野村財閥の南方事業(<特集>経済特集 : 貿易・直接投資と経済発展)

Abstract

Nomura, one of the top ten zaibatsu in the prewar period, shared a common problem with other new zaibatsu, namely, to find an outlet abroad because diversification in the domestic market was difficult. Whereas the other new zaibatsu began concentrating their activities in China, Nomura invested in Southeast Asia. Its investment was the largest of all Japanese investments in the Dutch East Indies, and, if not the largest, one of the top few in Southeast Asia as a whole. Nomura's main activity was rubber : it purchased a large plantation in Dutch Borneo and refineries near the plantation and in Sumatra. In addition, Nomura owned palm oil and coffee plantations in Sumatra and a rubber-exporting company in Singapore. This article describes each of these activities, by using the data at Nomura Gomei and the survey of Japan's prewar investment undertaken in 1947 by the Ministry of Finance.