To recognise how deep trade ties between India and Japan go, all you need is a glance at newspapers from the early decades of the 20th century. Back then, there was a regular two-way flow of trade and people between the countries. Front pages of newspapers would carry the schedule of steamships from Japan that took their fair share of Indian passengers to Japan’s new free ports such as Nagasaki, Kanagawa, Okinawa and Yokohama. On their journey to India these ships ferried a large number of Japanese looking to capitalise on the growing trade between their country and British India.
The same newspapers that listed steamship arrivals and departures also had regular updates on the banks operating in Bombay. In October 1920, there were two Japanese banks with branches in India’s financial capital – Sumitomo Bank, whose branch in Churchgate was managed by J Sato, and Yokohama Specie Bank, or YSB, which had a branch in Hornby Road (now Dadabhai Naoroji Road) and listed N Otsuka as its manager. Unlike its fellow Japanese bank, YSB had a branch in Calcutta as well.
The newspaper listings of banks mentioned, among other details, the subscribed and paid-up capital of the banks as well as their reserve…
