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How Japanese Military Officers Freely Scouted Colonial India Without Raising British Suspicion

by Ajay Kamalakaran

Published 2026-07-07 06:00:00+00:00

How did a treaty meant to protect British India end up letting Japanese soldiers map it?

0:00 / 10:33 · Narrator Rasalgethi

Context

Before the Second World War, British officials actively invited Japanese military officers to map out India's defenses. Writing on 7 July 2026, Ajay Kamalakaran looks at the diplomatic window that made this unusual access possible. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was meant to keep Russia in check, but it created a bizarre reality on the ground. Kamalakaran captures how an empire's short-term political goals overrode its basic security instincts, allowing a future enemy to study its most valuable colony in plain sight.

Show notes

A history of how the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 allowed Japanese military officers to freely scout colonial India. Using government records and newspaper reports, the account documents the educational exchanges that followed, along with the racial friction that started when Japanese residents demanded the same legal rights as Europeans.

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