From DiscoverNikkei.org
Immigration & Citizenship - Palau
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "Core Document Forming Part of the Reports of States Parties: Palau" (21 October 1998) (excerpt)
- "In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, Japanese naval squadrons took military possession of Palau, along with the Marshalls, the Carolines and the Marianas (except for Guam). Following the War, Japan continued to rule Palau under a mandate from the League of Nations. The League's mandate obligated Japan to 'promote the material and moral well-being and social progress of Palauans, to abolish slavery, traffic in arms, and alcoholic beverages, to refrain from building military bases, and to permit freedom of worship and missionary activity'.
- Japanese rule ushered in an era of tumultuous change. The Japanese attitude towards Palau differed from that of the Germans and the Spanish, for Japan intended to permanently integrate Palau into the greater Japanese Empire. Palau was to be remade in the image of Japan, and thousands of Japanese colonists were settled in Palau to hasten amalgamation. A formal, albeit limited, system of education was introduced for Palauans (three years of compulsory instruction followed by two further years of optional schooling for the most able). Economic development accelerated. These changes created many new opportunities for young, able Palauans to gain relative wealth and prestige independent of their status in traditional Palauan society.
- Palau was the scene of bitter fighting during the Second World War. Little of the pre-war infrastructure survived. Upon assuming control in 1944, the American naval administration was challenged to respond to the urgent needs of a people on the brink of mass starvation. Development had to resume virtually from scratch."