New Guinea ニューギニア (Nyū Ginia) Niugini
Flag of the Empire of Japan Imperial Seal
Anthem: "Kimigayo"
1943 Japanese map of New Guinea
Status	Military occupation by theEmpire of Japan
Capital	Hollandia
Common languages	Japanese Tok Pisin,Dutch,English,Other
Gunshireikan
• 1942–1945	Hatazō Adachi
Historical era	World War II
Preceded by Succeeded by Dutch East Indies Territory of New Guinea Dutch East Indies Territory of New Guinea
Today part of	Indonesia (West Papua) Papua New Guinea

TheJapanese occupation of New Guinea was themilitary occupation of the northern portion of the island ofNew Guinea by theEmpire of Japan from 1941 to 1945 duringWorld War II.^[1]

Following theattack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of thePacific War in December 1941, Japanese forces invaded the Australian-administeredTerritory of New Guinea andDutch New Guinea in early 1941, capturing the respective territorial capitals ofRabaul in February 1942 andHollandia in April 1942. The subsequentNew Guinea campaign saw Japanese forces advance into the Australian territory ofPapua in the south-east of New Guinea, but the intended capture ofPort Moresby as part ofOperation Mo was unsuccessful. The Japanese positions in New Guinea were reclaimed by Allied forces by the end of the war.

In 1941, the island of New Guinea was divided intoDutch New Guinea in the west (administered as part of theDutch East Indies), the Australian territory ofPapua in the south-east, and the Australian-administeredNew Guinea mandate in the north-east. Japanese forces invaded the northern portions of the island in early 1942, following the outbreak of thePacific War,^[2]quickly capturing the New Guinea territorial capital ofRabaul and forcing an evacuation of Australian civilians in the mandate. Japanese forces also subsequently occupied the Dutch administrative capitalHollandia (today known asJayapura) and established it as their capital during their occupation in New Guinea.^[3]

Japanese forces captured and occupied Hollandia in April 1942 and it was established as the capital of the administration.^[4] TheImperial Japanese Navy established a base in Jayapura port in 1942.^{[5][unreliable source]} The Navy also anchored their ships in Humboldt Bay and later added infantry troops to strengthen their marines. According to theAllies, there were two infantry regiments in Papua and one marine regiment.^[6]

The Dutch had tried to increase trade from Papua, but the Japanese increased it even more.^[7] The Japanese later establishedCenderawasih University in 1943.^[8] In Hollandia, the Japanese forced the native Papuans to create roads and atLake Sentani there were three airfields created by manual labour.^[9] The occupation of Jayapura was described as the worst in all of theDutch East Indies^[10]

In April 1944, US troop entered in Hollandia andfought with Japanese forces which later ended in a victory for the allies with US troops occupying the city.

The town ofSentani was occupied by Japanese forces on 1943 which later ended on 1944, when Allied troops rounded up 800 Japanese soldiers and killed them all.^[11]

The town ofKavieng ofNew Ireland was occupied by Japanese forces in January 1942 and there was a military base established there by the Japanese, smaller than the one at Rabaul.^[12] The town was frequently bombed by allied forces throughout 1943-1944 until it was liberated by Australian and American troops in 1945.^[13] There are many sunken ships of the Japanese on the coastline of Kavieng, which is now a popular tourist destination. Nearly the whole town was destroyed after allied troops took it back due to bombings in the area.^[14]

On 23 January 1942, 5,000 Japanese forces capturedRabaul. There were around 100 ships docked at Simpson Harbour, and manyKoreans,British, andIndians were forced into labour on Rabaul.^[15] On 13 September 1945, Australian troops captured the city, ending the occupation.^[16]

Most people were native Papuans, but there were manyJapanese who were primarily soldiers. There was a huge number ofChinese who were deported from other occupied region of New Guinea and sent to Rabaul.^[17] There were small numbers of British, Indian, Korean, andTaiwanese from other parts of the empire who were deported to New Guinea.^[18]

The Japanese were not hesitant to shoot anybody according to Allied forces and they often treated New Guineans with extreme brutality.^[19] Many were killed on the spot if they did not listen to what the Japanese troops said.

• 1941 establishments
• 1945 disestablishments
• 1940s in the Territory of New Guinea
• Military history of Papua New Guinea
• 1940s in Western New Guinea
• Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies
• Papua New Guinea in World War II

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Articles containing Tok Pisin-language text
• Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the flag caption or type parameters
• Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the symbol caption or type parameters
• All articles lacking reliable references
• Articles lacking reliable references from April 2025