the Versailles Conference to allow trade and migration between those islands to be administered by Japan and those to be administered by Australia and New Zealand was rejected. Japan was able to continue administering the islands as if they were colonial possessions, keeping their waters off-limits to foreigners. When the islands became legally a League of Nations Mandate, Japan administered them as Japanese territory and as part of the Japanese Empire. This situation continued even after Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in 1935 and lost its legal claim to administer the islands.
  Militarily and economically, Saipan, in the Marianas archipelago, was the most important island in the South Seas Mandate and became the center of subsequent Japanese settlement. The towns of Garapan (on Saipan), Koror (on Palau) and Colony (on Ponape) were developed to resemble small towns in Japan, with cinemas, restaurants, beauty parlours and geisha houses. Another important island was Truk in the Carolines archipelago, which was fortified into a major navy base by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
  Between 1914 and 1920 the islands began the slow transition from naval to civilian administration. By 1920 all authority had been transferred from the Naval Defense Force to the Civil Affairs Bureau which was directly responsible to the Navy Ministry. Initially based in Truk, the Civil Affairs Bureau was moved to Koror in the Palau islands in 1921. The naval garrisons were disbanded to comply with the terms of the Mandate. In April 1922 a civilian government was established in each of the six administrative districts (Saipan, Palau, Yap, Truk, Ponape and Jaluit) in the form of a civil administration department which still reported to the local naval garrison commander. At the same time a post of Governor of the South Seas Mandate was created. Governors were mostly admirals or vice-admirals as the administration was initially still the responsibility of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Governor reported directly to the Prime Minister of Japan. After the establishment of the Ministry of Colonial Affairs in June 1929, the Governor reported to the Minister of Colonial Affairs instead. The establishment of the "South Seas Government" or "Nan'yo-Cho" in March 1932 finally put the government of the islands under a purely civilian administration. When the Ministry of Colonial Affairs was absorbed into the Ministry of Greater East Asia in November 1942, the primacy of the Imperial Japanese Navy was again recognized by the appointment of an admiral as the Governor. Furthermore, the six administrative districts were reduced to three in November 1943: North, East, and West.
caption: Native Micronesian constables of Japanese Truk Island, circa 1930. Truk became a possession of the Empire of Japan under a mandate from the League of Nations following Germany's defeat in World War I.[14]
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