Postcard Impressions of Early 20th-century Singapore Perspectives from the Japanese Community : from the Lim Shao Bin Collection, National Library Singapore

"The 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 Lin 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."--taken from Foreword, page [7].