Tokubetsu Shi is set up in Japanese-occupied Singapore

After the Japanese captured Singapore in February 1942, the management of the island was assigned to the Gunseikanbu (Central Military Administration), which transferred non-military matters to the Tokubetsu Shi (Municipal Administration).^[1] The Tokubetsu Shi was headed by a mayor and it had five branches: General Affairs, Bureau of Welfare, Economic Bureau, Undertaking (or utilities) Bureau and Police Bureau. The headquarters of the Tokubetsu Shi was located in the Municipal Building at City Hall.^[2]

The Tokubetsu Shi had two mayors throughout the period of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. The first was Shigeo Odate, who held the post from March 1942 to July 1943. Odate's replacement was Naito Kanichi, whose term lasted till the end of the occupation in September 1945.^[3] When the Tokubetsu Shi began operation, its immediate tasks were to restore utility services as well as to reopen all schools. It also set up a Custodian of Enemy Property Department to manage properties seized by the Japanese army as well as to handle claims and returns to their respective owners.^[4]

Compared to the Gunseikanbu, the Tokubetsu Shi adopted a more tolerant policy towards the local population.^[5] This was evident in various instances, including how its Bureau of Welfare carried out its function. Under the leadership of Mamoru Shinozaki, the bureau created a labour office to find jobs for the unemployed, oversaw the reopening of schools, established the Syonan Sports Association to improve Japanese ties with the local population through sports, and took steps to control the black market. The bureau also tried to allay the food shortage problem in the latter part of the occupation by embarking on the Endau and Bahau resettlement programmes to resettle some of the people in Malaya.^[6] However, the efficiency of the Tokubetsu Shi was constantly hampered by its rivalry with the Gunseikanbu.^[7]

References
1. Murfett, M. H., et al. (2011). Between two oceans: A military history of Singapore from 1275 to 1971 (p. 270). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions. Call no.: RSING 355.0095957 BET.
2. Tan, B. L., & Quah, I. (1996). The Japanese occupation 1942–1945: A pictorial record of Singapore during the war (p. 80). Singapore: Times Editions. Call no.: RSING 940.5425 TAN.
3. Tan & Quah, 1996, p. 81.; Syonan's First Mayor's Message To People. (1942, March 12). The Syonan Times, p. 1.; Kaniehi Naito Named Mayor Of Syonan. (1943, July 20). The Syonan Sinbun, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
4. Tan & Quah, 1996, pp. 82-83.
5. Lee, G. B. (2005). The Syonan years: Singapore under Japanese rule 1942–1945 (pp. 139–140). Singapore: National Archives of Singapore and Epigram. Call no.: RSING 940.53957 LEE.
6. Shinozaki, M. (2011). Syonan: My story:The Japanese occupation of Singapore (pp. 90–95). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions. Call no.: RSING 959.57023 SHI.
7. Tan & Quah, 1996, p. 80.